Leonardo DiCaprio - actor - Interview - Cover Story

Interview, June, 1994 by Ingrid Sischy

The mesmerizing actor from This Boy's Life and What's Eating Gilbert Grape?--a star sealed with a kiss

INGRID SISCHY: I've been noticing how many young actors are coming along who grew up in Hollywood but whose parents weren't in the business. That's the case with you, right? So start the story of your road to becoming an actor.

LEONARDO DICAPRIO: I always wanted to become an actor. My parents knew I was outgoing as a child, and whenever people came over I'd automatically do impressions of them as soon as they left; it was my mom's favorite thing. Yes, I grew up in Hollywood, but not in any rich neighborhood. But my parents, who were split up, were so good at keeping my environment strong and keeping everything around me not focused on the fact that we were poor. They got me culture. They took me to museums. They showed art to me. They read to me. And my mother drove two hours a day to take me to University Elementary School. My father picked me up. He'd been an underground comic artist in New York in the '60s and he's been distributing comics and records and books in L.A. for a while now. I'd go on trips with him to all the comic-book stores around town when I was little.

School, I never truly got the knack of. I could never focus on things I didn't want to learn. Math is just the worst. To this day, I can't concentrate on it. People always say, "You should have tried harder." But actually, I cheated a lot because I just could not sit and do homework. Most of the stuff that I got from school was from hanging out with friends and meeting kids. I used to, like, take half of the school and do break-dancing skits with my friend in front of them at lunchtime. I had this one science class where the teacher would give me ten minutes after the class ended and I would get up and do improv!

My love of performing goes way back. My mom got me on Romper Room when I was five--it was my favorite show. But they couldn't control me. I would run up and smack the camera, and I'd jump around and do my little flips and routines. I wish I could get that tape now. But I have other memories, too. There was this one casting call when I was about ten. They brought five kids in just to see their look and if they'd be right for acting. I had this sort of punk haircut because I was into break-dancing at the time. I swear to God, it felt like we were a row of meat. The lady looked at me and at the other kids, saying, "Not him, not him, not him. You two stay." I was one of the "not hims." On the way home in the car, I cried and I said, "Dad, I really want to become an actor, but if this is what it's about I don't want to do it." He put his arm around me and said, "Someday, Leonardo, it will happen for you. Remember these words. Just relax." And then I stopped crying, and I said, "O.K."

IS: When did your parents get divorced?

LD: Before I was born. I sort of preferred it because I had two different worlds that I could connect with.

IS: You didn't stay in high school, right?

LD: I did about thirty, forty commercials, then I got Growing Pains during eleventh grade and for twelfth grade I had home study. I did twenty-four episodes and toward the end of that I auditioned for This Boy's Life. My first TV show had been Parenthood, which got canceled after thirteen episodes. I played Gary Buckman, the kid who masturbated and was really disturbed that his father left. During that time I remember talking to Pauly Shore about sex a lot.

IS: Really?

LD: One day we sat down on a mattress and talked about it for an hour, because I was curious, and he told me about girls and everything.

IS: How old were you?

LD: Fourteen, fifteen, something like that.

IS: Talk to me about whether or not you think you have a sense of yourself in physical and sexual terms.

LD: I'm still exploring in a lot of ways. I don't know myself completely.

IS: What I'm getting at is that there's something about you that makes me think you're going to have a lot, lot, lot to deal with in terms of being a really sexy star. To have that . . .

LD: Charm?

IS: Yeah.

LD: My charm? [sighs]

IS: Maybe it's even dangerous to talk about it because of the self-consciousness that it could arouse.

LD: O.K. I think sexiness in most people--and this is going to sound superficial--is definitely something you don't plan. I don't necessarily think I'm . . . whatever. To tell you the truth, I have no idea what people think of me. The main thing I don't want to do right now is create an image for myself. I notice that when I'm being consciously cool and I talk slower and wink or give a little smirk, people seem to like me more, and I think that's how you get phony attitudes about things. Whenever I notice myself doing something just to please somebody else, I try to stop it.

IS: Do you think you've changed as a person since you became successful?

LD: I know I've changed. No matter what, becoming well-known makes your mind start thinking in a different way. For example, people are watching you a lot more than they ever were. When people ask me, "How do you deal with fame?" I don't have an answer. When a person comes to me and says, "I really enjoyed your performance," I try to give a sincere thank-you, but I have no way to show you that I'm a decent guy and that I respect what you're saying. When I did What's Eating Gilbert Grape? I had no particular pressure on me. Now I feel there is more pressure on me to keep to that same text that I've kept to in my past two movies, of just maintaining my natural ability. I didn't even know what I did in Gilbert Grape. I just went off with whatever I felt instinctually without a second thought.