LEONARDO DICAPRIO: Green Personality for March 2019

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NAME: LEONARDO WILHELM DICAPRIO

DATE OF BIRTH: NOVEMBER 11, 1974

NATIONALITY: AMERICAN

“Raising awareness on the most pressing environmental issues of our time is more important than ever.
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— Leornardo Dicaprio

EDUCATION

DiCaprio attended Seeds Elementary School (now UCLA Lab School) and John Marshall High School a few blocks away, after attending the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies for four years. He dropped out of high school following his third year, eventually earning his general equivalency diploma (GED). DiCaprio spent part of his childhood in Germany with his maternal grandparents, Wilhelm and Helene. He is conversant in German and Italian.

OCCUPATION/CAREER

In 1979, DiCaprio was removed, at the age of five, from the set of the children's television series Romper Room for being disruptive. He began his career by appearing in several commercials and educational films, following his older stepbrother Adam Farrar into television commercials, and landing an ad at age 14 for Matchbox cars by Mattel, which he considered his first role. Throughout his teens he was seen in commercials for Kraft Foods, Bubble Yum, Apple Jacks, and many more. In 1989, he played the role of Glen in two episodes of the television show The New Lassie.

In 1990, he started acting regularly on television. This started with a role in the pilot of The Outsiders, and one episode of the soap opera Santa Barbara, playing the young Mason Capwell. That same year, DiCaprio got a break on television when he was cast in Parenthood. A series based on a successful comedy film by the same name. His works that year earned him two nominations at the Young Artist Award in Best Young Actor in a Daytime Series (Santa Barbara) and Best Young Actor Starring in a New Television Series (Parenthood). DiCaprio was also a celebrity contestant on the children's game show Fun House. One of the stunts he performed on the show was going fishing in a small pool of water by catching the fish only with his 

ADVOCACY/ACHIEVEMENTS

Following the success of Titanic in 1997 along with earlier films, 24-year-old DiCaprio established the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in 1998, a non-profit organization devoted to promoting environmental awareness.Although concerned with all areas of the environment, it focuses on global warming, preserving Earth's biodiversity and supporting renewable energy. It has worked on projects in over 40 countries and has produced two short web documentaries, Water Planet and Global Warning. The foundation has also funded debt-for-nature swaps. Because of his active involvement in those causes, he has received praise from environmental groups. Among the accolades received were the Martin Litton Environment Award, in 2001, from Environment Now, and the Environmental Leadership Award in 2003 from Global Green USA. He has been an active supporter of numerous environmental organizations and has sat on the board of the World Wildlife Fund, Global Green USA, International Fund for Animal Welfare and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

DiCaprio is a vegetarian, rumored to even be vegan, and in 2014 he backed the documentary Cowspiracy about the impact of animal agriculture on the environment and the positions of several environmental organizations on the issue. By taking the role of executive producer, DiCaprio helped the documentary get released on Netflix. DiCaprio has owned environment-friendly electric-hybrid vehicles and his home is powered by solar panels, although his use of private jets and large yachts has attracted criticism due to their large carbon footprints.

_The problem is we don't know what the climate is doing. We thought we knew 20 years ago. That led to some alarmist books – mine included – because it looked clear-cut, but it hasn't happened._ (3).jpg

RESOURCES