(KTLA) — Leonardo DiCaprio has been one of Hollywood’s most recognizable names for decades — but in another world, we might’ve never known Leo as Leo.
Ahead of the release of his latest film, Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another,” the 50 year-old Academy Award winner sat down with Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce for their “New Heights” podcast. During the conversation, alongside co-star Benicio del Toro, DiCaprio talked about his career and revealed why his first agent initially wanted him to change his name.
“I finally got an agent,” recalled DiCaprio. “They said, ‘Your name is too ethnic.’ I go, ‘What do you mean? It’s Leonardo DiCaprio?’ They go, ‘No, too ethnic. They’re never going to hire you. Your new name is Lenny Williams.”
DiCaprio said he responded by saying, “What is ‘Lenny’? I was 12, 13. ‘What is Lenny Williams’?
The actor remembered his agent and team saying they’d shortened his first name and added an anglicized version of his German middle name, Wilhelm. DiCaprio’s surname comes from grandparents Salvatore and Rosina DiCaprio, who were Italian.
DiCaprio wasn’t sold, and neither was Papa DiCaprio. The younger DiCaprio told the Kelce brothers and del Toro that his dad “ripped up” a “Lenny Williams” headshot, saying, “Over my dead body.”
During the same interview, fellow Academy Award winner Benicio del Toro, who is Puerto Rican, recalled agent concerns around his name. “I was told the same thing,” said del Toro. “‘You’re Benny Del.'”
DiCaprio and del Toro star in auteur Anderson’s upcoming action-thriller, which is will be released in theaters this weekend. The film finally brings together DiCaprio and Anderson, who’ve wanted to work together for years. DiCaprio said earlier this year that his biggest career regret is not doing Anderson’s acclaimed sophomore film, “Boogie Nights.”
The 1997 drama, a cinephile-favorite 1970s-set drama within the adult film industry, would have been filming at the same time as “Titanic,” which DiCaprio had already signed on for. While the ‘titanic’ hit film made DiCaprio a household name, he says he ultimately wished he had tried to make it work.
We’ll never know how far Lenny Williams’ career might have gone, but it appears DiCaprio made the right choice of name.
