Leonardo DiCaprio Reveals The New Name An Agent Almost Gave Him

Leonardo DiCaprioLeonardo DiCaprio would’ve been an Oscar-winning actor with a totally different name, if one agent had his way. The One Battle After Another star spoke about the almost-name change on Jason and Travis Kelce’s podcast, New Heights, earlier this week.“I finally got an agent. They said, ‘Your name is too ethnic’,” Leo recalled on the episode, which was released on Wednesday. “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’.”.“I said, ‘What is Lenny?’ I was 12, 13. I said, ‘What is Lenny Williams?’ ‘We took your middle name and we made it. Now you’re Lenny’,” he recalled the agent saying. (The Titanic actor’s full name is Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio, fact fans.)Luckily, the actor said things never moved forward with “Lenny” as his father saw a headshot with Leo’s new name on it and “ripped it up”.“He said, ‘Over my dead body,’” he recalled. Leo appeared on the podcast alongside his One Battle After Another co-star, Benicio Del Toro, who said the same thing happened to him. “I was told the same thing. ‘You’re Benny Del’,” Del Toro said. “Mr. Del.”Others in Hollywood have spoken about the pressures from others to change their name, including singer Christina Aguilera.“I remember when I was first coming up, there was a big debate around me on changing my last name because all the businessmen around me thought it was too long, too complicated, and too ethnic,” the singer told Billboard back in 2020. “‘Christina Agee’ was an option, but that clearly wasn’t going to fly,” she replied, as she “was dead set against the idea and I wanted to represent who I really was”.“Being Latina, it is a part of my heritage and who I am,” Xtina added. READ MORE:Leonardo DiCaprio Tried To Sneak Into The Met Gala Unnoticed, But It Didn’t Quite Go To PlanThis A-Lister Says He's Relieved He Missed Out On Leonardo DiCaprio's Titanic Role For 1 ReasonLeonardo DiCaprio Admits His Biggest Career Regret Is Turning Down This Iconic Film

Comments

Breaking news

Gaza’s ‘perfect storm of hazards’ amid thousands of tonnes of unexploded bombs

Metro

Why the 90s is tasting pretty darned good in this economy: How nostalgia and Americans’ pocketbooks are bringing brands like Chi-Chi’s back from the dead

about 1 hour ago

Taiwan's main opposition party elects new leader in a race clouded by claims of China meddling

Independent

Comments

Similar News

Leonardo DiCaprio's knee brace and bandages spark concern as he trades partying for pickleball in Ibiza

Leonardo DiCaprio's 27-year-old girlfriend broke his 'under-25 rule' - and insiders say his mom's behind it

Leonardo DiCaprio's woke 'pro-Antifa' blockbuster is flopping at the box office amid conservative backlash

Leonardo DiCaprio as a high-flying, corrupt stockbroker

Leonardo DiCaprio reunites with longtime friend Tobey Maguire for a boys' day out while girlfriend Vittoria Ceretti models in Paris for Fashion Week

Leonardo DiCaprio's girlfriend Vittoria Ceretti puts on a leggy display in tiny shorts and a leather coat as she departs the Costes Hotel in Paris

Leonardo DiCaprio's One Battle After Another scores a $22 million opening weekend at the box office after critics hailed it as 'the defining film of a generation

Pro-Palestine protesters march on Edinburgh Leonardo factory in latest demonstration

Leonardo DiCaprio is joined by braless co-star Teyana Taylor at One Battle After Another screening in NY

Breaking news

Gaza’s ‘perfect storm of hazards’ amid thousands of tonnes of unexploded bombs

Ukraine cannot win against Russia, warns top British army chief

Prince Andrew: Timeline of all the royal’s scandals as he surrenders Duke of York title

Can you actually fool AI to push your resume to the top of the pile?

Why the 90s is tasting pretty darned good in this economy: How nostalgia and Americans’ pocketbooks are bringing brands like Chi-Chi’s back from the dead

Taiwan's main opposition party elects new leader in a race clouded by claims of China meddling

US treasury secretary and Chinese vice premier plan another meet over ‘unsustainable’ tariff hike

Prince Andrew named in new Epstein flight logs after giving up royal titles

‘Miserable’ gorillas left behind in old enclosures three years after zoo closes to public

Man fakes his own funeral ‘to see who shows up and how much they care’

All Your Fave It-Girls Are Wearing Loafers – Here Are The Best Pairs To Shop

Government spends £115,000 on ‘influencer marketing’ in less than a year

Investigation launched after budget airline jet almost dives into ocean moments after takeoff

