Inception
Whether you love him for his warm voice and boylike good looks or you simply admire him for the exceptional actor that he is , there is no deny that Leonardo DiCaprio is a North Star of both fame and talent in the kingdom of Hollywood . But with such a encompassing and varied catalogue of flick to his credit , it ’s grueling to narrow down which ones signalise him as something special .
With his potentially calling - defining and Oscar bombination - garnering performance as frontiersman Hugh Glass in Alejandro González Iñárritu’sThe Revenant , we ’ve decided to honor the skill of expert older Leo by collecting his career highlights in this list of his good performances to date .
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? (1993)
While any of Leo ’s former movies could be included in this list , the most relevant starting point is surely his very first Oscar - constitute function as the mentally - challenged comrade of Johnny Depp ’s eponymous teenager in the emotionally multi - faceted Lasse Hallström dramedyWhat ’s Eating Gilbert Grape ? . The moving-picture show follows the eldest boy of the Grape family of Endora , Iowa ( Depp ) as he tries to cope with the enormous responsibility of looking after his two Sister ( Laura Harrington and Mary Kate Schellhardt ) , his morbidly weighty mother ( Darlene Cates ) , and his young blood brother whose developmental disability makes him a challenge to look after ( DiCaprio ) .
It speaks volumes that , at the pinnace eld of eighteen , DiCaprio was capable to impersonate a fiber with a credible handicap that is sympathetic , lovely , and inoffensively humourous rather than some curio to be feel for or mock . With his carrying out , it is easy to conceive why a family unit move through such hard times pick out to embrace Arnie ’s difficulty with love – it is definitely one of the more deserved Oscar nominations of DiCaprio ’s career .
Romeo + Juliet (1996)
In the year before he happened upon the role that would transform him into the incomparable A - inclination picture star , DiCaprio was having a very rich 1996 . Not only did youthful Leo prove his mettle as an thespian alongside hugely talented vet Meryl Streep and Diane Keaton in beautiful crime syndicate dramaMarvin ’s Room , but he also display a bluff open - mindedness by taking on the tip of the violent and improper Baz Luhrmann version of William Shakespeare ’s most tragic lovemaking tale withRomeo + Juliet .
The flick asks a great deal of its viewers when it come to the suspension of disbelief , but without Leo ’s commitment and the unbelievable chemistry he had with co - headliner Claire Danes , Romeo + Julietwould likely have floundered and been think back as nothing more than an all - style - no - subject matter aggravator with a cool soundtrack . His commitment to create his carrying out both believable and relatable is the movies rachis , a quality that would rise inordinately in the coming years and eventually become his most admirable attribute as a film thespian .
Titanic (1997)
Considering the overwrought ( albeit completely deserved ) renown and appreciation that the James Cameron epicTitaniccontinues to accrue to this daytime from its cinematic grandeur and groundbreaking special core , it make good sense that the film ’s performances would get lost in its gigantic vestige , peculiarly that of romanticistic leading homo Leonardo DiCaprio .
Unlike so many of his contemporaries , DiCaprio did n’t settle down the temptingness of his fiber alone in his own sex appeal and forcible looker . He bank on being freehanded to perpetuate the romantic nonesuch that fuel the plastic film , but at the same time he take away every opportunity to imbue Jack Dawson with humor and punk that endear him to every member of the audience , whether distaff or otherwise . TheTitanicscript leaves a great deal to be desired in almost every family ( Screenplay was the only major Oscar category the moving-picture show was n’t nominated for ) , and even though all of the role player do unbelievably well with the unlikely dialogue they are given , no one fills in those Brobdingnagian lacuna as well as DiCaprio .
Catch Me If You Can (2002)
As both men have always displayed a penchant for news report involving the worked up evolution of troubled hands , it was only a affair of prison term before Leonardo DiCaprio and Steven Spielberg regain a project together – what many did n’t augur was how their disjoined qualities as either and actor or a film producer would crowd the ability of the other to make something as objectively good as it is thoroughly enjoyable .
When you watchCatch Me If you could , Leo ’s performance is apt to pique any viewers pastime as to how successful he might have been had he taken the more conventional path and let his charm and good face point his vocation in the rom - com direction . In the shoes of top-notch - tricksy con artist Frank Abagnale Jr. , he is champagne and adorable without being silly and stupid and he is masculine and sound without being rough or unappealing . There was never a more staring role to stop his young - man phase and take him into full - fledged leading - man roles .
The Aviator (2004)
WhileGangs of New Yorkisa truly great flick to behold , it was n’t until DiCaprio and director Martin Scorsese embarked on makingThe Aviatorthat they both discovered a step that would successfully carry them through three ( probably more in the future ) more films afterward . Few films can mob in such a huge amount of item into a monolithic 170 - moment rill time and still experience like easy viewing , and most of that is because Scorsese had to the full actualise DiCaprio ’s strengths , allowing the actor to be the beating warmheartedness of the whole production .
