Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the best actors in the world. Coming from his time to a fresh face baby in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape to being the King of the World in Titanic to morphing himself to an evil slave owner in Django Unchained. Leo has done it all and morphed himself into a powerful and truly amazing actor. Hu currently has seven Oscar nominations with one win and 13 Golden Globe nominations with three wins in his illustrious career. He has been a joy to watch no matter what he does.
Dom Cob- Inception (2010)
In this Christopher Nolan masterpiece, Leo takes on the role as Dom Cobb. A professional thief who goes takes people secrets by infiltrating their dreams. Leo’s performance was top notch as Dom as he was a man haunted by his wife’s death and wanting to get back and see his kids. You can see Dom as a man burden with his past and when he needed to take it to the extreme, dude went in a dream within a dream within a dream to get it.
Calvin J. Candie- Django Unchained (2012)
You want to talk about a character that should be hated, look no further that Calvin J. Candie. Leo took the side seat in Tarantino’s slave film and wasn’t the major headliner. I don’t know about you but I never hated Leo more than watching him play this character. Stepping way out of his comfort zone, Leo was fantastic as the evil slave owner Calvin. Dude was so into his role, that he didn’t break character when he broke glass over his hand. Yet, that Chesiree Cat smile, Southern drawl and his curiosity made Leo an all-time evil villain. Honestly, I like Christoph Waltz but Leo should’ve walked away with an Academy Award for this performance.
Jordan Belfort- The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
This is one of Leo’s best but also most insane performances. As Jordan Belfort, Leo portrayed the Wall Street stockbroker as a douche, party animal, drug taking, despicable human being who cared about making money illegally and having more sex that his dick could fall off. In this role, Leo is just as charming as ever and when he needed to, he broke the fourth wall, displayed that Chesiree smile and knew that he was about to do some shady shit. Leo was great in this role as his main character stated, “He’s not leaving!”
Hugh Glass- The Revenant (2015)
The role that finally won Leo his Academy Award. Leo went all out as Hugh, a real-life man who somehow survived the worse possible odds. Dude fought a bear. Also, Leo went all out with eating real liver. Leo showed the hardships of a man left to die in the wilderness and then looking for revenge against the people who left his ass in the snow. There was no doubting that Leo sent an all-out blitz to finally win this award. Once again, Leo ate raw liver.
Jack Dawson- Titanic (1997)
You want to talk about baby face. Lie is really baby face. Shit, this film was a monster as it made over $2 billion and became the top grossing film ever all-time before it was dethroned while winning 11 Oscars. This was the film that propelled and changed Leo’s life forever and made him King of the World. Leo was a star, but this put him in a whole new world. As Dawson, he was somewhat serious but just went with the flow of things. When he saw Rose for the first time, dude’s eyes lit up because homegirl was BEAUTIFUL. Sad part is that with all the nominations, Leo wasn’t nominated for an Academy Award.
Rick Dalton- Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
Teaming up with Tarantino once again, this time, it’s a Hollywood movie that has an alternative take on the Sharon Tate murder. I found this role hilarious for Leo. Why? He was an actor playing an actor who star slowly started to fade. The scene where the little girl said that was some of the best acting and he started to get a little teary eye is hilarious. Also, this is where the iconic Leo meme comes from. Leo plays this part so well and it is a joy to watch him act.
Romeo Montague- Romeo + Juliet (1996)
In the retelling and major modern update of the classic Shakespearean play, Leo comes in hard as the title character. Set in Verona or in this one the sexy beaches of what looks like Miami, the whole film is in the spoken word of what Shakespeare wrote. I don’t know about you but performing this style is difficult as it is sometimes hard to understand and Leo is such a babyface person. As the play goes, “Parting is such sweet sorrow.”
Billy Costigan- The Departed (2006)
The is the third collaboration between Leo and Scorsese. In this round, Leo plays a cop who goes undercover and becomes a member of the Irish Mafia. On the other side, Matt Damon’s character is a cop who the mafia planted inside the police department. Leo is strong in this role as he begins to lose his mind while undercover. Starring alongside the great Jack Nicholson, Leo maintains that he can hold form with anyone. Even though he gets scared of them chopping him up and feeding him to the poor.
Teddy Daniels- Shutter Island (2010)
The fourth time that Leo and Scorsese teams up. In this flick, Leo plays a US Marshall sent to investigate the disappearance of a woman on a psychiatric hospital island. DiCaprio does most of the heavy lifting playing a man that is seriously messed up. After you watch the film a second time, you see that DiCaprio’s character is the one that leads this movie and everyone else is following along for the sake of the plot. Leo is intense and becomes unhinged as this strange movie.
Jay Gatsby- The Great Gatsby (2013)
How can I leave off the one movie where a legendary meme was created? I had to read the Great Gatsby in high school. It was boring then but this film added the elements of style and a Jay-Z song. Can’t go wrong there. Even though this isn’t Leo’s best work, it is still a movie to behold. The cast is strong with Leo teaming with his boy, Maguire, in this film. Leo does a great job embodying this character and having that old sport charm about him. It is a sight to see as his reality breaks as the girl he loves turns him away. Once again, we still get the legendary meme of him raising his champagne glass. That has to count for something.