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By Brandon Griggs, CNN
2 minute read
Updated 11:28 AM EST, Mon February 29, 2016
Leonardo DiCaprio finally won an Oscar on his fifth acting nomination, a trophy for his performance in "The Revenant." Here is a look back at his critically acclaimed career.
The actor teamed with iconic director Martin Scorsese for the over-the-top film "Wolf of Wall Street" in 2013. His portrayal of out-of-control stockbroker Jordan Belfort earned him a best actor Oscar nomination. As producer, he also scored a best film nomination.
That same year, DiCaprio starred in "Great Gatsby," an adaptation of the classic F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, co-starring Carey Mulligan.
The actor sank his teeth into the role of evil plantation owner Calvin Candie in Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained" in 2012.
Heavy makeup helped DiCaprio transform into FBI head J. Edgar Hoover for 2011's "J. Edgar."
Fans are still scratching their heads over director Christopher Nolan's 2010 sc-fi thriller "Inception." DiCaprio told NPR that he and Nolan spent every day for two months straight going over the story.
Dennis Lehane's novel "Shutter Island" got the big-screen treatment in 2010. DiCaprio starred, and Scorsese directed.
"Revolutionary Road" reunited DiCaprio with his "Titanic" love interest Kate Winslet in 2008.
DiCaprio also starred in the spy thriller "Body of Lies" in 2008.
Gems mined in war zones and plenty of action gave the actor the chance to get political in 2006's "Blood Diamond."
The 2006 film "The Departed" won a best picture Academy Award and best director for Scorsese. DiCaprio's role as an undercover officer infiltrating the mob won him praise but no Oscar.
DiCaprio embodied tycoon Howard Hughes (here with Gwen Stefani) in "The Aviator" in 2004.
DiCaprio plays a skilled con man in 2002's "Catch Me If You Can."
Scorsese teamed up with DiCaprio for the historical "Gangs of New York" in 2002.
The star hits the sand in the 2000 adventure "The Beach," based on the novel by Alex Garland.
The 1998 version of "The Man in the Iron Mask" is one of several that has been produced over the years. The actor portrays King Louis XIV.
"Titanic" has been DiCaprio's biggest hit, and his character, Jack (opposite Winslet's Rose), in the 1997 film is beloved.
The actor joined an all-star cast including Diane Keaton in "Marvin's Room," a 1996 drama based on the play by Scott McPherson.
Shakespeare got the DiCaprio treatment in "Romeo + Juliet." Baz Luhrmann directed the 1996 adaptation. DiCaprio was, of course, Romeo and Claire Danes his Juliet.
In 1995, critics loved the actor in the coming-of-age drama "The Basketball Diaries" (with Lorraine Bracco). It's based on the book by Jim Carroll.
DiCaprio donned a cowboy hat and spurs for the 1995 Western "The Quick and the Dead."
"What's Eating Gilbert Grape?" (1993) earned DiCaprio with his first Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor for his portrayal of Arnie, the mentally disabled brother of Johnny Depp's Gilbert.
A young DiCaprio impressed critics as a teen struggling with a difficult relationship with his stepfather in the 1993 film "This Boy's Life." The movie is an adaptation of a memoir by Tobias Wolff.
The films of Leonardo DiCaprio
Story highlights
Actor Leonardo DiCaprio finally won an Oscar Sunday night after four previous acting nominations
The "Revenant" star: "I thank you all for this amazing award tonight. Let us not take this planet for granted"
CNN —
Well, all that beard growing and bison liver-eating paid off.
Nineteen years after “Titanic” made him a global star, Leonardo DiCaprio finally won an Oscar Sunday night for his uncompromising role as a vengeful frontiersman in “The Revenant,” his first win after coming away empty-handed at four previous Academy Awards shows.
The actor, 41, was composed but heartfelt in his best actor acceptance speech, in which he thanked mentor Martin Scorsese and urged viewers to combat climate change.
Oscars 2016: Complete winners list
“Making ‘The Revenant’ was about man’s relationship to the natural world, a world that we collectively felt in 2015 as the hottest year in recorded history. Our production needed to move to the southern tip of this planet just to be able to find snow,” he said.
Actor Leonardo DiCaprio accepts the best actor award for "The Revenant."
“Climate change is real. It is happening right now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species, and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating. We need to support leaders around the world who do not speak for the big polluters or the big corporations, but who speak for all of humanity, for the indigenous people of the world, for the billions and billions of underprivileged people who will be most affected by this, for our children’s children, and for those people out there whose voices have been drowned out by the politics of greed.
“I thank you all for this amazing award tonight. Let us not take this planet for granted. I do not take tonight for granted.”
The actor received his first Oscar nomination in 1994 for his supporting role as Johnny Depp’s mentally disabled little brother in “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.” But the award went to Gene Hackman for “Unforgiven.” DiCaprio was later nominated for playing Howard Hughes in 2005’s “The Aviator,” a diamond smuggler in 2006’s “Blood Diamond” and a crooked stockbroker in Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street,” released in 2013.
A scene from "The Revenant," in which DiCaprio's character has little dialogue.
Most Oscar pundits had expected him to win for Alejandro Iñárritu’s “Revenant,” an 1820s frontier drama that became famous for its arduous wintertime shoot – and a brutal onscreen bear attack – long before moviegoers ever saw the completed film. DiCaprio plays Hugh Glass, a fur trapper who survives the bear mauling and journeys hundreds of miles to seek revenge on the man who betrayed and abandoned him.
For one scene the actor ate a real raw bison liver – a commitment that may have swayed academy voters.
Is it finally Leonardo DiCaprio’s year?
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