From his days as a floppy-haired cherub in James Cameron’s Titanic to his Oscar-winning turn in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s bruising magnum opus The Revenant, Leonardo DiCaprio is the epitome of a modern-day Hollywood actor. But dig a little deeper into his oeuvre, and you’ll find that Mr. DiCaprio has quite the voice.
As a child actor on the come-up, Leonardo DiCaprio did the rounds on a number of soaps and daytime tv shows, some of which actually saw him sing. Footage below shows DiCaprio belting out the lyrics to Jim Croce’s 1972 hit “Before the Goodbye” before co-star Kirk Cameron’s character chimes in with him.
Read on as we unearth more little-known scenes of a young and virtuosos Leonardo DiCaprio.
Breakout Singing Scene
When he made the transition to movies, it wasn’t long before Leonardo DiCaprio tasted the sweet, and seemingly elusive nectar of mainstream movie success. With scene-stealing scenes alongside Johnny Depp in the emotionally-charged What’s Eating Gilbert Grape to a rip-roaring performance as a heroin-riddled teen in The Basketball Diaries, it was soon apparent that Leonardo Di Caprio was an actor destined for the top.
However, his singing scenes didn’t totally disappear. At least, not entirely.
In his breakout role as Jack Dawson in the legendary blockbuster Titanic, the Los Angeles-born performer sung a goofy rendition of “Come Josephine” by Spike Jones and His City Slickers alongside co-star Kate Winslet as they strolled through the open evening deck.
Though the scene never made the final cut of the near three-hour melodrama, it was immortalized (like all great things are) online.
In This Boy’s Life, Leo would stretch his vocals some more. But it would be a number of years before we saw the Leo sing another note.
Dad Dancing… And the Occasional Singalong
Despite overwhelming success, DiCaprio quickly distanced himself from the A-list fame that came from being not only a great actor but also the most coveted male sex symbol of the ‘90s. The actor’s desire to part ways with the type of roles that had made him a star could have easily backfired. But Leo’s transition to that of a credible character actor was as smooth a transition as any actor could have hoped for.
The success soon showed, not only in his choice of roles but also in a more atypical and care-free appearance. Gone was the clean-shaven face and flowing locks of blonde androgyny. In were the hipster beard and impressively broad shoulders. Whilst the roles only got grittier- thanks in part to his continued collaboration with esteemed mob-loving director Martin Scorsese- Leo eventually went full circle by serenading us with another singing performance in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, a 2019 love letter to the celebrated auteur’s hometown. In seasoned Tarantino style, the film had everything- including the rare sight of Leo singing.
Thankfully, this clip is much easier to find considering it made the final cut.
It’s a fun scene all-round and goes to prove that on his day, Leo can- probably even according to the harshest of Simon Cowell, chino-wearing pastiches renting out studio space in The Hollywood Hills- sing, as well as dad dance.
But Can He Really?
He’s no Aretha. And he’ll never be a James Marsden, Hugh Jackman-esque star, whose all singing, all dancing performances tick all the boxes of multitalented thespians. But any actor willing to push themselves away from their comfort zone and do things that don’t come naturally to them is always good in our books.
Clearly, Leo lacks the singing chops of some of his contemporaries. But as this article proves, you’re never too cool for a good old singalong, even if it means biting the bullet as Janelle Monáe serenades you at 2020’s Academy Awards.
“SOMEONE GET ME THE CLIP OF LEO SINGING OMFG,” a twitter user exclaimed.
Rest assured Andrea, we have you covered.