$300M Rich Leonardo Dicaprio’s First Agent Wanted Him to Change His Name to Be Successful
Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the most famous international actors known to date. His first major role came in the biographical drama This Boy’s Life which was based on author Tobias Wolff’s eponymous memoir. He gained worldwide recognition for appearing in the romances Romeo + Juliet and Titanic. Both of these movies were great commercial and critical successes.
Leonardo DiCaprio went on to star in some of the greatest movies of all time such as Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island, Christopher Nolan’s Inception, Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, and Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby. At this point, there is hardly any movie geek who doesn’t DiCaprio’s name. However, he was once told that he would not be able to survive in the industry without changing his name.
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Leonardo DiCaprio Was Told to Change His Name
Several actors have changed or shortened their names according to their convenience. What is to be noted here is that it was something they did willingly. When Leonardo DiCaprio made his first attempt to start out in the entertainment industry, he was told to change his name to ‘Lenny Williams’.
In an interview with Shortlist, when he was asked whether an agent told him to change his name, The Revenant star said:
“Yeah, when I was 11 years old, when I first wanted to be an actor professionally. We went to an agent and they wanted to change my name to Lenny Williams. They felt my name was too ethnic and I wouldn’t get as many jobs. So that thwarted me from being an actor for a number of years. I tried again two years later when I was 13 and got an agent to accept me with my name.”
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Given how big of a star Leonardo DiCaprio is now, the agent probably missed out on a great chance to have loads of clients. Thankfully, things worked out in the actor’s favour otherwise the world would have missed out on getting to see such an immensely talented person grow to his full potential.
Leonardo DiCaprio’s Name Has An Amusing Origin Story
Leonardo DiCaprio refused to change his name for the sake of becoming an actor. However, one might wonder about the origins of his name. There is a fascinating story about that too. Hilariously, it turns out that he was named after none other than Leonardo da Vinci, known for his historic Mona Lisa.
In an interview with NPR in 2014, Leonardo DiCaprio recounted the story his father told him about his name, saying:
“My father tells me that they were on their honeymoon at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, I believe. They were looking at a da Vinci painting, and allegedly I started kicking furiously while my mother was pregnant. And my father took that as a sign, and I suppose DiCaprio wasn’t that far from da Vinci. And so, my dad, being the artist that he is, said, ‘That’s our boy’s name.'”
DiCaprio definitely did not lose any sleep over the fact that he did not change his name to ‘Lenny Wiliams’ on the advice of his agent. It was a great move on his behalf given how elated his parents must be about naming their kid after one of the most historically important person in the world.
