Leonardo DiCaprio on auditioning as a kid: 'I slicked back my hair and put on a leather jacket'

Leonardo DiCaprio. Pic/AFP

The award-winning film star Leonardo DiCaprio developed an interest in acting because he says he wanted to "get out of [his] neighbourhood".

Speaking to Jennifer Lawrence in an interview, DiCaprio said, "I think a lot of my propulsion to want to act as a kid was to get out of my neighbourhood. My stepbrother did a lot of commercials. I was like, ‘Wait a minute, you can get paid to do that? I got to get out of this place.' I was [our] stage mom, pushing my parents to take me on auditions. I told them, ‘This is going to be my college fund to get me money to try to have some sort of career in something.' I didn't book anything for a while."

He added, "I got a Matchbox car commercial where I played a gangster with slicked back hair. I had a briefcase and I opened it up."

Asked if he went to the audition looking like a gangster, DiCaprio replied, "Yes. I slicked back my hair and put on a leather jacket. I booked Mickey's Safety Club, too. An after-school special thing where you teach kids the dangers of drugs. My first television show was The Outsiders [1983]. There's my whole filmography."

Did you know?

‘The Outsiders' was Leonardo DiCaprio's first TV show

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