Kevin Costner had been cast as Ace Woody, a " vile and sadistic trainer of slaves who are forced to fight in death matches for a plantation owner ( DiCaprio )" before he later dropped out due to scheduling conflicts, and was replaced by Kurt Russell who later also dropped out.

After his departure, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ryan Gosling, Channing Tatum, Alexander Skarsgård, Ewan McGregor, Robert Pattinson, Matt Damon, Christian Bale, Michael Fassbender, Bradley Cooper, Leonardo DiCaprio, Joel Kinnaman, Russell Crowe, Chris Pine, Ryan Reynolds, and Jon Hamm were considered for the lead role.

Since the 2000s, DiCaprio has been nominated for awards for his work in such films as Catch Me If You Can ( 2002 ), Gangs of New York ( 2002 ), The Aviator ( 2004 ), Blood Diamond ( 2006 ), The Departed ( 2006 ), and Revolutionary Road ( 2008 ).

A committed environmentalist, DiCaprio has received praise from environmental groups for his activism.

After being booted off the set of children's television series Romper Room for being disruptive at the age of five, DiCaprio followed his older stepbrother Adam Farrar into television commercials, landing an ad for Matchbox cars at 14.

Director Lasse Hallström admitted he was initially looking for a less good-looking actor but finally settled on DiCaprio as he had emerged as " the most observant " among all auditioners.

Budgeted at US $ 11. 0 million, the film became a financial and critical success, resulting in a domestic box office total of US $ 9. 1 million and various accolades for DiCaprio, who was awarded the National Board of Review Award and nominated for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for his portrayal.

DiCaprio portrayed the character of Hank, Streep's troubled son, who has been committed to a mental asylum for setting fire to his mother's house.

DiCaprio at a press conference for The Beach ( film ) | The Beach in February 2000

Cast as twenty-year-old Jack Dawson, a penniless Wisconsin man who wins two tickets for the third-class on the ill-fated RMS Titanic, DiCaprio initially refused to portray the character but was eventually encouraged to pursue the role by Cameron who strongly believed in his acting ability.

Though DiCaprio's performance was generally well-received, with Entertainment Weekly critic Owen Gleiberman writing that " the shockingly androgynous DiCaprio looks barely old enough to be playing anyone with hormones, but he's a fluid and instinctive actor, with the face of a mischievous angel ," he was awarded a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screen Couple for both incarnations the following year.

" The following year, DiCaprio received his third Golden Globe nomination for his work on the film.

Altogether, DiCaprio reportedly spent more than a year and a half in preparation for the film which was not necessarily shot in continuity because of actors and locations schedules.

DiCaprio received rave reviews for his performance and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor, also receiving another Academy Award nomination.

The film itself received generally favorable reviews, and DiCaprio was praised for the authenticity of his South African Afrikaner accent, known as a difficult accent to imitate.

The same year, both the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild nominated DiCaprio twice in the Best Actor category for both of his 2006 features, and in addition, DiCaprio earned his third Academy Award nomination for Blood Diamond.

In 2010, his environmental work earned DiCaprio a nomination for the VH1 Do Something Award.

Carroll was best known for his 1978 autobiographical work The Basketball Diaries, which was made into the 1995 film of the same name, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Carroll.

His centrality to Ray's work is akin to other key collaborations in the history of cinema — Mifune and Kurosawa, Mastroianni and Fellini, De Niro and Scorsese, DiCaprio and Scorsese, Max von Sydow and Ingmar Bergman, Jerzy Stuhr and Kieślowski.

She appeared as a supporting character in the films The Beach ( 2000 ), featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, Vanilla Sky ( 2001 ) with Tom Cruise and, as the archangel Gabriel in Constantine ( 2005 ) with Keanu Reeves.

Martin Scorsese cast the actress in the supporting, but vital role, of the dead wife haunting the dreams of marshal Teddy Daniels ( played by Leonardo DiCaprio ) in Shutter Island, a psychological thriller based on Dennis Lehane's 2003 best-selling novel by the same name.

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio, Edward Norton, global ecologist, writer, filmmaker and activist Dr. Michael Charles Tobias, and former Vice President of the United States Al Gore are supporting the Ecuadorian government.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, DiCaprio started his career by appearing in television commercials prior to landing recurring roles in TV series such as the soap opera Santa Barbara and the sitcom Growing Pains in the early 1990s.

However, studios balked at the idea of Affleck and Damon in the lead roles, with many studio executives citing that they wanted Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Later in 1993, DiCaprio co-starred as the mentally handicapped brother to Johnny Depp in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, a comic-tragic odyssey of a dysfunctional Iowa family.

