# Is DiCaprio the greatest... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 13, 2012, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592 "2012-10-13T04:18:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/21 "2012-10-13T10:59:38Z")
. . . head circumference actor ever in Hollywood? Why yes. Yes he is. ---
**Author:** ![nachtmusick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ac91a4/32.png) [@nachtmusick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nachtmusick)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/22 "2012-10-13T11:14:05Z")
> [@truthSeeker2](#): > > Thanks!! 10 Votes, not bad given that people many may ignore him for not looking manly enough. Alsogood enough to maybe be called a very good actor and one of the best, right? Ok Leo, we’re onto you. Quit fishing for compliments. Don’t you have anything better to do then haunt the Dope? ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/23 "2012-10-13T11:38:57Z")
> [@truthSeeker2](#): > > He has done so many great roles in so many great movies , yet people dont think he culd be the greatest. Can’t understand why. because most of us probably judge actors based on their performances, and not based on how smitten we are with them. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/24 "2012-10-13T11:59:55Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > The repertoire of roles has nothing to do with it. It’s about the quality of acting, and DiCaprio is nothing but a pretty boy, barely an actor at all. I disagree on this. He’s been very good in many different roles. But some have been better. Robert DeNiro, for instance (he’s been coasting for a long time, but see his work in the 70s and 80s). Spencer Tracy. Gene Hackman. Al Pacino. Phillip Seymour Hoffmann. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/25 "2012-10-13T12:02:35Z")
Those who would call Leonardo DiCaprio “just a pretty boy” or “not manly” are as absurd as those who feel he is hands down the greatest actor alive today. He is certainly top tier, that’s for sure, but he is not hands-down the best. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/26 "2012-10-13T12:06:48Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > Those who would call Leonardo DiCaprio “just a pretty boy” or “not manly” are as absurd as those who feel he is hands down the greatest actor alive today. > > He is certainly top tier, that’s for sure, but he is not hands-down the best. Agreed. DiCaprio is, by any objective measure, one of the 4 or 5 best male actors of his generation. He isn’t the best ever, but he is pretty damn good and has been for a long while. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/27 "2012-10-13T12:24:00Z")
(I wish you people would put his Titantic performance aside and look at the man as he is today - he is NOT pretty any more, he (like Johnny Depp) has lost his good looks. ) However, this can only work to his advantage as I think he is an excellent actor with years and years of great performances ahead of him. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/28 "2012-10-13T13:13:15Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > (I wish you people would put his Titantic performance aside and look at the man as he is today - he is NOT pretty any more, he (like Johnny Depp) has lost his good looks. ) What in the fuck are you going on about? I know, I know-- beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But still. . .. What in the fuck are you going on about? ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/29 "2012-10-13T13:25:18Z")
> [@Sudden\_Kestrel](#): > > Wha—? What steroid-based universe do you inhabit where Lawrence of Arabia is less than manly? > > But yeah, agree that DiCaprio’s manliness or lack thereof has nothing to do with it. He’s just not a very good actor. Well, the real Lawrence could probably said to be less than manly. On that level Humphrey Bogart was hardly a hulk but could play a tough guy. If the OP cares to look, maybe Elisha Cook Jr?. DiCaprio may eventually turn out to be very good, but his resume is not outstanding as it stands. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/30 "2012-10-13T14:27:44Z")
A great actor can be whatever the Hell he wants. To make the distinction between diCaprio and Oldman clear: How many movies have you seen where you saw diCaprio in a major role, and didn’t even realize that it was him until you saw the credits? Because that happens to Gary Oldman on a regular basis. He’s doing such a good job at his acting that all you see is the character, not the actor. ---
**Author:** ![Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glory)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/31 "2012-10-13T14:30:17Z")
To me, he looks like a kid so he ruins any movie where he’s supposed to be an adult (like Inception). I liked him fine in Titanic, he looked age appropriate. I just don’t see him as a leading man and I tend to avoid films he is the star of. I think his face is young and annoying. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/32 "2012-10-13T14:47:25Z")
I don’t get the love for this guy. The only thing I’ve seen him in where he didn’t ruin every scene he is _Catch Me If You Can,_ and still there’s hundreds of actors in Hollywood that would have done a better job in that movie. _What’s Eating Gilbert Grape_ is the most baffling. His performance was so awful in that one and yet somehow people talk about his performance there as being good. Every time he was on screen it took me out of the movie: “Ouch, that’s some bad acting there.” Made it hard to stay involved. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/33 "2012-10-13T14:48:41Z")
Maybe there’s a difference between British and American approaches to fame, but here’s the thing about the Leos and Matts and Bruces: however good they may be as actors, whenever they’re on-screen, my first thought is, “Oh, it Leo (or Matt, or Bruce, or George, etc), and he’s playing a role.” Put Gary Oldman or Alan Rickman on-screen, and I watch the performance; the person playing it is completely secondary. And _that’s_ why the Gary Oldmans and Alan Rickmans are so much better actors than the Leo DiCaprios, Matt Damons, Bruce WIllis’, and George Clooneys. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/34 "2012-10-13T15:22:07Z")
> [@truthSeeker2](#): > > How many actors have the repertoire of his roles such as in The Basketball Diaries, Titanic, Gangs of New York, Catch Me If You Can, The Aviator, Blood Diamond, Shutter Island. Inception? I have nothing against the man, but c’mon, he wasn’t even the best actor in most of those movies. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/35 "2012-10-13T15:41:43Z")
I think he is a damn fine actor but he has been hampered by his baby face. Good on him that he has never tried to get by on his looks. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/36 "2012-10-13T16:49:41Z")
I think his baby face hurts the believability of his characters, particularly when he is also so tall. That said, I saw Shutter Island again last night and he did a great job. But Oldman is better. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/37 "2012-10-13T19:47:55Z")
If you’re going to be held back by something, striking good looks is a damn good thing to be held back by. ---
**Author:** ![Naive\_Evian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Naive\_Evian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Naive_Evian)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/38 "2012-10-13T19:51:01Z")
> [@truthSeeker2](#): > > He fits the roles very well. The directors aren’t so naive to offer him those roles if he didn’t fit. Gangs of New York? ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/39 "2012-10-13T19:52:20Z")
Huh? the last movie I found him to believable in was “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”. Johnny Depp is a better actor, as are many others. Jus my opinion, of course. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/40 "2012-10-13T19:59:18Z")
missed editing window - as an aside - I don’t thinks Johnny Depp has lost his good looks, but he seems determined to continue to play down those good looks. I thought Tom Hanks did a better job than Leo in “Catch Me if You Can”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592.md?page=3)