DiCaprio recounts agent's push to change name to Lenny Williams

Leonardo DiCaprio said on Wednesday that an early talent agent told him to change his name because it was "too ethnic," an episode he recounted while appearing on the New Heights podcast with Benicio del Toro to promote their new film One Battle After Another. DiCaprio, 50, said the suggestion came when he finally landed an agent at about 12 or 13 years old, and that the proposed stage name was "Lenny Williams." His father, George DiCaprio, he added, saw the altered headshot, tore it up and declared, "Over my dead body," prompting DiCaprio to keep his given name.

DiCaprio told hosts Travis and Jason Kelce that the agent framed the change as necessary for hireability. "They said, Your name is too ethnic," he said on the podcast. He explained the origin of the fake surname, saying the agent had taken his middle name, Wilhelm, and reworked it into Williams while shortening Leonardo to Lenny. Benicio del Toro, who joined DiCaprio on the episode, offered a similar anecdote, gesturing and noting he had been suggested "Benny Del" early in his career.

The pair also revisited other early career struggles. DiCaprio recalled lining up with other young hopefuls for agents who would move...