Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio was born on November 11, 1974. He was the first and only son of George and Irmelin DiCaprio. His german mother Irmelin Idenbirken chose Leonardo's name while in the Uffizy Gallery in Italy, admiring a Leonardo Da Vinci painting, her son kicked in her stomach, it was then that she knew her son's name would definitely be Leonardo. That and the fact that Leonardo's grandfather's middle name was Leon clinched it. Soon after he was born, Gearge and Irmelin separated. Leonardo says that never bothered him though, they both spent equal time with him and never felt that he wasn't living in a normal family. He was always happy about how his parents treated him. When Leonardo decided to act, his parents were involved 100%, his mother helped him with business affairs, while his father helped him look through the many scripts Leonardo recieved.'My mother is a walking miracle, she was in World War 2 in Germany and has had so many brushes with death,' Leonardo has said, 'my mother is cool. She really doesn't care about this whole thing--she truly doesn't. She separates herself from it. She's the only one who genuinely cares for what I do as a person, and doesn't make my career more than a job, which is what it is. If I worked a nine-to-five job, she'd feel the same way and have the same enthusiasm.' 'My dad's probably one of the kindest people in the world. When I was younger, that's not how I was--I was a little spoiled brat.' Because Leonardo's grandparents were living in Germany, Leonardo had made over 6 trips to Germany before he even reached the age of 10! His mother often brought him there to see "Oma" and "Opa". Leonardo's mother didn't wait long at all to teach her son German, and by his teenage years he was as fluent as Irmelin herself. When Leonard reached the age of twelve, he started doing commercials, including on for Matchbox Cars. Leonardo decided to do commercials because his step-brother, Adam Starr, had started doing commercials, Leonardo was invited to see his commercial filming, to Leo, it looked like fun, so luckily, his mother knew someone in the business. Leonardo had himself an agent. His agent tried to get him to change his name to Lenny Williams..Leonardo didn't like that idea," I like my name, even though they used to call me 'Leonardo Retardo'"Leo has said. Even though Leonardo kept his name, he still recieved parts in commercials and television, his first television series being "Parenthood". His character was Garry Buckman. At the try-outs for "Parenthood" Leonardo met his very best friend to this day, Tobey Maguire. The two have been friends ever since. Unfortunately, Tobey only recieved a guest role, but Leonardo received a major part. Unfortunately though, Leonardo had been cast in the last season of the show, so he had to find something else. Soon after, Leonardo was cast in the film "Critters 3", which didn't do so good, compared to the famous "Critters 1" and "Critters 2". So Leo atarted quickly erasing that movie from his resumee. Next was something bigger, the part of Luke Brower on the hit family series Growing Pains" , the part that would get everyone to notice a glimpse of his amazing talent, which drove Teeny Bopper Magazine writers and editors wild. Leonardo was on his way. But again, Leonardo was cast in the last season, and didn't even appear in the last four episodes because he was moving on, he had another major movie role in "This Boy's Life", which got him nominated for several awards, including a Golden Globe. Leonardo says it was hard fo rhim even though he was working with historical actor Robert De Niro, and Ellen Barkin. "I just went in there, looked him (De Niro) in the eye and got the part." Leonardo said about his audition. After he had shown the world another glimpse of his acting talent, he showed them a lot more of his amazing talent in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?" starring Johnny Depp and Juliette Lewis, but if you ask me, Leonardo stole the show with his amazing portrayal of the mentally retarded 'Arnie Grape'. Of which also gave him many nominations and applauses. His next movie, "Total Eclipse", wasn't a major hit, but Leonardo thought the script and story were very good, and you know Leo, always going for a new challenge. His character was a free spirited poet who is having a love affair with another poet, played by David Thewlis. Tabloids like Enquirer and Star were taking pictures from the movie and saying Leonardo was gay, "He is not gay." Claire Danes has said after the movie "Romeo and Juliet" cam out. One hard thing for Leonardo during the filming of the movie, was that his grandfather has passed away from an illness. "The Basketball Diaries" was Leonardo's next movie, he said it was a script he couldn't put down, he wanted to see what was going to happen next, and so he took the part of 'Jim Carrol' a writer who get involved with the wrong group and gets addicted to drugs.