Do we like Leonardo DiCaprio?
Our score: 7 out of 10. A long climate and charity record and no harmful words found, held back by a few uncomfortable money-and-company stories.
Nothing new on him lately, and that's the good kind of quiet. His big 2026 moment was the Oscars: he was up for Best Actor for One Battle After Another, and lost to Michael B. Jordan, while the film took Best Picture. So he's a loser on the night and a winner for the season.
The best snapshot of his character came before the Oscars, when his co-star Chase Infiniti missed a nomination. He told the AP she was “the heart and soul” of the film and said she should be proud of herself. A bloke at the top, using his moment to shout out the young woman who carried the movie, is a nice look.
The harm check comes up clean. We found no anti-trans or anti-gay words from him. In 2013 he donated at the GLAAD Media Awards and tweeted that he was proud to support their work. On climate he is blunt: backing Kamala Harris in 2024, he said Donald Trump “continues to deny the science”. Nothing on vaccines, migrants or women turned up either.
The mess is the money. A US Justice Department civil complaint over a Malaysian fund named gifts that went to him from people tied to Wolf of Wall Street financiers. His reps said he started returning them (a Brando Oscar and three artworks). He had taken them for a charity auction. He wasn't charged, but it's a bad look to have been near it.
There's also a contested one. In July 2025 reports said he holds a reported 10 per cent stake in a luxury eco-certified hotel near Tel Aviv. Activist Shaun King attacked it while Gaza was starving. Where you land depends on whether you read it as ordinary business or a pointed choice. He hadn't commented as of that report.
Separately, a former Stratton Oakmont staffer sued Paramount and DiCaprio's Appian Way over a Wolf of Wall Street character, alleging libel. A judge ordered DiCaprio to be deposed in 2016. We couldn't find the final outcome, so we can't say how it ended.