Name: Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio

Birthdate: November 11, 1974

Age: 29

Height: 6' 1"

Weight: 180 lbs

Children: none

The name Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio was given to him by his mother for two different reasons. His first name, Leonardo, was given to him after the painter Leonardo DaVinci. It is said that during her pregnancy, Leo kicked his mother while she was veiwing a DaVinci painting in Uffizi. Wilhelm, his middle name, just came from a German relative. It is not to be mixed up with a tribute to the Kaiser.

Leo was born on November 11th, 1974 in Los Angeles, California. His father was Italian-American comic distributer, George DiCaprio, while his mother was a German-American legal secretary, Irmalin. Unfortunately, before he was even a year old, his parents had divorced. Because the split was amicable, Leo was able to be raised by both of his parents.

Leo began performing at an early age. Since his father was in the comic underground, many celebrities came over to the house, and the family would come up with outrageous costumes and attend Californian festivals. It was at one of these festivals when stage fright was eliminated for him. He performed a tap dance routine in front of thousands of people. It wasn't until later, though, that young Leo turned to acting.

The real backbone behind Leo's acting career was his parents. Leo's parents described in one word were hippies. However, they were far from being pot-smoking wasters. Experienced and still experimenting, they encouraged their son constantly. The only trouble he had was finding something he liked that they hadn't already done. That's when he found TV. At age five, Leonardo DiCaprio began his acting career by participating in his favorite show at the time, "Romper Room."

Although he was a bright and talented kid, Leo didn't do too well in high school. While he was attending John Marshall High, nothing was going his way. He put all of his concentration into breakdancing at lunch and playing practical jokes on his neighbors,so he couldn't focus on his studies. Because of that he began cribbing off his peers' papers and was pinned with the nickname Leonardo Retardo. He wasn't much in matters of the heart either. The one time he took one Celilia Garcia out to the movies, his kiss resulted in being promptly dumped.

Now, Leonardo is a teen heart-throb thanks to his career-making role in Titanic. Since he began his acting career at age 5, Leonardo has gone from not to hot. He has won one Oscar and has been nominated for 3 Golden Globes and has also been voted the world's most beautiful human. His 25 years were worth it, for they made him what he is today.