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It's not hyperbole to say Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the finest actors of our generation.
The American star made his film debut in 1993 (for pub quiz aficionados, in Critters 3 ) and enjoyed a variety of roles (This Boy's Life , The Basketball Diaries ) in the following years. If Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (1996)made him a teen pin-up, his brooding face Blu-Tacked to teenagers’ bedroom walls across America, it was his lead role opposite Kate Winslet in Titanic that made him a global household name.
He's remained a box office titan ever since. From Sam Mendes and Christopher Nolan to Quentin Tarantino and Alejandro González Iñárritu, DiCaprio has worked with the best directors in the business. However, it's his working relationship with Martin Scorsese that has defined DiCaprio's career .
Having collaborated on five films, the pair currently have two projects in the works, one of which, The Devil in the White City, will see DiCaprio return to television for the first time since the early Nineties (not including his 2008 factual environmental drama Greensburg ). The other project, meanwhile, is Killers of the Flower Moon , a film adaptation of David Grann's non-fiction book investigating a series of murders of wealthy Osage people in Oklahoma in the early 1920s. It will be released next year – and you can find the first photo here .
Scroll through the below gallery to find our compilation of Leonardo DiCaprio's 10 best films.
The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio filmsShow all 11 1 /11The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films
Frazer Harrison / Getty
The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films 10. The Revenant (2015) The film DiCaprio finally won an Oscar for. Is it his best role? No. But there's no denying DiCaprio's commitment to the cause: as Hugh Glass, the legendary explorer who was attacked by a bear and left for dead, he literally eats a raw bison liver. Ravishingly shot, Alejandro González Iñárritu's 19th-century tale is not only a brutal story of revenge and determination, but a profound meditation on man and nature.
Rex
The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films 9. Titanic (1997) Titanic may be one of the most successful films of all time, but it’s also become a lightning rod for critical opprobrium in recent years. That's unfair. James Cameron’s big-screen retelling of the ill-fated ship’s sinking – anchored by the love affair between Jack (DiCaprio) and Rose (Kate Winslet) – is the perfect blockbuster and an all-round technical marvel.
20th Century Fox
The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films 8. What's Eating Gilbert Grape? DiCaprio’s first Oscar nomination came with this slice-of-life drama following a young man (Johnny Depp) who cares for his mother and mentally impaired brother. Its themes of loneliness and desperation may not make Lasse Hallström’s film a heartwarming affair, but its breezy screenplay – brought to life by Depp and DiCaprio’s exceptional performances – makes it a compulsory one.
The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films 7. The Departed (2006) It may lack the grit of Infernal Affairs , the Hong Kong film it’s based on, but The Departed is still a thrilling crime drama that fizzes with chutzpah from its opening scene. Its plot, following two moles – one within the Boston police force, the other as part of a fearsome mob boss’s crew – keeps viewers on their toes right through to its bullet-ridden final act.
Warner Bros
The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films 6. Django Unchained (2012) Save for its flabby climax, Quentin Tarantino’s revisionist take on the western genre is up there with his best. As violent as it is sublimely silly, it casts DiCaprio as the villainous slaveowner Calvin Candie – a role the actor, fake teeth and all, embraces with relish.
TWC
The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films 5. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) DiCaprio’s performance in The Wolf of Wall Street could well be the role of his career. As real-life stockbroker Jordan Belfort, he covers the whole gamut of emotions: charm (the workplace speeches), slapstick comedy (the quaalude stair-plummet) and horror (the domestic abuse). The Wolf of Wall Street slips alongside Mean Streets and Goodfellas as one of Martin Scorsese’s most re-watchable films.
AP
The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films 4. Shutter Island (2010) DiCaprio’s fourth film with Martin Scorsese is their only collaboration to be completely shunned by awards voters (it received a grand total of zero Oscar nominations). The mist-shrouded landscape of Shutter Island is a tribute to Sam Fuller’s 1963 cult film, Shock Corridor , and is a shining example of Scorsese succeeding in whatever he turns his hand to.
The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films 3. Catch Me If You Can (2002) Bouncy and gently amusing, Steven Spielberg's light drama stars DiCaprio as Frank Abergnale, a charming con artist whose life collides with that of FBI agent, Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks). There’s excitement to be had in Abergnale’s illicit escapades, as well as pathos when the circle eventually closes in.
The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films 2. Inception (2010) To call Inception a Leonardo DiCaprio film is to do a disservice to its writer-director Christopher Nolan, whose mind-bending blockbuster remains a staggering, if divisive, achievement. DiCaprio could have easily rested on his laurels, knowing the audience would be dazzled by the director’s visuals, but his performance as Dom Cobb is genuinely affecting: his reaction to wife Mal (Marion Cotillard) throwing herself from a window is a devastating high point.
Warner Bros/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock
The 10 best Leonardo DiCaprio films 1. Romeo + Juliet (1996) Baz Luhrmann once described his update of Shakespeare's classic tragedy as "funky". That it is, and so much more. From the psychedelic tunes to the Hawaiian shirts, it's Romeo and Juliet by way of MTV: a heady, relentlessly innovative dive into the seedy metropolis of Verona Beach, Florida. This was the moment the then 21-year-old DiCaprio went stratospheric.
The Devil in the White City and Killers of the Flower Moon are expected to land in 2022.
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