A Star Bigger than the Titanic

From a sunken ship to a shooting star, these are words that could be used to describe the career of the great Leonardo DiCaprio. The young and hopeful actor was fighting for a role in the movie industry by putting together a string of small time roles such as The Basketball Diaries and a modern day spin off of Romeo and Juliet. However, these roles would fit to prepare him to star in one of the most iconic and profitable movies of all time, Titanic.

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DiCaprio was cast as the young Jack Dawson. A poor boy who won a ticket on this iconic boat by chance. Here he falls in love and the story explains the tale of the two lovers in what appears to be the final moments of their lives as the ship sinks. DiCaprio’s passionate love and desperation allow the movie to come alive. He makes it appear as if he is truly fighting for his life. This allows the audience to connect with the story and feel the pain, suffering, and desperation of the victims of the Titanic in their final moments.

From here DiCaprio became one of Hollywood’s biggest sensations. One of his next major roles came along with co-star Tom Hanks in Catch Me if You Can. This role is extremely different from DiCaprio’s previous. Here he plays a young forger who becomes anything he wants at the risk of being caught by Detective Hanks. The versatility shown in this move is astounding. DiCaprio is able to play roles as a pilot, lawyer, and doctor all while barely staying out of reach of the police. The trailer demonstrating some of DiCaprio’s work in this movie can be seen here.

Following this movie, DiCaprio had several very successful movies including The Aviator, The Departed, Blood Diamond and Shutter Island. In this movies he played everything from a ruthless diamond hunter to a deranged detective. However, one of DiCaprio’s more interesting roles came with the production of Inception. Here he plays a con artist of sorts who develops stages of dreams in order to plant ideas inside people’s minds. This performance landed the movie inside the top 15 greatest movies of all time according to IMDB.

In more recent years, DiCaprio has taken on some of the most challenging roles of anyone. His ability to play a drugged up Wall Street broker in The Wolf of Wall Street is incredible. He admits that he has never done drugs, yet he plays the role as if he had been an addict his whole life. The fake seizures and blackouts he has while on these drugs make it seem unbelievably real.

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DiCaprio continues to show his dedication in his latest movie, The Revenant. In order to prepare for this role, DiCaprio took extreme measures. He claims to have slept in animal carcasses, trudged through freezing waters, and ate raw meat. All this just to make a movie come to life. Perhaps, his latest role will win him the Oscar that he so rightfully deserves, but which has eluded him so far.