20 ·^ COSMOPOLITAN
WORDS WILLIAM FOXTON. PHOTOGRAPHS MOVIESTILLSDB.COM, GETTY IMAGES, LANDMARK MEDIA
THE BIG-SCREEN EVOLUTIONOF
From ’90s poster boy to Oscar-winning actor... we cha
the rise and rise of theunsinkable Leo’s movie career
1995
1996
2006 1998
2013 2015
THE BASKETBALL DIARIES
Girls wanted to save him,
boys wanted the number
of his hairstylist. Leo’s turn
as a high-school basketball
star put him firmly on
Hollywood’s radar.
ROMEO + JULIET
One glance through a tropical fish
tank and we were sold. The angst,
the baby-face,
the music,
the epic
Hawaiian
shirts before
they went
mass in C&A.
This was
the peak of
Leo-mania.
THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK
If you could turn a blind eye
to the mullet, Leo acted his
breeches off in two different
roles. We were still obsessed
with Jack
Dawson,
but he was
already
moving
on.
THEDEPARTED
Scorsese!Nicholson!Also
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET
Leo did a top job of exposing the excess
and hedonism of the financial world. This
September an immersive theatre
production hits
London, so it’s
still successfully
sparking
spin-offs.
art
TITANIC
Who didn’t want Jack
Dawson to draw them like
one of his French girls?
In 2019 Leo is one of
the world’s most high-
profile climate-change
campaigners but, in 1997,
he had a lot to thank
that iceberg for.
1997
2000
THEBEACH
Whateveryone
DJANGOUNCHAINE
He joined Tarantino
and whipped out
acting skills so
impressive weactu
hated him by thee
2012
THEGREATGATSBY
BazLuhrmannworkedhismagic
torecreatealltheglitz
2013
THE REVENANT
The Oscar finally
arrived. Leo
faced Tom Hardy
in a cinematic
brood-off and
used his best
lip-chapped
drama skills to
win us over. The
beard alone was
worth the award.
Scorsese!Nicholson!Also,
MarkWahlberg!This was
themomentLeorubbed
shoulderswiththe
bigboysand
morethan
heldhis own,
earning
Hollywood-
heavyweight
stripes.
Whateveryone
thought their gap
yearwouldbelike
(minussharkattacks
anddruglords).We
all bookedtrips to
Thailand,listened
to AllSaints’Pure
Shoresandreturned
withdodgy tattoos.
ED
o
ually
end.
torecreatealltheglitz
andglamourofthe
roaring’20s.Let’s
raisea glassto
Leo, whoisnow
amemefor all
seasons.