Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio: A Deserving Hero

Leonardo DiCapriohttps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Leonardo_DiCaprio_2010.jpgHeroes are people who will do whatever they can to help others. They make many selfless actions for those in need. They have great determination in what they believe in, no matter the situation. They ignore the people who discourage them and never give up. In a tough situation, heroes always remain true to their beliefs and look back at their motivations. Heroes are generous to everyone and make people feel like they are not alone. They develop a great understanding to individuals and are always optimistic in any situation. One does not need superpowers or a special suit to be a hero. True heroes are individuals who make people feel a part, is optimistic in any situation and strives to do their best to help as much as they can.

“To join the top 1 percent you have to do what the 99 percent won’t,” is a quote that Leonardo DiCaprio uses as a base of his actions. Leonardo DiCaprio was born on November 11, 1974 in Hollywood, California. He is the son of George DiCaprio, a comic-book artist and Irmelin Indenbirken, a legal secretary. DiCaprio grew up in the rundown part of Los Angeles, so he was exposed to tough situations at an early age. Leonardo DiCaprio started acting at a young age. He was inspired when his brother, Adam Starr, who starred in television commercials. He began at age ten by auditioning for commercials. DiCaprio started getting recognized after appearing on the TV series Growing Pains. He is mostly known for his roles from The Aviator, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Titanic. He has been nominated for many Oscars but only won the best actor Oscar for The Revenant. However, DiCaprio has always had a parallel passion towards the environment. Ever since he was younger, he was interested in how we destroyed our planet even though its provided us so much. DiCaprio is now an environmentalist and he has a foundation to bring attention to the issue. DiCaprio is a hero through determination, generosity, and selflessness in saving our planet.

Leonardo DiCaprio made selfless actions towards helping the environment. First of all, he doesn’t believe his fame is important. While Leonardo DiCaprio has stardom as an actor, he is an environmentalist and wants to spread the news about the environment:  “Part of his goal has been to bring focus to these important topics, while at the same time not putting himself and his fame too much in the spotlight.” (Furgang 11) DiCaprio only believes in sharing about environment problems and how to solve them. He doesn’t use his time for his reputation but for his priorities.  He isn’t doing his job to satisfy others or himself, but to do what he believes is the right thing. DiCaprio sacrifices his other passion, acting, to focus on saving others. Leonardo DiCaprio can put his full effort into the planet because it is his first priority. DiCaprio doesn’t care about being the best. He only believes in learning the most he can. While Leonardo DiCaprio was speaking to an audience about the environment he revealed his selflessness as he states, “I stand before you, not as an expert,” but “I want to do everything I can to learn more about this issue. See for myself exactly what’s going on and what can be done.” (Stevens 4:39 to 4:50). DiCaprio doesn’t pay attention to being the best environmentalist. He believes in spreading what he learns. His selflessness drives him to do what’s better for the world and to put himself after others. Leonardo DiCaprio makes changes to our planet through his actions. One must have a selfless mindset to act upon such a big problem proving Leonardo DiCaprio a hero.

Leonardo DiCapriohttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_DiCaprio#/media/File:Leonardo_DiCaprio_(Berlin_Film_Festival_2010)_2.jpgFurthermore, Leonardo DiCaprio made generous actions which helped others in need. To begin, he formed a foundation. Through Leonardo DiCaprio’s actions, he reflects his kindness: “Since its founding, DiCaprio’s foundation has helped to bring awareness to many environmental concerns through its association with various other organizations…” (Furgang 44) DiCaprio shows his generosity because his foundation brings attention to many different programs, which focus on major planet issues. He helped these little programs grow so they could have a chance to expand their intelligence. DiCaprio believes in helping anyone in need. He ignores their race, gender, religion and believes everyone has an equal value. Leonardo DiCaprio has his own beliefs that don’t interfere with his actions. Heroes make generous actions towards everyone in need. DiCaprio’s donations were a great example of how nice and selfless he is: “In 2010, he also donated $1 million to help victims of the earthquake in Haiti.” (UXL Biographies) Whenever a place needs help with money, DiCaprio donates to them. Many times people will need help with spreading their ideas. DiCaprio uses his money as an advantage for a good reason. He isn’t self-absorbed and spends everything on himself. He uses the gifts he was given to help others. Generosity is held at the core of DiCaprio's actions. DiCaprio's foundation is the first stepping stone to many changes in the world.

