Leonardo DiCaprio was almost known by a different name after being told at the beginning of his career that he was ‘too ethnic’.
He spoke about it in a recent interview
The Titanic actor shared this story on the Wednesday, September 24, episode of Jason and Travis Kelce’s New Heights podcast.
He was invited alongside Benicio del Toro to promote their upcoming movie, One Battle After Another.
He was asked if there were any shocking moments
DiCaprio was asked by the NFL stars if there were any ‘holy s***’ moments he experienced throughout his career.
The Oscar winner then explained, “I remember auditioning when I was very young, I was like a child actor – my stepbrother was an actor.”
DiCaprio didn’t like how acting agents picked people
He went on, “And there were these acting agents that would line you up like cattle and they just go – and I was a break dancer, I’d break dance for like money on the streets sometimes, I had like the step haircut – it was like ‘yes, yes, no’; and they look at me, ‘no’, and then a ‘yes, yes, yes’ – and they all got agents.”
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But his father encouraged him to keep going
“And I remember saying to my dad, this is horrible. I went back and they did it again, ‘yes, yes, no, no’,” DiCaprio went on.
“And I just remember my dad saying, you know, ‘someday you’re going to have your time, son. Just keep at it, keep at it’.”
DiCaprio was then told he was ‘too ethnic’
The 50-year-old continued, “And then they gave me my, [turning to speak to del Toro] you remember your first photos that you had? And they said, ‘your name is too – I finally got an agent – they said your name is too ethnic’.”
They suggested he go by a different name
“I go, ‘what do you mean, it’s Leonardo DiCaprio’,” he went on.
“They go, ‘no too ethnic, they’re never going to hire. Your new name is Lenny Williams’. I said, ‘what is, what is Lenny?’. I was 12 or 13. I said, ‘what is Lenny Williams?’ ‘We took your middle name and we made it your – now you’re Lenny’.”
But his dad wasn’t happy about it
The actor’s father wasn’t happy about the name suggestion. DiCaprio recalled, “And my dad saw his photo, ripped it up, and he said, ‘Over my dead body’.”
It seems like DiCaprio wasn’t the only actor to face being told to change his name, as del Toro shared the same happened to him.
Benicio del Toro confirmed the same happened to him
“I was told the same thing,” he revealed. “‘Benny Dell, yeah – Mr Dell!’”
Jason Kelce then joked in a shocked response, “Oh my gosh. This podcast would not be the same with Lenny Williams and Benny Dell – I’ll tell you that right now.”