Showing that sometimes even the most well-meaning Hollywood agent can be totally wrong, Leonardo DiCaprio recently revealed that he was nearly known as "Lenny Williams" at the suggestion of an agent.
DiCaprio made a rare appearance on the podcast New Heights with football star brothers Jason and Travis Kelce. During the interview, he recounted the story of very short-lived attempt to get him to change his name for his acting career, as his own name was deemed to be "too ethnic" by an agent at the time.
He explained:
"I finally got an agent. They said 'Your name is too ethnic.'"
When DiCaprio asked what on earth they meant by that, the reply was that he would never get hired in Hollywood with that name, and they offered a new name instead.
He recounted:
“I go, ‘What do you mean? It's Leonardo DiCaprio.’ They go, ‘No, too ethnic. They're never gonna hire you. Your new name is Lenny Williams.’”
He then went on to say that the Williams portion comes from his little-known middle name, Wilhelm.
DiCaprio spoke fondly of his father when recounting how decisively the man dealt with the name issue.
"My dad saw his photo, ripped it up, and he said, ‘Over my dead body.'"
Commenters couldn't image a world where a star of DiCaprio's power could ever be a Lenny Williams.
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And it wasn't just DiCaprio that this happened to. Actor Benicio del Toro, also on that episode of New Heights, said that he too had received the suggestion to change his name to be "less ethnic." His suggested name? Benny Del.
People were aghast at how stupid those agents must have been.
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This subtle and not-so-subtle whitewashing of actor's ethnic backgrounds isn't a new phenomenon in Hollywood.
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DiCaprio and Del Toro are currently promoting their film One Battle After Another, which came out early this fall.
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