Leonardo DiCaprio views his career as a grand marathon, not a sprint. The award-laden actor has achieved monumental success in Hollywood, starring in films such as "Catch Me If You Can," "The Departed," and "The Wolf of Wall Street." However, Leonardo has emphasized that no matter the profession chosen, it takes a considerable amount of time to attain success.
In an interview with Deadline, the 51-year-old actor stated, "The thing I could emphasize more than anything is that if you love this profession, if you love being an actor, you must realize that it's a marathon, not a sprint. And that's not to discourage you from trying commercial projects or taking on new roles too early."
He continued, "It's about envisioning your career 20, 30, 40, even 50 years into the future and putting those building blocks together to last. Overexposure, perhaps, could be detrimental." Leonardo acknowledged that he had an early instinct for avoiding overexposure, albeit in a different era where actors' personal lives were largely unknown and unseen. Nowadays, with social media, that has changed drastically.
The "Titanic" star admits that he was "very lucky early on" in his career but appeared in "a lot of independent movies" before his breakthrough. He explained, "I got to see them build a body of great work over time. I wasn't inundated with a massive explosion of too many films by them in one or two years. That isn't to say you shouldn't take the work when it's given to you, but it's about doling it out, or maybe just taking those films with great supporting characters that are interesting and making your mark in the industry."
Leonardo concluded, "I was very fortunate early on, like I said with 'Titanic,' that was the real turning point when I got to choose my own films. But until then, I did a lot of independent movies. I just went for the character that I thought was most interesting and something that I could sink my teeth into."
