Overview

• DiCaprio, 50, recalled being about 12 or 13 when an agent told him his name was "too ethnic" and that he would not be hired.
• The proposed stage name "Lenny Williams" was derived from his middle name, Wilhelm, according to DiCaprio.
• He said his father, George DiCaprio, tore up a headshot bearing the suggested name and told him, "Over my dead body."
• Benicio del Toro, appearing with him, said he received similar advice early on and joked he was told he’d be "Benny Del."
• DiCaprio described early auditions that lined kids up "like cattle" and shared the story while promoting Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, in theaters September 26.