In 1993, she acted alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Johnny Depp in the drama film What's Eating Gilbert Grape.

What's Eating Gilbert Grape is a 1993 drama film directed by Lasse Hallström and starring Johnny Depp, Juliette Lewis and Leonardo DiCaprio.

* Most Promising Actor-Leonardo DiCaprio, What's Eating Gilbert Grape

Gilbert Grape ( Johnny Depp ) is busy caring for his mentally disabled brother, Arnie ( Leonardo DiCaprio ), as they wait for the many tourists ' trailers to pass through town during their early camp ritual at a nearby recreational area.

As a comic book author, DiCaprio is frequently associated with fellow underground comics artists Dori Seda, Robert Crumb, Rick Griffin, Gilbert Shelton, Victor Moscoso, Paul Mavrides and Harvey Pekar, and author Hubert Selby Jr.

* Leonardo DiCaprio as Arnie Grape

In 1993, the novel was also turned into a feature film ( of the same name ) starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, and Ellen Barkin.

In 1993, Dushku landed a role as Pearl alongside Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio in This Boy's Life, a role that she said opened a lot of doors.

An adaptation starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro was released in 1993.

In the 1993 film version of This Boy's Life, starring Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, the two places are combined and called " Concrete.

In 1996, DiCaprio appeared opposite Claire Danes in Baz Luhrmann's film Romeo + Juliet, an abridged modernization of William Shakespeare's romantic tragedy of the same name which retained the original Shakespearean dialogue.

Through the 1990s, Thewlis appeared in a variety of films, mostly fantasy and period, including Restoration ( 1995 ), Black Beauty ( 1994 ), Total Eclipse ( 1995 ) with Leonardo DiCaprio, The Island of Dr. Moreau ( 1996 ), Dragonheart ( 1996 ), and Seven Years in Tibet ( 1997 ), opposite Brad Pitt ( because of this film, Thewlis is barred from entering China ).

* William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet ( 1996 ), starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes

Schaech was featured as one of the most promising leading men on a 1996 Vanity Fair cover that also featured Leonardo DiCaprio, Will Smith and Benicio del Toro.

* In 1996, the castle was a film location for the Academy Award-nominated movie William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes.

In 1997, DiCaprio starred in James Cameron's Titanic ( 1997 ), alongside Kate Winslet.

Against expectations, the film went on to become the highest-grossing film to date ( it was surpassed in 2010 by Cameron's directorial follow-up, Avatar ), grossing more than US $ 1. 843 billion in box-office receipts worldwide, and transformed DiCaprio into a commercial movie superstar, resulting in fan worship among teenage girls and young women in general that became known as " Leo-Mania.

The same year, DiCaprio reunited with Kate Winslet to film the drama Revolutionary Road ( 2008 ), directed by Winslet's then-husband Sam Mendes.

DiCaprio continued his run with Scorsese in the 2010 psychological thriller film Shutter Island ( 2010 ), based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane.

Other movies influenced by or making use of Uncle Tom's Cabin include Dimples ( a 1936 Shirley Temple film ), Uncle Tom's Uncle, ( a 1926 Our Gang episode ), its 1932 remake Spanky, the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I ( in which a ballet called " Small House of Uncle Thomas " is performed in traditional Siamese style ), and Gangs of New York ( in which Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day-Lewis's characters attend an imagined wartime adaptation of Uncle Tom's Cabin ).

: Many Italian Americans actors became well known in movies and TV, such as: Don Ameche, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Anne Bancroft ( Anna Italiano ), Ernest Borgnine ( Ermes Borgnino ), Robert Alda, Alan Alda, Lou Costello, Frank Langella, Frankie Avalon ( Avallone ), Annette Funicello, James Darren ( Ercolani ), Jimmy Durante, Anthony Franciosa, Sal Mineo, Ben Gazzara, Harry Guardino, Aldo Ray ( DaRe ), Richard Conte, Bernadette Peters ( Lazzara ), Connie Stevens ( Concetta Ingoglia ), Richard Crenna, Dom DeLuise, Armand Assante, Susan Sarandon, Danny DeVito, Joe Mantegna, John Travolta, Tony Danza, Alyssa Milano, Paul Sorvino, Mira Sorvino, Al Pacino, Liza Minnelli, Rene Russo, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Nicolas Cage ( Coppola ), Stanley Tucci, Marissa Tomei, John Turturro and Sylvester Stallone.

A reenactment of this episode appeared in Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can ( 2002 ), featuring actor Leonardo DiCaprio in his place.

* Leonardo DiCaprio ( born 1974 ), Academy-award nominated American actor