13 Epic Picks: The Best rated Leonardo DiCaprio Movies, Ranked

When you look at the modern Hollywood landscape, most leading men rely on capes, cowls, or cinematic universes to cement their legacy. Not this guy. Instead of chasing franchise money, he has spent three decades handing his immense talent over to auteur directors, resulting in a filmography that rivals any legend of the silver screen. Navigating the best Leonardo DiCaprio movies is essentially taking a masterclass in prestige cinema. He brings a manic, unpredictable energy to every frame he inhabits, demanding that audiences sit up and pay attention to the craft of acting.

From his early days as a 1990s teen heartthrob to his current status as a heavy-hitting titan of the industry, his evolution is nothing short of extraordinary. He possesses a rare combination of raw vulnerability and explosive charisma, allowing him to seamlessly shift from tragic romantic leads to deeply unhinged villains. The films that define his career do not just entertain us: they challenge our cultural sensibilities and redefine cinematic boundaries. Let us count down the essential performances that built a cinematic empire.

13

Blood Diamond

2006 • Action, Drama

7.6

DiCaprio absolutely weaponizes his charisma here, trading his usual polish for a rugged, morally bankrupt edge. His accent work as a Rhodesian smuggler is notoriously hotly debated, but the sheer physical toll and visceral grit of his performance cannot be denied. This is the moment audiences realized he was not just willing to get his hands dirty, but that he actively craved the cinematic mud.

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12

The Aviator

2004 • Drama

7.2

Capturing the terrifying descent of Howard Hughes into crippling obsessive-compulsive disorder requires a tightrope walk of an acting performance. DiCaprio delivers a soaring, sweeping epic of a turn, matching Martin Scorsese and his grand visual ambition with deep psychological torment. You can practically feel the claustrophobia tightening around him, proving that this collaboration would be the defining artistic partnership of his adult career.

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11

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape

1993 • Drama, Romance

7.7

This is the undeniable breakthrough, the lightning-in-a-bottle moment where a young actor proved he was a generational talent. He brings an astonishing, unvarnished honesty to the role, completely avoiding the traps of melodrama or caricature. It is a raw, instinctual performance that earned him his first Academy Award nomination and immediately put the entire entertainment industry on high alert.

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10

Shutter Island

2010 • Drama, Mystery

8.2

Drenched in rain and paranoia, this psychological thriller leans entirely on DiCaprio's ability to slowly unravel on screen. He anchors the nightmarish, gothic noir aesthetic with a deeply wounded, grieving core that makes the film's final, devastating revelation land like a gut punch. It is a masterclass in sustaining unbearable tension through pure, localized anxiety.

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9

Catch Me If You Can

2002 • Crime, Drama

8.0

There is a breezy, effervescent magic to his collaboration with Steven Spielberg, capturing the exact moment his boyish charm was at its most lethal. He plays a con artist not as a villain, but as a lonely, desperate kid sprinting to stay one step ahead of adulthood. The infectious energy he brings to the screen makes the inevitable crash landing feel all the more heartbreaking.

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8

Killers of the Flower Moon

2023 • Crime, Drama

7.4

Playing a weak, easily manipulated, and deeply pathetic man is a massive risk for a Hollywood superstar, yet DiCaprio leans into the repulsive nature of Ernest Burkhart with terrifying ease. He weaponizes his own trademark frowns and grimaces, turning them into a portrait of banal, everyday evil. It is a physically transformative, incredibly brave performance that dares the audience to despise him.

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7

The Revenant

2015 • Adventure, Drama

7.5

The grunts, the freezing water, the raw bison liver (it is all part of the cinematic lore now), but beneath the extreme survivalism lies a profound, silent symphony of grief. He strips away all of his usual verbal gymnastics, relying entirely on his eyes and his broken body to convey a primal thirst for vengeance. It is a grueling, visceral endurance test that finally, inevitably, secured his long-awaited Best Actor Oscar.

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6

Titanic

1997 • Drama, Romance

7.9

You simply cannot overstate the sheer magnitude of his star power in James Cameron and his ocean-sized epic. He brings a bright, luminous, and incredibly earnest energy that serves as the absolute emotional anchor for the breathtaking visual spectacle happening around him. This is not just acting: this is the exact moment a human being transforms into a global, mythological icon.

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5

Django Unchained

2012 • Drama, Western

8.2

Unleashing DiCaprio as a vile, deeply racist, and deliciously unhinged plantation owner was a stroke of genius by Quentin Tarantino. He attacks the role of Calvin Candie with a terrifying, theatrical glee, chewing the scenery and (quite literally) bleeding for the art without ever breaking character. The undeniable menace he projects proves he is just as effective, if not more so, when playing the monster.

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4

Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood

2019 • Comedy, Drama

7.4

Here, we get the rare, glorious gift of Leonardo DiCaprio playing a fading, deeply insecure actor who is desperately trying to remember how to act. His performance as Rick Dalton is a brilliant, hilarious, and profoundly touching exploration of Hollywood obsolescence. The scene where he throws a violent temper tantrum in his trailer is a virtuosic, highly self-aware breakdown that ranks among the finest work of his career.

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3

Inception

2010 • Action, Adventure

8.4

Christopher Nolan and his mind-bending labyrinth requires a profoundly emotional center to keep the audience from getting lost in the shifting architecture, and DiCaprio provides it flawlessly. He plays a man drowning in his own subconscious guilt, grounding the massive, kinetic spectacle with a quiet, desperate longing for his children. He is the bruised, beating heart inside a brilliant, cold machine.

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2

The Wolf of Wall Street

2013 • Comedy, Crime

8.0

This is three hours of pure, unbridled, and unapologetic cinematic adrenaline. DiCaprio operates at a frenetic, manic frequency, delivering a tour de force of physical comedy, vile excess, and magnetic arrogance that leaves you completely breathless. He makes the absolute worst impulses of late-stage capitalism look dangerously, seductively fun, proving he is entirely fearless as a performer.

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1

The Departed

2006 • Crime, Drama

8.2

No performance better captures his ability to embody pure, localized panic than his turn as an undercover cop losing his mind in South Boston. The unbearable, suffocating tension radiating from him in every single scene is a masterclass in internalizing terror. It is gritty, desperate, and flawlessly executed, standing as the absolute zenith of his incredible filmography.

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Looking ahead, his trajectory shows absolutely no signs of slowing down or compromising on artistic integrity. With his recent, highly acclaimed collaboration with Paul Thomas Anderson in the massive 2025 action-comedy One Battle After Another, he continues to prove his dedication to auteur-driven cinema. Whether he is playing a desperate ex-revolutionary or a slick Wall Street shark, he consistently chooses projects that challenge him, ensuring his filmography remains the gold standard for modern acting.

Ultimately, the legacy of his career is not just about the box office records or the golden statues, but rather the uncompromising quality control he applies to his craft. He has built a body of work that will be studied by cinephiles and critics for generations to come, constantly redefining what it means to be a true movie star in the 21st century. The only question left is what cinematic boundaries he plans to shatter next.