Additionally, DiCaprio was determined to base his actions off of saving the world. He has done many projects to expand his word. His actions embody his determination in extending the environment dilemmas: “The project involves restoring the island and developing a resort powered by renewable energy as well as research facilities and restoration programs.” (UXL Biographies) DiCaprio puts so much effort into his projects and research. His actions show us that he tries to do everything to find ways to save our planet. He inspires others to do what they can to find ways to help our world. In doing his own projects, DiCaprio proves to us how determination can help bring attention to problems that we could fix to save the world. DiCaprio has done many interviews to spread the news of our environment. Leonardo DiCaprio’s careful words during an interview with the president shows his desire in finding ways to save our planet: “Now, the major polluters are obviously the big industries, such as the oil companies, who are one of the most powerful lobbies in the world. How do we convince them to change the way they've been doing business for the last century?” (Leonardo DiCaprio Interview) DiCaprio's words reveal how he is aware of the problems in our world. He doesn’t choose to ignore them but to get in action and find ways to help. DiCaprio doesn’t only find ways he can support our problems, but he finds ways we could help too. He makes sure others are doing their part in our world. DiCaprio figured out everything he could from others. He inspires everyone to reach out and find out what they can do to help. He believes everyone can do something no matter how small the act is. Leonardo DiCaprio’s passion is spreading the word of the environment. He uses his fame and fortune as an advantage to spread his passion.  “The films were produced by the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation and Birken Interactive Studios, Inc.” (Kathy Furgang and Adam Furgang: 50) DiCaprio has put so much of his time into his devotion. He has not only donated to many foundations but he has physically been involved. He’s done many interviews and documentaries to share his beliefs and find out the most he could to help. He’s traveled all around the world for documentaries that prove to us that we are ruining our world but we still have hope to save it. There are so many factors to our environment such as climate change and pollution. It takes a person with determination and grit to make a change and DiCaprio proves to us that he has these qualities.

Leonardo DiCapriohttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_DiCaprio#/media/File:Leonardo_DiCaprio_2002.jpgIn conclusion, selflessness, generosity and determination shaped Leonardo DiCaprio into the hero he is today. DiCaprio’s selfless actions helped him use his fame to focus on our environment issues instead of himself. With his determination, he started a foundation to bring attention to main planet issues and he made documentaries to expand the reasonings behind our earth dying. DiCaprio’s generous ways helped him donate to those in need. His unique ways has put others ahead of himself as the priority. DiCaprio’s actions provide us more than enough examples of what we could do to help our planet. He has made many big and small choices that both affected us in positive ways. I hope that others look up to Leonardo DiCaprio as a role model and follow his lead in making the right choices. Together we can become heroes by reaching into ourselves and focusing on the good by putting others before ourselves. I hope people realize they can save the world by doing what others won’t and by staying true to what they believe in just like Leonardo DiCaprio.

Works Cited

Furgang, Kathy, and Adam Furgang. Leonardo DiCaprio: Environmental Champion. Rosen Pub. Group, 2009.

Before the Flood. Directed by Fisher Stevens. Performances by Leonardo DiCaprio, Barack Obama, Elon Musk. Appian Way Productions, RatPac-Dune Entertainment, 2016.

"Leonardo DiCaprio." UXL Biographies, UXL, 2011. Student Resources In Context, https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ2108100642/SUIC?u=powa9245&sid=SUIC&xid=82ef8c79.

Interview With Leonardo DiCaprio for ABC News' `Planet Earth 2000.'.” Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, vol. 36, Superintendent of Documents, May 2000, p. 907. Biography Reference Center, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=b6h&AN=3149895&site=ehost-live. Accessed 2 Apr. 2019.