Leo's life
Leonardo Wilhelm Di Caprio was born on November 11 , 1974 in Los Angeles (CA) .
His mother Irmelin Iderbirken (was born in Düsseldorf, Germany) went to U.S.A. for study, but here she met George Di Caprio , a idealist , and falled in love with him. It was the time of the Vietnam's war , the pacifism and the free love. Leo's parents were friends with important member of beat-generation like : Allen Ginsberg , Charles Bukowski , Stearling Morrison(Velvet Underground ) and Laurie Anderson. Unfortunatly the love between Irmeline and George didn't last. They were separated before Leo was born , but both manage Leo's career. He's an only child and his parents are very important in his life , he says:
"Both my parents are so much a part of my life that they're like my leg or something".
Leonardo learned from his mother german and the beauty of art ; and from George (he calls in this way his father, like a friend) the meaning of beat-generation and Fellini's movies .
Do you Know how did Leonardo gets his name ?
Irmelin was in Florence looking at a painting by Leonardo da Vinci , when she felt a big kick from the baby. Irmelin thought " it was a sign". For this reason she calls his son like a famous painter. His second name "Wilhelm" was the name of his maternal grandfather (he was died when Leonardo shooted
"Total Eclipse").Leo's life wasn't easy , in fact He lived in a terrible district of L.A. (Syringe Alley). Irmelin and his son lived with her pay (she got a job like a secretary) , and the little Leo learned soon the money's worth.
He was a rebel at school and he became a big problem for his mother. " I never liked school …I felt I was forced to do something and I don't perform well under those conditions".
His stepbrother Adam had earned 50.000$ for a advertisement . Leo became jealous and for this reason began to go to auditions. He began with a educational movie ( the fist was : " How to deal with a parent who takes drugs") and soap-opera (Santa Barbara) .His first break came at the age of 14 when he appeared in a commercial for Matcbox toy cars (1988).
But a little success came with sit-coms: Growing Pains
(as a homeless boy Luke Brower) and parenthood
(as Gary Buckam).His first movie was
Critters 3 (1992) but Leo hated this and never talks about it. He made his real movie debut opposite Robert De Niro in This boy's life in 1993. For Di Caprio this was a great experience.Then there was sweet Arnie Grape , the mental disability boy , in
What's eating Gilbert Grape? For which he had Golden Globe and Oscar Nomination for best supporting actor.The big success came in 1997 with
Romeo+Juliet of Baz Luhrmann , and now with the Titanic of Cameron.Now is DICAPRIOMANIA!
In fact the people became crazy for Leo. When he appeared at the première of Titanic in Tokyo , japanese teenage girls went wild. The same in London and Paris. A mob of screaming girls waited Leo under the Plaza hotel of Rome; but Leo there wasn't , he stay in L.A in this house. The people had seen a double of Leo ( today this double gets a job in T.V.).
To control such mania , Di Caprio is stopping press interviews , cutting down on his workload and trying to live like a normal guy. He doesn't want to mess up a potentially long career by going crazy with the fame he has today.
LEO IS VERY SMART!!!
