Let’s be real, Leonardo DiCaprio is in a league of his own. The man went from teen heartthrob in Titanic to one of the most respected actors of our generation, and he did it by consistently choosing roles that push boundaries.
Whether he’s working with Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan, or Quentin Tarantino, DiCaprio brings an intensity that turns every project into a must-watch event.
With seven Oscar nominations and collaborations with virtually every legendary director still making films, he’s earned his place alongside De Niro, Pacino, and Nicholson. Here are 10 of his absolute best films, ranked from great to mind-blowing.
10. The Great Gatsby (2013)
Baz Luhrmann reunited with DiCaprio after their Romeo + Juliet success to tackle F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jazz Age masterpiece, and the results were as divisive as they were dazzling. DiCaprio stars as the enigmatic Jay Gatsby opposite Carey Mulligan’s Daisy Buchanan and Tobey Maguire’s narrator Nick Carraway.
While critics called Luhrmann’s vision everything from visually stunning to empty spectacle, they unanimously praised DiCaprio’s portrayal as mesmerizing and magnificent. He captures Gatsby’s desperate romanticism perfectly: the hollow man behind the extravagant parties who believes he can recreate the past.
DiCaprio makes you feel every ounce of Gatsby’s heartbreak, even when surrounded by Luhrmann’s trademark visual excess. It’s a more understated performance than we’re used to from him, but that restraint makes Gatsby’s tragedy hit even harder. The actor proves he doesn’t need to be loud to break your heart.
Currently you are able to watch The Great Gatsby streaming on Amazon Prime Video. It is also possible to buy it on Apple TV as download or rent it on Amazon Video, Apple TV online.
9. The Revenant (2015)
This is the film that finally got DiCaprio his Oscar, but the controversial take is that it’s far from his best performance. Don’t get us wrong, it’s impressive as hell. DiCaprio plays Hugh Glass, a frontiersman left for dead after a brutal bear mauling, who crawls through frozen wilderness seeking revenge against Tom Hardy’s treacherous John Fitzgerald.
The actor ate raw bison liver, endured freezing temperatures, and committed fully to the physical torture Alejandro G. Iñárritu demanded. But here’s the thing: this feels more like an endurance competition than an acting showcase. The role is mostly grunting, crawling, and suffering in gorgeous cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki.
There’s limited dialogue and even less character development. Yes, DiCaprio deserved an Oscar for his career, but films like The Departed or The Wolf of Wall Street deserved it more. Still, watching him survive against impossible odds is undeniably gripping, even if it’s more spectacle than substance.
You can watch The Revenant by subscribing to services like Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, or Prime Video, and you may also be able to rent or purchase it on Fandango at Home.
8. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
If you want to see DiCaprio completely unleashed, this is your movie. Playing real-life stockbroker-turned-criminal Jordan Belfort, DiCaprio delivers perhaps his most unhinged, energetic performance ever. Jonah Hill plays his partner-in-crime Donnie Azoff, while Margot Robbie makes a star-making turn as Belfort’s wife Naomi.
This three-hour ride through the 1990s excess showcases DiCaprio at his most fearless, from that legendary Quaalude-crawling scene to motivational speeches dripping with toxic masculinity and greed. He makes Belfort simultaneously magnetic and repulsive, charming and monstrous, often in the same breath.
Critics praised his ability to make audiences root for this terrible person while never losing sight of how awful he truly is. Martin Scorsese lets DiCaprio off the leash completely, and the result is a performance that earned him a Golden Globe and yet another Oscar nomination. It’s DiCaprio proving he’s just as comfortable with dark comedy as he is with straight drama.
Currently you are able to watch The Wolf of Wall Street streaming on Lionsgate Play, Lionsgate Play Apple TV Channel, Lionsgate Play Amazon Channel.
7. Shutter Island (2010)
Martin Scorsese’s psychological thriller puts DiCaprio through an emotional wringer as U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels, investigating a patient’s disappearance from a remote asylum for the criminally insane. Mark Ruffalo plays his partner Chuck Aule, while Ben Kingsley delivers a chilling performance as the facility’s lead psychiatrist.
