Leonardo DiCaprio attends the “One Battle After Another” New York Screening at The Film Society of Lincoln Center, Walter Reade Theatre on September 21, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/WireImage)WireImage
Leonardo DiCaprio has been a household name for decades. But if one of his early agents had gotten their way, we might have never known him by that.
The Academy Award winner revealed on the Sept. 24 episode of “New Heights,” hosted by brothers Travis and Jason Kelce, that he was asked to change his name when he was first starting out in Hollywood because it sounded “too ethnic.”
“I finally got an agent,” DiCaprio began. “They said, ‘Your name is too ethnic,’” DiCaprio recalled. “I go, ‘What do you mean? It’s Leonardo DiCaprio?’ They go, ‘No, too ethnic. They’re never going to hire you. Your new name is Lenny Williams.’”
DiCaprio continued: “I said, ‘What is Lenny?’ I was 12,13. I said, ‘What is Lenny Williams?’ ‘We took your middle name and we made it. Now you’re Lenny.’” For context, DiCaprio’s middle name is Wilhelm.
This new moniker did not go over well with DiCaprio’s dad. The “Titanic” star explained that when his father saw his new headshots marked Lenny Williams, he “ripped it up, and he said, ‘Over my dead body.’”
Leonardo DiCaprio and Benicio del Toro speak during the fan event for the movie ‘One Battle After Another’ at Plaza Toreo Parque Central on September 18, 2025 in Naucalpan de Juarez, Mexico. (Photo by Eloisa Sanchez/Getty Images)Getty Images
The Kelce brothers also had Benicio del Toro, who is DiCaprio’s co-star in the new film “One Battle After Another,” as a guest on the episode. Del Toro had a similar story to share.
“I was told the same thing. ‘You’re Benny Del,’” the “Sicario” actor recounted.
Fortunately, DiCaprio and Del Toro’s decision to stick with their real names seemingly didn’t impact their careers.
“One Battle After Another,” based on the 1990 novel “Vineland” by Thomas Pynchon, is now playing. Sean Penn, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, and Chase Infiniti also star in the action thriller film, which follows an ex-revolutionary (DiCaprio) who must rescue his daughter from a corrupt military official.
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