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Leonardo DiCaprio On Possible Oscar Win: ‘That’s Not Why You Do The Work’

By Jonathan Franks
Published on: 16:34 PST, Jan 15, 2016

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio could finally become a first-time Oscar winner next month.

However, according to Us Weekly, the longtime actor explained his humble perspective about the overall experience in a recent interview.

When discussing his highly-praised Oscar nomination on ITV’s This Morning Thursday, DiCaprio made it clear to the show’s co-hosts that “it’s completely beyond [his] control at this point” who wins or loses the Best Actor category.

After spending nearly 25 years as a film actor, being known as an Oscar nominee has to at least excite the former Growing Pains TV star.

Leonardo DiCaprio
(Photo Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

According to DiCaprio, though, his primary objective as an actor apparently has nothing to do with receiving the coveted award.

“It’s interesting, because that’s not why you do the work, you know? You do the work because you love making movies and you want to look back and have a filmography that you’re proud of… When you’re on set you have to give everything that you possibly can while you’re there, but of course being recognized by your peers and all that other stuff that happens is kind of the cherry on the cake, so to speak.”

DiCaprio further stated that all of his work “has been done” so it’s not up to him “to decide whether it’s worthy of being seen or talked about or awarded.”

As an actor, Leonardo has been nominated for an Oscar five times: Best Supporting Actor for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? (1993) and Best Actor for The Aviator (2005), Blood Diamond (2007), The Wolf of Wall Street (2014) and recently for The Revenant.

While he has won the Best Actor award at the Golden Globes three times, the Oscar has apparently slipped through his fingers every single time that he has been nominated.

Leonardo DiCaprio
(Photo by Brenda Chase/Online USA)

However, it can be said without a doubt that his goal of building an impressive and diverse filmography has been accomplished.

Twenty-five years and nearly 30 film acting roles after he first starred in the 1991 film, Critters 3, Leonardo DiCaprio has proven his versatility as an actor time and time again.

Leonardo DiCaprio has portrayed real-life people on the big screen several times throughout his career so far, including Jim Carroll (The Basketball Diaries), Frank Abagnale, Jr. (Catch Me if You Can), Howard Hughes (The Aviator), J. Edgar Hoover (J. Edgar), Jordan Belfort (Wolf of Wall Street), and Hugh Glass (The Revenant).

He has also helped to adapt literary classics as live-action movies such as Romeo & Juliet and The Great Gatsby. Leonardo has played a mentally-challenged little brother (What’s Eating Gilbert Grape), a fictitious artist in love that died after a seemingly unsinkable boat sank (Titanic), and an undercover state trooper that bites off more than he can chew (The Departed).

Quite a few of those select roles made Leonardo DiCaprio one of the most envied actors in Hollywood, but that is the just the tip of the iceberg. The 41-year-old actor with a seemingly ageless appearance still has many years of potential hits and possible awards ahead of him.

Winning the Best Actor Oscar for the first time next month will be considered by many fans and critics as a huge milestone for Leonardo DiCaprio. However, when you take into consideration what he has already achieved in his career so far, it’s easy to see how Leonardo can be so humble about the possibility in general.

[Image Credit: John Phillips/Getty Images]

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