What begins as a straightforward mystery transforms into something far more disturbing. A mind-bending exploration of grief, trauma, and the fragile nature of reality itself. Critics found the film somewhat flawed but worth seeing, and they weren’t wrong.
DiCaprio navigates the increasingly unstable narrative with commitment, making us question everything alongside him. His performance requires him to play multiple layers of deception and delusion, and he pulls it off masterfully. That twist ending still sparks debates today: did Teddy finally accept the truth, or did he choose to forget again? Either way, DiCaprio’s tortured portrayal makes every moment count.
Currently, you are able to watch Shutter Island streaming on fuboTV, Paramount+, and Paramount+ Roku Premium Channel.
6. Django Unchained (2012)
Here’s where DiCaprio proves he can play the villain just as brilliantly as the hero. As the sadistic plantation owner Calvin Candie in Quentin Tarantino’s revisionist Western, he’s terrifyingly good. Jamie Foxx stars as Django, the freed slave turned bounty hunter, while Christoph Waltz won an Oscar for his role as Dr. King Schultz. But DiCaprio steals every scene he’s in with theatrical, grotesque evil.
Dan Jolin of Empire magazine described Candie as playing to “hateful perfection“: a vain, cruel bully with brown teeth and zero redeeming qualities. The famous dinner table scene where DiCaprio accidentally shattered a glass and cut his hand? He stayed completely in character, even smearing his real blood on the table, earning a standing ovation when Tarantino called cut.
Tarantino himself said in an interview with ReelBlend podcast Candie is the only character he’s ever truly hated, and DiCaprio leans into that completely. It’s proof that DiCaprio’s range extends far beyond handsome leading men, he can make your skin crawl just as easily as he can make you swoon.
Currently, you are able to watch Django Unchained streaming on Netflix and for rent on Amazon Prime Video.
5. Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019)
Tarantino’s love letter to 1960s Hollywood gave DiCaprio one of his most vulnerable, human roles as Rick Dalton, a fading TV Western star watching his career slip away. Brad Pitt plays his longtime stunt double, Cliff Booth, while Margot Robbie embodies Sharon Tate in a beautifully melancholic performance.
DiCaprio showcases incredible range here. From Rick’s hilarious on-set meltdown where he forgets his lines to his tear-filled trailer breakdown where he questions everything about his worth. This isn’t DiCaprio playing a larger-than-life character; it’s him playing a deeply insecure man trying desperately to stay relevant in a changing industry.
His comedic timing is underrated and on full display, especially in scenes where Rick tries too hard to impress. The friendship between Rick and Cliff feels genuine and touching, grounded by DiCaprio’s willingness to make Rick pathetic and sympathetic simultaneously.
It’s a quieter performance that proves DiCaprio doesn’t need intensity or violence to completely command your attention.
Currently, you are able to watch Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood streaming on fuboTV and YouTube TV.
4. Catch Me If You Can (2002)
Steven Spielberg directs DiCaprio in this true story of Frank Abagnale Jr., the teenage con artist who successfully posed as an airline pilot, doctor, and lawyer before his 19th birthday.
Tom Hanks plays FBI agent Carl Hanratty, the man obsessed with catching him, while Amy Adams appears as Frank’s love interest Brenda. DiCaprio brings charisma and vulnerability to Frank, making him both thrilling to watch and heartbreaking to understand.
He’s a kid playing dress-up, running from a broken home and desperate for someone to see through his disguises and actually care about the real him underneath. DiCaprio makes you root for Frank even though he’s committing serious crimes, showing you the loneliness and pain driving every lie.
The cat-and-mouse dynamic with Hanks crackles with energy, and their odd quasi-father-son relationship gives the film surprising emotional depth. It’s DiCaprio at his most charming and playful.