Prince Andrew's antics and scandals have tried royal patience, triggering headlines and suspicions

One scandal too many forces UK monarchy to sideline Prince Andrew

Major police incident on A737 as road near Paisley closed

Teenage girl missing from Scots town as police launch search

Man charged with attempted murder after 'stabbing' on Glasgow street

Gavin and Stacey star Mathew Horne's quiet life in 'special' Scottish village

Air Arabia flight hurtles towards sea at 300mph seconds after take off

'Freaky' thing happens to viral image when you flip it upside down

New blood test for more than 50 cancers 'could transform outcomes'

Crocodile found in UK canal sparks police force's 'strangest appeal ever'

Vet lists five dog breeds she would never own

Woman's texts predicted killer boyfriend's actions days before she died

Europe's top Christmas market of 2025 and it's only 2.5 hours from the UK

Daily Mirror pub quiz: Test your knowledge with these 20 tricky questions!

The Apprentice's Dr Leah Totton reveals concerns behind 'worrying' cosmetic tourism

Moment Ukraine destroys Putin's floating bomb as Russia launches fresh attacks

Gorilla bar worker, 19, found dead in early hours as three people arrested

Man living with dead mum in flat he'd not left for eight years

Prince Andrew still presents 'impossible' problem with no way out as King can't act

DVLA issues urgent warning to drivers over little-known rule

SeaWorld trainer butchered by killer whale who turned 'psychotic' in captivity

'I reversed high blood pressure and palpitations by losing 7st without jabs'

Lip reader reveals Prince Andrew's last public exchange with 'furious' Prince William

Fighting like stags - these MPs caused 'the great rumble in the Westminster jungle'

‘Our babies were taken away in cardboard boxes and effectively put into landfill'

You're eating cheese all wrong! Expert reveals how to store dairy products properly - and why you should NEVER keep blues, cheddars, and bries together

I won MasterChef's most controversial series ever - I was shocked when producers imposed one strict rule you never think about as a viewer

Netflix fans 'obsessed' with 'both hilarious and devastating' new series - binge-watching every episode in a day and comparing it to Orange Is The New Black

I've worked with Rylan Clark and Robert Rinder on their TV shows - both revealed their true colours on set when the cameras stopped rolling

Family's fury that 'Lip King' is selling weight-loss jabs online while on police bail after mother-of-five died following BBL at his clinic

Portugal bans burqas: Wearing face veils for 'gender or religious reasons' will bring fine of up to £3,475

'These monsters can't escape' say Virginia Giuffre's 'vindicated' family as Prince Andrew gives up royal titles and more evidence emerges of his flights on paedophile Jeffrey Epstein's 'Lolita Express' jet

Come Dine With Me's Whisk Man reveals what he regrets most from becoming an overnight celebrity

The world's most endangered animals revealed in breathtaking pictures

Moment Brooklyn Beckham is asked about his mother Victoria's Netflix documentary... after skipping the premiere amid family feud

Punch-ups before lessons and county lines gangs... a day in the life of a secondary school teacher in Britain

How Albanian gangsters use frogmen to hide cocaine on Europe-bound ships - without their crews ever knowing

POLL OF THE DAY: Was Prince Andrew right to give up his royal titles?

Former nun reveals the six-word comment that made her give up her life in a convent to teach yoga in a bikini

The woman with the world's most powerful men at her feet: As Trump fawn's over 'beautiful' Giorgia Meloni, how the 5ft 3in cigarette-loving Italian leader wraps men around her finger

Four men are arrested in France over plot to kill Putin critic who fled Russia after exposing prison abuses

Dominic Cummings says Nigel Farage will be Britain's next Prime Minister - if he can build right team around him

Is YOUR hometown at risk? Terrifying map reveals the towns and cities across England that could be plunged underwater by 2050 - wiping out 8 million properties

How TV golden girls Fearne Cotton and Holly Willoughby rekindled their decades-long friendship after 'drifting apart' as ex This Morning star reaches out to her old pal amid tough time

Celebrity death hoax victims: From Bon Jovi to Denise Welch and Tom Cruise - the stars who fell foul of elaborate internet pranks after Leigh-Anne Pinnock was 'killed off' in 'disgusting' viral clip

Aziz Ansari's tentative comeback with the 'nicest guy in Hollywood': Controversy plagued star casts Keanu Reeves as an angel in his new film - but will Good Fortune come his way after sexual assault claims and that ill-advised comedy show in Saudi Arabia?

Flight attendant reveals the worst behaviour she's witnessed from passengers - including on-board toenail cutting