Leonardo DiCaprio almost forced to quit acting because name stopped him getting jobs

Leonardo DiCaprio is one the the most celebrated actors of his generation, of all time, even.

But his career almost turned out very differently, and it's all down to his name.

And he was advised to change it.

"They felt my name was too ethnic and I wouldn’t get as many jobs. So that thwarted me from being an actor for a number of years.

"I tried again two years later when I was 13 and got an agent to accept me with my name."

Discussing where his name actually came from, Leo explained to NPR back in 2014 that it was decided on his parents' honeymoon.

"And my father took that as a sign, and I suppose DiCaprio wasn't that far from da Vinci. And so, my dad, being the artist that he is, said, 'That's our boy's name'."

But the Catch Me If You Can star isn't the only actor to have considered changing their name to improve their chances of getting a starring role.

When he was starting out in the business, Keanu Reeves also considered getting himself a stage name, as a lot of actors do.

And it was almost very, very bad.

"I was like, 'Why', and they were like, 'Keanu, maybe it's a little too exotic', we don't wanna... ya know... '."

Revealing one of the names he thought about at the time, the actor said: "'Chuck Spadina'. Just ridiculous names. I just couldn't do it. I couldn't do it."

I think we're all glad neither of them did.