A New Chapter for Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio’s latest film, One Battle After Another, is generating significant attention and anticipation for the Academy Awards. His family is thrilled with his success, especially as they celebrated the film’s release in Los Angeles on December 4.
The 51-year-old actor was seen smiling while posing for cameras with his stepmother, Peggy Ann Farrar, and father, George DiCaprio, at a special event. Farrar, who has embraced Sikhism, is often seen wearing a turban, which symbolizes honor, sovereignty, equality, and commitment to God’s will. The gathering was hosted by Hollywood executives Mike Medavoy and Irene, along with Pam Abdy and Warner Bros’ co-chairman and CEO Mike De Luca. Among the star-studded guests were Al Pacino and Baz Luhrmann, but it was DiCaprio’s parents who took center stage.
This wasn’t the first time DiCaprio was seen with his family. Earlier, he was spotted at a Los Angeles Lakers game on March 20, sitting in the VIP courtside section alongside his girlfriend, Vittoria Ceretti, 27.
DiCaprio has always maintained a close relationship with his father, George, who is 82 years old. The actor’s parents separated shortly after his birth, and George later married Farrar in 1995. During DiCaprio’s early childhood, George faced financial difficulties and worked as an installer of asbestos and fireproof roofing before starting a waterbed business called Foggy Bottom.
George also had a career in Hollywood as a comic writer, editor, and distributor, and he played a role in shaping his son’s career in the early days. His past experience as a waterbed salesman inspired a small role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1970s-set coming-of-age comedy, Licorice Pizza.
DiCaprio is known for including his parents in his travels, such as a luxurious holiday in Naples on the Amalfi Coast in June 2023, where they were seen dining al fresco at the world-famous restaurant Lo Scoglio da Tommaso.
In a recent interview, DiCaprio shared how he believes the movie Titanic allowed him to become the “conductor of his own choices.” He starred alongside Kate Winslet in the record-breaking film in 1997, and DiCaprio admits that the James Cameron-directed project changed the course of his career.
When asked if he had any regrets about appearing in the movie, DiCaprio told Deadline: “No regrets. I mean, fully now in retrospect, I look back at that film and realize the thanks and the appreciation that I have for being a part of it, and to have been able to be in this incredibly fortunate position and not only to have been a part of that movie, but to be able to be the conductor of my own choices since.”
Titanic’s success gave DiCaprio the freedom to choose the projects he wanted to work on, and he considers it a major turning point in his career. He said, “That has been just the greatest gift.”
In September, DiCaprio revealed how his father saved the day when a former agent suggested changing his name to Lenny. During an appearance on the New Heights podcast, DiCaprio recalled the incident: “I go, ‘What do you mean, it’s Leonardo DiCaprio?’ They go, ‘No, too ethnic. They’re never going to hire you.’ He was told, ‘Your new name is Lenny Williams.’ I said, ‘What is Lenny?’ … ‘We took your middle name [Wilhelm] and we made it your [last name]. Now you’re Lenny.'”
However, DiCaprio’s father quickly dismissed the idea. The actor, whose film credits include Catch Me If You Can, The Departed, and The Wolf of Wall Street, explained: “My dad saw his photo, ripped it up, and he said, ‘Over my dead body.'”