One of the most famous and well-respected movie actors ever, Leonardo DiCaprio started out quite young in the business and, as this list will show, has been the subject of much praise from critics as well as a go-to choice for many of the modern era's greatest filmmakers.
With such a long career, fans can be left wondering which of DiCaprio's roles and performances are considered to be the best of the best. With this in mind, let's look at his 10 highest-scoring on review aggregate site Metacritic to try and paint a clearer picture of the highest points of his incredible career thus far. From his earliest roles to his most recent, here are the best movies starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
What's Eating Gilbert Grape (73)
DiCaprio received his first Oscar nomination for his supporting role in this small-town drama where he plays the developmentally disabled brother of Johnny Depp's titular grocery store clerk.
An early movie role for DiCaprio, it proved his commitment to his roles and gave him several great performances to bounce off of, not least from Darlene Cates as the brothers' mother.
Inception (74)
Christopher Nolan's high-concept heist thriller sees DiCaprio lead a team of dream thieves who secretly slip into people's subconsciouses to steal their most valuable information.
A highly metacinematic movie, Inception's team has often been likened to a film crew, with DiCaprio making a rather dashing stand in for Nolan himself as the director of the project.
Titanic (75)
Not only one of the most famous movies of DiCaprio's career but one of the most famous movies ever, James Cameron's romantic epic broke box office records and gave DiCaprio some of his most quotable lines.
Titanic also made history at the Oscars, tying for the titles of both most nominations and most wins with All About Eve and Ben-Hur, respectively. But its crowning achievement is mostly considered to be its placement as the highest-grossing movie ever made until Cameron himself topped the enormous box office haul with his sci-fi action-adventure, Avatar.
Catch Me If You Can (75)
DiCaprio plays real-life conman Frank Abagnale, and Tom Hanks the FBI agent working to catch him, in this energetic crime caper from director Steven Spielberg.
Though a hit at the box office as well as with critics, and nominated for two Oscars, Catch Me If You Can, rather surprisingly, remains the only movie between the star and the director.
The Wolf of Wall Street (75)
One of DiCaprio's most significant working relationships has been with the legendary director Martin Scorsese and several of their movies together feature on this list.
Their fifth movie proved to be one of their most successful, with DiCaprio taking on the role of real-life stock trader Jordan Belfort in this shameless recounting of his rise and fall as a symbol of Wall Street greed culture.
The Revenant (76)
DiCaprio finally took home his first Oscar win for his lead performance in this brutal anti-Western from director Alejandro González Iñárritu, who took home the award for Best Director for the second year running that same night.
Adapted from Michael Punke's novel, the story follows DiCaprio's frontiersman as they seek revenge against Tom Hardy's unscrupulous fur trapper.
The Aviator (77)
The second collaboration between DiCaprio and Scorsese was one of their most critically acclaimed and earned DiCaprio his second Oscar nomination after What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, this time for Best Actor.
Chronicling the early life of famed business tycoon/filmmaker Howard Hughes, The Aviator is a sprawling biopic that displays DiCaprio's full range as an actor as Hughes' mental state progressively deteriorates throughout his life.
Django Unchained (81)
One of DiCaprio's most iconic movies saw him take on a deeply villainous role as the slave owner Calvin Candie in Quentin Tarantino's Western with a Southern twist.
Infinitely meme-able, DiCaprio's performance relishes every opportunity for dastardly mustache-twiddling bad guy fun whilst still finding time to be genuinely frightening in parts.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (83)
Reteaming with writer and director Quentin Tarantino for one of his most critically acclaimed movies ever, DiCaprio plays an aging Hollywood actor in this ode to a bygone era of filmmaking.
Whilst Brad Pitt often gets most of the attention for his Oscar-winning performance as the stuntman/driver/best friend of DiCaprio's character, DiCaprio himself delivers one of his greatest performances ever as the highly-strung star and was still an inspiration for a multitude of memes.
The Departed (85)
The third collaboration between DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese saw the pair remake the Hong Kong modern crime classic Infernal Affairs to even greater praise and Oscar-recognition than The Aviator.
DiCaprio plays an undercover cop that's successfully infiltrated the Irish mob in Boston, trying his best to stay alive while he attempts to find Matt Damon's traitorous mole within the police before he finds him.