Leonardo DiCaprio says that when he finally landed an agent as a young actor, he was told he’d need a new name
The Titanic actor, 50, and Benicio del Toro were guests on Wednesday’s episode of the New Heights podcast hosted by Jason and Travis Kelce. The pair are currently promoting their new film, One Battle After Another, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.
At one point during the episode, the actors were asked to talk about the “holy s***” moments in their illustrious careers.
DiCaprio recalled trying to get an agent as a child actor, saying agencies would line people up “like cattle,” going down the line saying “yes” or “no.”
“I remember saying to my dad, ‘This is horrible,’” he said. “But I went back and they did it again.”
However, when DiCaprio “finally” got an agent when he was around 12 or 13, |They said, ‘Your name is too ethnic,’” he recalled. “I go, ‘What do mean? It’s Leonardo DiCaprio.’ They go, ‘No, too ethnic. They’re never gonna hire you. Your new name is Lenny Williams.’”
The new name was supposed to be both a nickname for Leonardo and a version of DiCaprio’s middle name, which is Wilhelm. However, his father did not appreciate the change after seeing his son’s headshot with the name Lenny Williams printed on it.
“My dad saw this photo, ripped it up, and he said, ‘Over my dead body.’”
The Oscar winner went on to admit that he struggled to land roles as a child actor.
“I was a break dancer. I'd break dance for, like, money on the streets sometimes. Oh, yeah. I had the step haircut,” he said.
“I remember saying to my dad, ‘This is horrible.’ I went back, and they did it again. ‘Yes. Yes. No. No.’ I just remember, my dad sings, you know, ‘Someday you're gonna have your time, son. Just keep at it. Keep at it.’”
DiCaprio has gone on to receive five Oscar nominations in his career, including one win for his role in The Revenant in 2016.
One Battle After Another follows a former member of a resistance group who seeks help from other revolutionaries to find his missing daughter. The film is loosely based on Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland and marks the first-ever collaboration between Anderson and DiCaprio.
In a five-star review for The Independent, film critic Clarisse Loughrey called it “a ferocious American masterpiece.”
“DiCaprio is playing a brand of character he’s finessed beautifully of late, the buffoon with a broken heart, who totters around One Battle After Another’s midsection in a bathrobe and a tiny hair bun, wielding a phone charger in search of an outlet and throwing a toddler’s tantrum when he realises he’s forgotten the secret revolutionary passcode,” she wrote.
“The actor’s an accomplished clown when it’s required of him, but Anderson can easily break away from him, for a moment, to watch a planted agitator roll up to a protest and give the cops an excuse for violent suppression, and let the audience feel that chill of malevolent power crawl up their limbs.”
One Battle After Another is in theaters from September 26.
