Leonardo DiCaprio was told to change name to Lenny Williams, his father ripped up headshots: 'Over my dead body'

Imagine a world where Leonardo DiCaprio was never “Leonardo” at all. The actor recently revealed that his name almost didn’t make it. It could have been something as unassuming as Lenny Williams. You heard that right.

Speaking on a podcast, he recalled hiring an agent early in his career and the bizarre advice she gave to land more roles.

He said, “I finally got an agent. They said, ‘Your name is too ethnic.'” When DiCaprio asked them exactly what they meant by that, they said, “No, too ethnic. They’re never going to hire you. Your new name is Lenny Williams.” The actor, who was quite young at this point, asked the point behind the whole thing, and they just said that they used his middle name, which is Lenny.

He didn’t have the time to react to this news, so he took the fresh batch of headshots to his father, which had the new name, and his father ripped them up and said, “Over my dead body.”

Usual Suspects star Benicio Del Toro joined the conversation, recalling, “I was told the same thing: ‘You’re Benny Del.’” Both actors are set to appear next in Paul Thomas Anderson’s action-packed thriller One Battle After Another, which also stars Sean Penn, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, Wood Harris, Alana Haim, and Shayna McHayle. The trailer has already generated massive buzz, thanks to Anderson’s signature direction and the ensemble cast.