Leonardo DiCaprio’s Agent Wanted Him to Change His Name to Lenny Williams

If Hollywood had its way back in the early ’90s, Titanic might have starred someone named Lenny Williams instead of Leonardo DiCaprio. Thankfully, history played out differently.

During a recent appearance on the New Heights podcast, DiCaprio revealed that one of his first agents thought his real name would hold him back in the industry.

“I finally got an agent. They said, ‘Your name is too ethnic,’” DiCaprio recalled. “I go, ‘What do you mean? It’s Leonardo DiCaprio?’ They go, ‘No, too ethnic. They’re never going to hire you. Your new name is Lenny Williams.’”

DiCaprio said he was only 12 or 13 at the time and couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “I said, ‘What is Lenny?’ I was 12,13. I said, ‘What is Lenny Williams?’ ‘We took your middle name and we made it. Now you’re Lenny.’”

Luckily, his father wasn’t having it. DiCaprio explained that when he showed him the headshot with his new “stage name,” his dad immediately shut it down. “He ripped it up, and he said, ‘Over my dead body.’”

DiCaprio wasn’t the only actor who had to deal with this outdated Hollywood mindset. Sitting beside him in the interview, Benicio Del Toro revealed he had a similar experience early in his career. “I was told the same thing. ‘You’re Benny Del.’”

Both actors are now headlining Paul Thomas Anderson’s upcoming thriller One Battle After Another, which hits theaters on September 26. DiCaprio plays Bob, a burnt-out revolutionary forced to reunite with his old conspirators to save his daughter from an enemy out of the past.

So while Hollywood once tried to erase Leonardo DiCaprio’s name, it’s now a household one. And soon, audiences will see him and Del Toro bring their A-game in one of this fall’s most talked-about films.

You know what? He kinda looks like a Lenny.