Leonardo DiCaprio recently opened up about his rocky start in Hollywood, revealing how his first agent once pushed him to ditch his real name because it sounded “too ethnic.”
The 50-year-old star, one of the biggest names in movies today, shared the story on the New Heights podcast. He recalled the agent’s blunt advice: “I go, ‘What do you mean, it’s Leonardo DiCaprio?’ They go, ‘No, too ethnic. They’re never going to hire you.'”
The agent even suggested a new stage name—Lenny Williams—by tweaking DiCaprio’s middle name, Wilhelm, into a last name. DiCaprio laughed about it, saying, “I said, ‘What is Lenny?’ … ‘We took your middle name (Wilhelm) and we made it your (last name). Now you’re Lenny.'”
But DiCaprio’s dad, George, wasn’t having any of it. When he saw the agent’s photo with the new name idea, he tore it up and declared, “Over my dead body.”
This tale comes as DiCaprio reflects on hitting 50 last November. In a chat with Esquire UK, the Oscar-winning actor explained how the milestone has sparked a drive for more honesty in his life. “It creates a feeling like you have a desire to just be more honest and not waste your time,” he said.
He drew inspiration from his mom, who now speaks her mind without hesitation. “I look at my mother, for example, and she just says exactly what she thinks and wastes no time. She spends no time trying to fake it.”
Looking ahead, DiCaprio is committed to cutting the BS in both personal and professional relationships. He admits it might lead to shake-ups—”risking having things fall apart” or even ending ties—but that’s okay now. “You have to just be much more upfront. It’s almost a responsibility, because much more of your life is behind you than it is ahead of you.”
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