Last Updated on September 6, 2024
Leonardo Dicaprio is an Academy Award-winning actor and an acclaimed director. His film career spans decades and includes countless box office hits. We have selected the cream of this crop to spoil your eyeballs like never before. So get ready for plenty of drama, romance, and unforgettable action scenes.
1. Romeo + Juliet (1996)
When Romeo and Juliet meet at a party, their love is instant and passionate. But they have to marry in secret in the hope that they will avoid the ire of their families; the Capulets and Montagues who sometimes clash violently.
The lovers plan to run away but Romeo is forced into hiding after he kills Juliet’s cousin for murdering his best friend. Juliet is told by her family that she will get married to another man. With the help of a sympathetic priest, Juliet fakes her own death but after Romeo mistakes her for dead and fatally poisons himself, Juliet takes her own life.
2. Titanic (1997)
Based on the real sinking of the RMS Titanic, the story follows the romance of fictional passengers Jack Dawson and Rose Bukater. Divided by class and Rose’s engagement to a dangerous man, the couple are nevertheless drawn together. When the ship hits the iceberg on that fateful night, they not only have to battle nature but also the wrath of Rose’s jilted fiance.
3. The Great Gatsby (2013)
In 1922, Nick moves to a new house in the North Shore village of West Egg. His neighbor, Jay Gatsby, invites him to a lavish party but not without asking a favor. Gatsby is in love with Nick’s cousin, Daisy, a married woman who had reciprocated his love years before. Gatsby asks Nick to bring Daisy to him and their romance is rekindled.
Things go south when Gatsby gets blamed for the death of a woman who also happens to be the mistress of Daisy’s husband.
4. Django Unchained (2012)
In 1858, Django’s life is in pieces. He is separated from his beloved wife, Broomhilda, who remains behind at a plantation while Django is sold off to other slave owners. When the buyers and the chain gang of captives encounter Dr King Schultz, Django gets the chance to turn things around.
After rescuing Django and the other slaves, Schultz, who is also a bounty hunter, knows that Django has information about a group of criminals that he is hunting. He promises Django his freedom and also to help rescue Broomhilda from her cruel new owner (played by Dicaprio) but only if Django agrees to team up with Schultz and catch the wanted men.
5. Inception (2010)
Dom Cobb has a valuable skill; he can steal information from people’s dreams. But a powerful businessman, Saito, has a unique job for Cobb. Instead of spying inside a dream, he wants Cobb to plant an idea in someone’s mind, a tactic called inception.
When Cobb learns that his payment is a clean slate, wiping out a crime he never committed and which keeps him from seeing his children, he assembles a crack team to convince Saito’s business rival to dissolve his father’s empire.
6. Blood Diamond (2006)
In 1999, Sierra Leone is in the grip of a brutal civil war. When rebels capture Solomon Vandy, they force him to work as a slave in a diamond mine. Vandy finds a large pink diamond and hides it moments before government forces capture him and the slavers.
But the word spreads that Vandy has discovered a rare gem and he’s sprung from jail by Danny Archer, a Rhodesian mercenary who wants the diamond to leave Africa behind for good.
The unlikely pair team up to find Vandy’s missing family and the stone but their journey is marred by the terrifying realities of war, child soldiers, and the blood diamond trade.
7. Shutter Island (2010)
In 1954, U.S. Marshal Edward Daniels travel to Shutter Island to investigate the disappearance of Rachel Solando, a patient at Ashecliffe Hospital for the criminally insane. Daniels soon realizes that the hospital is hiding something. Patients give him cryptic warnings and even though he is a lawman, the staff refuses to fully cooperate with the case.
When Daniels starts to experience migraines and flashbacks, the investigation reveals a devastating truth about his own past and why he is now being held on the island against his will.
8. The Aviator (2004)
This movie takes a biographical look at the early life of Howard Hughes. His utter dedication to success produces the first partially talking film and in 1938, he also breaks a world record by flying around the world in four days. He becomes a famous figure among the jet-set and builds new aircraft for the military.
But behind the fame and genius lies a tortured man. In a spellbinding performance, Dicaprio captures Howard Hughes’ descend into OCD with gritty realism, giving more insight into the condition that ultimately leads to his ruin.
9. Beach (2000)
American backpacker, Richard, is looking for the ultimate thrill. Bored with the usual things, he’s ecstatic when he is handed the map to a secret beach, a legendary paradise that is hidden and only known to a select few. Taking a French couple along, Richard manages to locate the island and they are welcomed by the small community, led by an English woman named Sal.
The island has a dark cloud; a gang of cannabis farmers who only allow the community to stay on the condition that they do not bring more people to the island. But Richard has already broken this cardinal rule. Weeks ago, he had given his map to a couple of surfers and when they arrive, violence shatters the idyllic paradise.
10. The Basketball Diaries (1995)
This movie is based on the harrowing story of Jim Carroll, a New York teenager who loves basketball. Although he is passionate about the sport and has a good mother, Jim is burdened by the tough culture of street life and the death of a friend, eventually turning to heroin to deal with his despair.
As their drug use escalates, Jim and two of his friends turn to crime and prostitution to feed a habit that destroys their education and their dream of becoming basketball stars. Throughout it all, Jim clings to his love of writing and documents his journey as an addict.
