Leonardo DiCaprio shared the bizarre moment he ‘knew things were going to be different’ for him

There are few actors quite as famous and recognisable as Leonardo DiCaprio, but even Hollywood's biggest stars have got to start somewhere.

In the early days of his career, when a prospective agent thought people would be more likely to hire him if he used the name 'Lenny Williams', the Titanic star wasn't quite the household name he is today.

They'd got that attempt at a name by warping Leonardo into Lenny and taking his middle name Wilhelm to create the surname.

He didn't end up signing on with them, but it turns out he didn't need them or the name Lenny Williams to become a big star.

Imagine looking at Leonardo DiCaprio and thinking '90s heartthrob Lenny Williams', it just doesn't feel right at all.

Paramount Pictures

Fortunately for DiCaprio his career took off in a big way under his own name, and his star just kept on rising - even if it did take him quite a while to win that Oscar.

The actor was even able to pinpoint the moment in his career that he 'knew things were going to be different', and it was all thanks to one particular - and peculiar - fan interaction.

Recounting the story, he said: "This young girl came up to me with this real wild look in her eyes and clutched my leg, dug into my leg with all her might.

"I looked down at her and it was the most real thing in the world because it wasn't really about me or anything, it wasn't."

"I was trying to communicate with her, I was saying 'it's ok, you can stand up, I'll talk to you and we can have a conversation', [but she] was like 'NO' and you know that's when I realised that things were going to be different."

Warner Bros. Pictures

Titanic director, James Cameron, previously revealed that DiCaprio almost didn't get his iconic and arguably most famous role after the actor didn't want to read lines with Kate Winslet.

Cameron said DiCaprio was brought in for what the actor thought was an opportunity to meet his co-star before being told he was going to run some lines with Winslet.

DiCaprio said, 'I don't read', and got a handshake from the director who told him 'thanks for coming by' - giving the actor the impression that he'd just lost the part.

The director explained that Titanic would take up a couple of years of his life and he'd be working on it long after DiCaprio completed his scenes, so he was 'not gonna’ f*** it up by making the wrong decision in casting'.

While Cameron said 'every ounce of his entire being' was radiating negativity, as they headed into another room to read lines, once he turned the camera on and they started going through it, 'he turned into Jack'.