Currently, you are able to watch Catch Me If You Can streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
3. The Departed (2006)
Martin Scorsese’s Best Picture winner is peak DiCaprio in full gritty mode. He plays Billy Costigan, an undercover cop infiltrating Jack Nicholson’s Irish mob, while Matt Damon’s Colin Sullivan secretly works as a mole inside the police department.
Vera Farmiga, Mark Wahlberg, and Alec Baldwin round out the phenomenal ensemble cast. DiCaprio brings raw, desperate energy to Billy: a man so deep undercover he’s losing his grip on who he really is. You feel his paranoia in every scene, the constant fear of being discovered, the moral compromises eating away at him.
This role let DiCaprio trade his movie-star polish for South Boston working-class authenticity, complete with accent work and barely-contained violence. The film made history as the first English-language remake to win Best Picture (via Guinness World Records), and DiCaprio’s tortured performance is a massive reason why.
Every interaction crackles with tension because DiCaprio makes you believe Billy could snap at any moment. It’s intense, uncompromising, and absolutely riveting.
You can buy or rent The Departed on Amazon Video, Apple TV, and Fandango At Home.
2. Inception (2010)
Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending masterpiece puts DiCaprio in the role of Dom Cobb, a skilled thief who steals secrets by entering people’s dreams. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy, Ellen Page, and Marion Cotillard join him in pulling off the impossible: planting an idea rather than stealing one.
With Cillian Murphy as their target and Michael Caine as Cobb’s mentor, the ensemble is stacked. What makes DiCaprio’s performance special is how he grounds this wildly complex, layered sci-fi concept in pure emotion. Sure, the collapsing cities and gravity-defying hallway fights are spectacular, but Cobb’s grief over his dead wife Mal and his desperate need to return to his children provide the heart.
DiCaprio navigates dreams within dreams within dreams while keeping the character’s emotional journey crystal clear (no small feat in a Nolan film). With an 8.8 IMDb rating, it’s one of his highest-rated films ever. That spinning top ending is still debated today, but there’s zero debate about DiCaprio making us care deeply about what happens in those layers of the subconscious.
Inception is currently available to stream on HBO Max and Netflix. You can also buy it on Apple TV, Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Vudu.
1. What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
This is where it all started, the performance that announced 19-year-old Leonardo DiCaprio as a force to be reckoned with. Playing Arnie Grape, the intellectually disabled younger brother of Johnny Depp’s Gilbert, DiCaprio earned his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Alongside Darlene Cates and Juliette Lewis, he created something remarkable: a completely authentic, deeply sensitive portrayal that could have easily become a caricature in less skilled hands. Instead, he gave us a fully realized human being: joyful, vulnerable, frustrating, and utterly believable.
This performance hasn’t aged poorly; if anything, it’s more impressive now, knowing the superstar career that followed. You see the raw talent, the total commitment, the ability to completely disappear into someone else. This was DiCaprio before Titanic made him the world’s biggest heartthrob, before the Scorsese collaborations, before the Oscar, just pure, undeniable talent on display.
It set the template for everything that came after: complete transformation, emotional honesty, and fearless dedication to the character. It remains his finest work.
You can watch What’s Eating Gilbert Grape by streaming it for free on Hoopla or Kanopy, or by renting or purchasing it from platforms like Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Fandango at Home, Google Play, or YouTube.
Leonardo DiCaprio(@leonardodicaprio)がシェアした投稿
From Critters 3 to commanding $20 million per film, Leonardo DiCaprio built a filmography that defines modern cinema. He’s worked with Scorsese, Nolan, Tarantino, Spielberg, and Iñárritu, earning seven Oscar nominations and finally winning for The Revenant.
What sets him apart isn’t just talent; it’s his choices. He goes years between films, ensuring each project deserves his time. At 50, he’s still going strong, with rumors of a Frank Sinatra biopic on the horizon. Whatever comes next, it’ll be worth watching. Because with DiCaprio, every performance is an event.
What’s your favorite Leonardo DiCaprio performance? Do you agree with our rankings, or do you think we got it completely wrong? Drop your thoughts in the comments below, we’d love to hear which DiCaprio film you think deserves the top spot!
