Another year for Leonardo DiCaprio

Things we bet you didn't know about Leonardo DiCaprio – he hates public speaking and he used to cheat in school if there was someone smarter next to him. Want to know more about the actor who's turning 36? Read on

The Name Game: Leo was born on November 11, 1974, in Los Angeles. There's a story behind his name – while pregnant, his mother was looking at a painting by Leonardo Da Vinci when baby Leo kicked for the first time

In The Beginning: Leo started his career with commercials and daily soaps. His first film role came with 1991's Critters 3, a comedy-sci fi-horror movie, in which Leo played the stepson of an evil landlord.

Lights, Camera, Action: The next year brought him his breakthrough role in This Boy's Life opposite Ellen Barkin and Robert De Niro

Fame-ily Matters: Leo was on a roll with What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, playing Johnny Depp's mentally handicapped brother in performance that was nominated for an Oscar as well as a Golden Globe

Down Under: His next two movies The Quick and the Dead and Total Eclipse were box office duds

Here We Go: But his performance in Don's Plum with Kevin Connolly and Tobey Maguire earned him brownie points from the critics

Star Light, Star Bright: Leo's intense performance in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet was the first step to megastardom

The Ballad of Jack and Rose: And then came James Cameron's Titanic which entirely failed to go down, unlike the real Titanic, and busted all box office records. It made Leo, who had initially turned the role of Jack Dawson down, beyond famous and the rest is history

Curtain Calls: Heartthrob Leonardo proved that he had genuine acting chops working with the best directors of Hollywood. Steven Spielberg directed him in Catch Me If You Can, Sam Mendes in Revolutionary Road and he formed a winning partnership with Martin Scorcese delivering Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed and Shutter Island. The Aviator won him a Golden Globe while Blood Diamond and The Departed put him on the Oscar nominees list

Up is Down: Reality check came with movies like Celebrity, The Beach and Body of Lies, all of which were either box office turkeys or were critically panned

Jack and Rose Revisited: In 2008 he teamed up with Titanic co-star Kate Winslet for Revolutionary Road. The Titanic magic proved elusive but the movie was well received and brought in another Golden Globe nomination for Leo

Dream Theater: His last release was Christopher Nolan directed thriller Inception in which DiCaprio plays the Dom Cobb, stealer of dreams. Inception was both a hit with the critics and set the cash registers ringing

Up next for Leo - Clint Eastwood's Hoover and Ridley Scott's The Wolf of Wall Street and Brave New World.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S: Leo is a bit of a lone wolf. Among his few friends in Hollywood are Tobey Maguire, Kevin Conolly and Lukas Haas, all of whom he's worked with

Only Models Need Apply: He's been a serial modeliser, having dated Kristen Zang, Emma Miller and uber-model Gisele Bundchen. He's on again, off again with Israeli model Bar Rafaeli and there seem to be no immediate plans to say I Do

The Earth Song: Leonardo is Hollywood's loudest voice for environmental issues. He doesn't fly private, drives a hybrid car and uses solar energy at home. He created, produced and narrated The 11th Hour, a hard hitting documentary on the state of the environment

Leo Speak: “As soon as enough people give you enough compliments and you're wielding more power than you've ever had in your life, it's not that you become an arrogant little prick, or become rude to people ... but you get a false sense of your own importance and what you've accomplished. You actually think you've altered the course of history.”

A very happy birthday, Leo