30 Things You Didnt Know About Leonardo DiCaprio

Such as, he's an award-winning pop-lock dancer.

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead

The Oscar-nominated The Wolf of Wall Street, directed by the great Martin Scorsese, is, of course, about the lavish, drug-riddled, sex-fueled life of financial swindler Jordan Belfort. The film came out two months ago and we’re still high from it, mostly because of Leonardo DiCaprio's towering performance. It's the best acting he's ever done, and tomorrow, at the 86th Academy Awards, he might win his first-ever Oscar for it.

Watching DiCaprio contort himself throughout The Wolf of Wall Street's show-stopping "cerebral palsy phase" drug sequence is revelatory. Who knew he could go to such body-bending lengths? Are you ready for more eye-opening facts about Leo, too? You're in luck—here are 30 things you didn’t know about Leonardo DiCaprio.

RELATED: Leonardo DiCaprio's Life is Better Than Yours, in GIFs

RELATED: A Totally Speculative Conversation About Who's Cooler, DiCaprio or Clooney

At the tender age of five, Leo appeared on his favorite TV show Romper Room and Friends and was nearly thrown off for misbehaving.

Not Available Interstitial

When he was younger he appeared in commercials for Bubble Yum gum and Fred Meyer, a clothing store.

Not Available Interstitial

At age 14, he signed with an agent and did an ad for Matchbox cars.

Not Available Interstitial

While filming Django Unchained, Leo accidentally cut his hand when he slammed it on a table. Without breaking character or hesitating, he used it in the scene, wiping the blood over Kerry Washington's face to make for an even more terrifying and memorable moment.

Not Available Interstitial

His favorite on-screen performance is by Gena Rowlands in A Women Under the Influence

Not Available Interstitial

He sells his own special blend of directly sourced, sustainable coffee. All proceeds go to saving endangered jaguars. (Yes, jaguars.)

Not Available Interstitial

He made this bizarre Jim Beam commercial.

Not Available Interstitial

He was part of a group of partiers called the "Pussy Posse," which included Tobey Maguire and David Blaine in the '90s.

Not Available Interstitial

He's a decorated breakdancer. When he was a kid, he won an actual award in Germany for his pop-locking skills.

Not Available Interstitial

He mentioned on The Ellen Show that during The Wolf of Wall Street's Quaalude sequence, it took them 70 takes just to get the ham to stick to his face. This was achieved by flicking the ham off of a spoon and using K-Y jelly.

Not Available Interstitial

During the kissing scene between DiCaprio and Joanna Lumley, Leonardo was so nervous that the scene required a reported 27 takes to get it right.

Not Available Interstitial

He screen-tested for the role of Robin in the wonderfully awful Batman Forever.

Not Available Interstitial

In 1999, DiCaprio's lawyers filed an application to allow him to copyright his name.

Not Available Interstitial

In March of 1998 he sued Playgirl after learning about the magazine's plans to publish nude pictures of him.

Not Available Interstitial

Leo and the rest of The Wolf of Wall Street's cast crushed B vitamins for scenes involving cocaine. Although their noses felt uncomfortable, it gave them more energy to perform their scenes.

Not Available Interstitial

When Kate Winslet found out she had to go topless in Titanic, she flashed the young Leo to prepare him for what he was going to encounter later.

Not Available Interstitial

Leo recently revealed that he'd had a close encounter of the shark kind. While shooting the 2006 film Blood Diamond, Dhe was shark-watching in a "protective" cage when a Great White managed to get in there with him. "It was absolutely terrifying," he says.

Not Available Interstitial

In 2005 he paid $1.75 million for Blackadore Caye, a 104-acre island off the coast of Belize. His plan is to develop an eco-friendly resort with renewable energy sources.

Not Available Interstitial

As a kid, he was a contestant on a game show called Fun House. Using only his teeth, he had to catch fish in a small pool.

Not Available Interstitial

He's a huge fan of Jersey Shore.

Not Available Interstitial

He suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Not Available Interstitial

Leo loves to travel and at one point considered being a travel agent. "I remember, at one stage, wanting to be a travel agent so I could get out in the world," he says. "I wanted to be able to get free trips." And he's still excited to explore new places. "I would never throw away my passport," says Leo. "I love travel and it's like having a key to the rest of the world."

Not Available Interstitial

DiCaprio first moved out of his mom's house a month before Titanic was released. He was 23 at the time.

Not Available Interstitial

DiCaprio spent "many months" with the real Jordan Belfort in preparation for his Wolf role. He even videotaped Belfort impersonating what it was like to be on those extra-strong lemon Quaaludes.

Not Available Interstitial

He was at one point attached to star in American Psycho (2000).

Not Available Interstitial

He is an ardent environmentalist. He founded the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation to support sustainability efforts, is a boardmember of the Natural Resources Defense Council and Global Green USA, and produced the climate change documentary The 11th Hour.

Not Available Interstitial

As a budding teen actor, he was told by an agent to change his name to Lenny Williams for fear that his real name sounded too "ethnic." Clearly, he declined.

Not Available Interstitial

He was offered the role of Dirk Diggler in Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights but opted for Titanic instead.

Not Available Interstitial

As the story goes, during the time of Leo's mother's pregnancy, she was standing in front of a Leonardo da Vinci painting the first time she felt a kick in her stomach.

Not Available Interstitial

His middle name is Wilhelm.

Not Available Interstitial

Latest in Pop Culture