Leonardo Wlhelm DiCaprio was born on Nov. 11, 1974 in Hollywood.
His mother, Irmelin named him after Leonardo DaVinci. His father, George
separated from his mother before Leo was 1 year old. His first ever audition came
at the age of 2 1/2 for a spot on "Romper Room". In 1987 he auditioned for
tv commercials and was successful in landing a spot on an ad for matchbox cars.
Small roles on made for tv shows followed . He appeared in "Mickey's
Safety Club" and "How to Deal with Parents Who Take Drugs". From here
he graduated to appearances in episodes of "Lassie" and a role as a teenage alchoholic
in theTV soap opera "Santa Barbara". He also spent the final year of the
series "Growing Pains" starring Alan Thicke playing a troubled homeless boy. Leonardo
DeCaprio attended Seeds University Elementary Shcool where he studied performance
art. He loved acting in front of an audience so much that he chose to spend
his summers with a performing arts group doing live performances as well. His
first role in a play came in high school in a play called "Circus Fantasy".
After a brief stint acting for tv he moved on to feature films the first being
"Critters III". His big break came in 1993 when he won the lead role in "This
Boy's Life" beating more than 400 applicants for the spot. Robert Deniro
starred in this film and Leo credits Deniro for inspiring him in his role which
involved the sensitive subject matter of child abuse. | 
