Leonardo DiCaprio's 10 most award-worthy moments

Ooh, a nasty piece of work is Calvin Candie, pretending he can speak French and abusing slaves for his amusement. Leo’s first villainous role is practically a cameo, but a scene-stealing one full of smug attitude. Defining it? At one heated moment, Candie slams his hand on a table, smashes a glass and cuts himself deeply. It turns out the blood was real, a happy(ish) accident on Leo's part that director Quentin Tarantino kept in. Trooper!

Find Django Unchained on Netflix now. Cert 18

Setting aside for a moment the graphic majesty and intricate plotting of Inception, consider this: Leonardo DiCaprio made spinning tops cool again. His "totem" (the thing that brings him out of the dream world) is the stuff of Christmas crackers, but adds an extra layer of intrigue to an already very complex character. Simple. Genius.

Find Inception in Sky Cinema on demand. Cert 12

And now for something completely different. The actor (and producer) spent three years working on a climate change documentary that’s already the most-watched National Geographic film in history (and the fifth time he’s put his weight behind a movie about environmental issues). Now he’s got an Oscar, we’re secretly hoping he might be the next Attenborough.

Before The Flood is available to watch until 29 November in Catch Up > Channels > National Geographic

Pack Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Jack Nicholson and more into a movie and they’ll be jostling for screen space, right? Sure, but in Martin Scorsese’s The Departed, one man ruled them all: Leo. There’s a subtle (spoiler-free) moment when his undercover cop, Costigan, starts to realise he might have been played in his plan to rise above his family’s criminal name, and you realise just how good he is...

Find The Departed in Sky Cinema on demand. Cert 18

The Revenant wasn't Leo's first journey away from civilisation. As Richard, an idealistic young man taken by the idea of living in a Thai paradise (before gap year students infiltrated it, obviously), DiCaprio showed his physical grit in a meaty and, frankly, quite disturbing, story. The clincher? He harpoons a shark. In a film that plays out like a reverie, it’s a moment of brutal realism.

Rent The Beach on Virgin Movies. Cert 15

Usually the stuff of teen romcoms, Leo takes the classic movie makeover scene to a different level altogether as Philippe, secret twin brother of the dastardly King Louis XIV of France. He emerges from the iron mask he’s been forced to wear since birth, gets cleaned up, and goes on to challenge his sibling’s place on the throne. Sounds incredulous, actually incredibly touching.

Find The Man In The Iron Mask on Netflix now. Cert 12

Actual Hollywood fact (probably): no one works stairs like Leo. In Titanic, he glided down those majestic flights to Kate Winslet’s Rose, melting legions of cinemagoers' hearts like icebergs with each dainty step. Sixteen years later, he’s back on them in The Wolf Of Wall Street; who knew a simple ungainly tumble could look so utterly pro?

Find Titanic on Netflix now. Cert 12

How to pick one scene from the film that launched Leo as a serious young actor demanding attention? His role as Johnny Depp’s younger, mentally impaired brother gave him his first Academy Award nomination at the tender age of 19, for a touching portrayal of a troubled young man. The rest is history...

Baz Luhrmann’s wild take on Shakespeare’s masterpiece thrust DiCaprio into top-tier acting territory a year before the Titanic set sail. But it’s when his Romeo turns up uninvited to the masquerade ball dressed as a cherub-cheeked knight (too young! too soon!) and proved he could wear chainmail, do the Bard AND win hearts, that he cemented his place as film’s most watchable new face.

Aaaaand finally... if any film could sum up DiCaprio’s years of relentless hard work, it’s The Revenant. This isn't about one moment, it’s a masterly performance that gave Oscar voters little alternative to ticking his box on the ballot paper. He might have had to take a nap inside a dead horse to get there but, boy, was it worth it.

The Revenant is available from Friday in Sky Cinema on demand. Also available in HD. Cert 15