Leonardo DiCaprio Reveals The New Name An Agent Almost Gave Him

{ "title": "DiCaprio reveals agent almost renamed him Lenny Williams on New Heights", "subhead": "Actor says a Hollywood agent urged changing his name for market reasons; Benicio del Toro and Christina Aguilera have faced similar pressures", "body_markdown": "Leonardo DiCaprio says a Hollywood agent once proposed changing his name to 'Lenny Williams' because it was deemed less ethnic. He discussed the episode on Jason and Travis Kelce's podcast, New Heights, which was released on Wednesday.\n\nDiCaprio, whose full name is Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio, recalled the agent telling him, 'Your name is too ethnic.' He asked, 'What do you mean? It's Leonardo DiCaprio.' The agent replied, 'No, too ethnic. They're never going to hire you. Your new name is Lenny Williams.' He said he was about 12 or 13 at the time, asking, 'What is Lenny Williams?' The reply: 'We took your middle name and we made it. Now you're Lenny,' the agent said. DiCaprio said his father saw a headshot with the new name and ripped it up, saying, 'Over my dead body.'\n\n\n\nOn the same podcast, Benicio del Toro said he faced a similar pitch, recalling, 'I was told the same thing. You’re Benny Del,' he said, describing the pressure to drop the ethnic-sounding name in pursuit of broader appeal. Del Toro did not elaborate beyond noting that he had heard the same message, underscoring a pattern in Hollywood discussions about identity and marketability.\n\nDiCaprio appeared on New Heights alongside his 'One Battle After Another' co-star, Benicio del Toro, as the actors discussed how industry gatekeepers sometimes encouraged name changes to fit conventional notions of Hollywood success. The discussion with the Kelce brothers has drawn attention to how pervasive such pressures have been across generations of stars and across genres. The pair did not suggest that the pressure ended with them, but rather highlighted how notes about branding and “marketability” have influenced career trajectories in ways that many performers remember from early in their careers.\n\nChristina Aguilera has also spoken publicly about pressures to alter her name. In a 2020 Billboard interview, she recalled discussions about changing her last name because some believed it was too long or too ethnic. She said, 'Christina Agee' was an option, but that clearly wasn’t going to fly. 'I was dead set against the idea and I wanted to represent who I really was,' she added, emphasizing her commitment to authenticity in