Leonardo DiCaprio on building a lasting acting career
Leonardo DiCaprio advises aspiring actors to view their careers as a marathon, not a sprint
11 December 2025
The award-winning actor has enjoyed huge success in Hollywood, starring in movies such as Catch Me If You Can, The Departed and The Wolf of Wall Street - but DiCaprio has encouraged up-and-coming stars to take a long-term approach to their careers. Speaking to Deadline, the 51-year-old actor explained: "The thing that I could say more than anything is that if you love this profession, if you love being an actor, you have to realise that it's a marathon, it's not a sprint. And that's not to say, 'Oh, these are all pivotal choices. Don't try something commercial. Don't do this too early.' "It's about the idea of looking at your career 20, 30, 40, 50 years from now, and putting those building blocks together to last. And maybe overexposure could be damaging. "I think, if anything, I had somewhat of an instinct early on about overexposure. Granted, it was a different time. It was a time where I watched actors that kind of disappeared their personal life, and you didn't know much about them. It's much different now with social media. But I didn't get to know much about them except what I saw on screen."
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