Ah Leonardo DiCaprio, you gotta' love him. He is good looking, seems like a nice chap, is immensely talented and has worked with some of the best directors in Hollywood: Cameron, Scorsese, De Niro, Nolan, Eastwood, Mendes, Spielberg, Luhrmann and most recently Tarantino. There isn't a more revered actor on the planet alive today and it's all by the age of 38. So, in that time, why has the man only received three Oscar nominations? As his most recent snub takes center stage (or not) for his courageous and frightening role in Django Unchained as Calvin Candie, here are 5 other Oscar shuns that poor old Leo has had to suffer - proof, as if it were needed that the Academy hates Leo...
5. "Never Go Full Retard"
It is common knowledge that the life of a child star is a troubled one. With the exception of Jodie Foster, usually they will play a few parts that propel them into super-stardom, fall out with their parents over money, discover drugs and die a grizzly, wasted death. Or they simply get typecast time and time again in TV films/straight to DVD work that only ends with them falling off the fame wagon and landing into a pool of muddy mediocrity. Not the case with our boy Leo, the man started his career in film in 1991 with the creature feature Critters 3 and only two years later at the age of sixteen with the role of Arnie Grape, the mentally disabled brother of Johnny Depp's Gilbert Grape in the 1993 film What's Eating Gilbert Grape?. This film tells the beautiful tale of Grape family, as they struggle with the harsh hand life has dealt them. DiCaprio's performance was so good that some people actually believed he was mentally challenged - just check out the film on IMDB and look at the reviews, many viewers cannot believe that they witnessed an actor, so young, portraying such a detailed character. Herein lies the first snub of DiCaprio's illustrious career. Up against Tommy Lee Jones, Ralph Fiennes, John Malkovich and Pete Postlewaite, it certainly wasn't the easiest category to be in, and it was Tommy Lee Jones for his role in The Fugitive who would eventually take home the statue for Best Supporting Actor (better than Ralph Fiennes in Schindlers List, REALLY!?). But this did not matter, he was on the map and hot property from only his second role in film. The best (or worse) snubs were yet to come...