By this point in his career , Leonardo DiCaprio had sure as shooting proven that he had the chop to playact a leading man , but it was n’t until he took on the biopic of the splendidly unhinge filmmaker and businessman Howard Hughes that he prove just how fast a fundament he could be for a film while still expose an amazing amount of refinement and empathy for his graphic symbol . When you catch the operation , he is so large - than - liveliness and so prosperous in the graphic symbol ’s neuroses that it makes perfect sense why he thought this would be the masterpiece performance he would never top .
Blood Diamond (2006)
When compared to Leo ’s other asterisk use of 2006 ( next on the list ! ) , it puzzled a lot of people as to how Leonardo DiCaprio ’s theatrical role in the slightly clichéd , formulaic Edward Zwick military action - dramaBlood Diamondgarnered the actor with his only Oscar nominating speech of that year . And yet , while the movie is largely gawky and occasionally arduous , DiCaprio and his chemistry with co - genius Djimon Hounsou is the saving grace that find it such prestigious critical attending .
As the world has come to expect from him , Leo churned out another outstanding performance as the charismatic moon curser Danny Archer , but what made the turn so great how accurately he was able to capture the ugly and unabashedness of a " Rhodesian " gunrunning merc , especially how easily he pulls off a notoriously tricky Zimbabwean dialect . Sure , the white - man’s - burden arc is rote , but DiCaprio helps everyone watching bury about the more saccharine element of the picture show and focalize on the genuinely human bit that makeBlood Diamondworthwhile .
The Departed (2006)
On the list of all time defective snubs in Oscar account , Leonardo DiCaprio ’s purpose in Martin Scorsese’sThe Departedis unquestionably way up there . Based on the Chinese thrillerInternal Affairs , DiCaprio stars as Billy Costigan , a troublemaker cop who finds himself in the perfect position to go undercover with Jack Nicholson ’s ring boss Frank Costello .
Throughout his career , Leo has built his repute on his power to make his unearthly , opulent , and artistically honed performances both fantastically detailed and audience favorable , but his subdued performance as an everyman Irish - mafia breakwater who has trouble thieve with his double personal identity is , to this daylight , his unruffled , hugger-mugger chef-d’oeuvre . The Departedis elegant test copy that DiCaprio knows how to reign in a performance and smoothly evaporate into a role so he can live equally with his co - hotshot ; it is an exemplar of how you do n’t require to be impressive to produce something memorable and glorious .
Inception (2010)
There are a seemingly endless identification number of reasons to look up to and respect Christopher Nolan ’s science fabrication magnum opusInception – complexness , accessibility , originality , resourcefulness , style – but for all of its flowing visuals , imaginative concepts , and cautiously - planned mythology it would n’t subsist coherently without the tragic narration that exists at its very centre . With his faultless eye for casting , writer / director Nolan wisely choose Leo DiCaprio to fill the audience ’s need to emotionally tie in with his moving-picture show .
DiCaprio stars as Cobb , a man who leads a team of people with the engineering to commandeer other hoi polloi ’s dream . While the motion-picture show revolves around Cobb and his associates as they attempt alter a man ’s consciousness through his dreams for the welfare of his business competition , the real core of the story is Cobb ’s guilt over the death of his wife and his need to see his kid once again . DiCaprio displays the full range of his act prowess , from thoughtful and reticent to energetic and animated .
Django Unchained (2012)
When Quentin Tarantino was working on his screenplay forInglourious Basterds , he intended the character of Colonel Hans Landa to be embodied by Leonardo DiCaprio , but ultimately decided that the role would be best served by Austrian actor Christoph Waltz . So , when it amount time to write his westerly action flickDjango untied , Tarantino knew he did n’t need to drop collaborating with Leo again and compose him a role that was utterly juicy and deliciously despicable .
Before he threw his all into the performance of horrid , slave - owning , Mississippi cotton mogul Calvin Candie , no one could have predicted that DiCaprio would have risked his likability on a role that was so far off from his usual carnival . He rust up every opportunity he get to be gruesome and evil and succeeds on a level he had not yet reached as an actor until that metre . While the role itself will always be seen as important in DiCaprio ’s filmography on its own deservingness , the performance will forever be agnise as the gateway made Leo ’s later braver and bolder cinematic venture potential .
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
People who got caught up in the tumult of whetherThe Wolf of Wall Streetwas celebrate or demonise the hedonistic lifestyle and distasteful business practices of tangible - lifetime big businessman Jordan Belfort completely miss the point of the raucous and oft bizarre Martin Scorsese picture – it is above all a glorious and debaucherous reason for Leonardo DiCaprio to spread his acting wings and let his freak signal flag fly . Not only did the movie mark a veridical devil - may - forethought return to form for Scorsese , it prove just how committed Leo is to his craft .
With the obvious boost in confidence of his own skills that he get with the help of Quentin Tarantino , Leo was capable to search a side of himself likely even he did n’t know he possess inWolf . No matter how off - putting you notice Jordan Belfort , there is something undeniably fun and exhilarating watch DiCaprio preen and strut as a craze , drug - fuel hermit peacock of a stockbroker – he is , plainly put , absolutely and disturbingly rarefied .
