November 11
Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio's Birthday
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Very few actors make a successful
transition from child actor to successful adult star. Not only did Leonardo
DiCaprio make nearly a seamless transition from his his early TV appearances
on Romper Roomr and Growing
Pains to a uniquely series of
memorable roles including his roles as an abused stepson in This Boy's
Life (1993), amd the mentally-challenged teen in What's Eating
Gilbert Grape (1993) that earned the 19-year-old
actor as an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor. In an August 05, 2010 interview in Rolling Stone, Leonardo reflected on his early days in Hollywood. "I got to be wild and nuts, and I didn't suffer as much as people do now, where they have to play it so safe that they ruin their credibility. I didn't care what anyone thought.... It was also about avoiding the tornado of chaos, of potential downfall. It was, 'Wow, how lucky are we to not have hung out with that crowd or done those things?' My two main competitors in the beginning, the blond-haired kids I went to audition with, one hung himself and the other died of a heroin overdose... . I was never into drugs at all. There aren't stories of me in a pool of my own vomit in a hotel room on the Hollywood Strip." More great performances followed and then there was Titanic (1997), the biggest box-office success in film history. Overnight Leonardo became the most famous actor in the world, hounded 24/7 by the paparazzi, and appearing in an excess of teeny-bopper magazines, all of which he handled with a grace and maturity that few actors of any age possessed. In his Rolling Stone interview, he ironically recalled that "I had better success meeting girls before Titanic. My interactions with them didn't have all the stigma behind it, not to mention there wasn't a perception of her talking to me for only one reason." Then in June 2005, a nutty Canadian animal rights activist, Aretha Wilson, slashed his face with a smashed bottle which required a 17 stitches for the gashes on his face and ear. Wilson originally protested her innocence, claiming that she thought the Titanic star was an ex-boyfriend who had been bad mouthing her.. She entered a plea bargain and served two years in jail after which she was deported back to Canada. Leonardo and his looks
survived. He continues to be one of the world's most popular film
stars with a string of edgy award-winning performances, and has also earned
high praise for his environmental activism. However many awards he
receives, he will always be most remembered for his first-class
performance as the ill-fated Titanic's Jack Dawson. So what would be
more appropriate to serve Leonardo on his birthday that the exact recipe of
one the desserts that was served in first class on the Titanic the night that it
sank |