Leonardo DiCaprio recalls agent's push to rename him 'Lenny Williams' to break into Hollywood

Leonardo DiCaprio revealed on Wednesday's episode of the New Heights podcast, hosted by Jason and Travis Kelce, that an agent once advised him to change his name to improve his prospects in Hollywood. The 50-year-old actor said the agent told him his given name was “too ethnic” and that producers would “never hire” someone with that name. The suggested moniker was “Lenny Williams,” a blend of his first name and his middle name Wilhelm. DiCaprio said his father saw a headshot bearing the new name and “ripped it up,” telling him, “Over my dead body.”

Benicio Del Toro, who appeared on the episode as a guest, recalled a similar early-career moment. The 58-year-old actor said he was also offered an alternate name—“Benny Del”—in a bid to simplify his screen identity. The hosts lightheartedly noted that the hypothetical pairing of Lenny Williams and Benny Del would have made for a memorable duo on a podcast stage.

DiCaprio also discussed the persistent rejections he faced as a rising star. He recalled an agent once lining him up “like cattle” and delivering a blunt “no.” He attributed part of his early hurdles to a bad haircut, describing himself at the time as a breakdancer who sometimes performed for money on the street, which left him with a haircut he thought did not help his chances. He remembered telling his father, “This is horrible,” only to have the haircut redone in hopes of improving his prospects.

The actor’s early forays into acting included teen-appeal modeling work and commercial gigs. He cut his teeth in the industry with Matchbox car commercials before becoming a familiar face on television in the early 1990s with Growing Pains. Those early roles paved the way for breakthrough turns in This Boy’s Life and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, performances that helped establish him as a rising talent long before Titanic made him a household name in 1997.

DiCaprio’s ascent continued with the blockbuster hit Titanic, cementing his status as a leading man in Hollywood. The podcast episode, which also highlighted Del Toro’s own accolades and career highlights, serves as a reminder of the industry’s history of reshaping identities in pursuit of marketability, even for actors who would later become multiple award winners.

The two actors’ reunion on New Heights comes as they promote their upcoming film One Battle After Another, which is slated to hit theaters on September 26. The project pairs DiCaprio with Del Toro for a dual-starrer that the hosts previewed as part of the episode’s wide-ranging conversation about career resilience, reinvention, and the long arc of success in film. An accompanying X post promoting the episode boasted that the guests “have four Golden Globes and two Academy Awards between them” and that their films have grossed nearly $14 billion at the box office, listing titles such as Sicario and Traffic among the works connected to their careers.