Happy birthday Leo!

I personally fell in love with this man after the movie, ‘Titanic’ (I have watched this movie more than 30 times)! But there are many more reasons to love him. For one, he kept making films he believed in despite not winning an Oscar for over two decades and five nominations!

For another, he is more than an actor, producer, artist – he is ‘A Real Man’ as quoted by Vladimir Putin. A real man, who is a climate champion and has donated millions in environmental foundations and towards endangered species conservation.

As he turns another year older today (November 11), Sony Le PLEX HD pays tribute to the Leo by airing some of his most revered movies like ‘Departed’, ‘J Edgar’, ‘Body of Lies’ on November 11 starting 3 pm. Here is a Leonardo DiCaprio trivia for you:

Leonardo DiCaprio is named after Leonardo DaVinci because he first kicked in his mother's womb when she saw Leonardo Da Vinci's artwork at a Gallery in Italy

When DiCaprio was just starting out, an agent tried to persuade him to change his name to Lenny Williams as he thought that Leonardo name is too ethnic, and he wouldn’t get as many jobs. Leonardo, however, decided to stick to his original name!

Leonardo gained most popularity for his portrayal of Jack Dawson in 1997’s ‘Titanic’ movie, however, what you must know is that DiCaprio had passed on the role as his character doesn’t go through torment and he thought that the role is not challenging enough.

Leonardo DiCaprio is one of 14 actors to have won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Critics' Choice Award, Golden Globe Award and SAG Award for the same performance; for his performance in the 2015 film ‘The Revenant’.

Leonardo DiCaprio’s first Oscar win on February 28, 2016, broke the internet and generated 440,000 tweets per minute, making it the most-tweeted moment of an Oscars telecast ever, surpassing Ellen DeGeneres' selfie from the 2014 ceremony.

Leonardo DiCaprio shares the 2015 Special Humanitarian Award with Veronica Grey for their environmental documentary ‘Worst Shark Attack Ever’ (2014). He was also awarded the Special Jury Award and Socially Responsible Conservationist Award for this project, from three different, relevant film festivals.

He is big on the environment - in 2010, he donated $1 million to save tigers and in 2013, he donated another $3 million to save tigers in Nepal. In 2014, Leo’s foundation gave $3 million to saving ocean wildlife and in 2017, the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation announced new grants of $20 million to more than 100 organisations.

DiCaprio celebrated one of his birthdays with a charity bash where rapper Kanye West performed, and DiCaprio raised $3m for his environmental foundation. Well, he’s only got to top that this year! Wishing the man of our hearts and the man of ‘Titanic’, a Happy Birthday.

- Krutika Ganatra