![](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/leonardo-dicaprio-lead-2.jpg?quality=85&w=2400)
Leonardo DiCaprio has inhabited many characters in his 25-year career as an actor, but his turn as a fur trapper in Alejandro González Iñárritu‘s The Revenant is the first role that required him to inhabit a dead animal carcass. And eat bison liver. And swim in frozen Canadian rivers at the height of winter. It was a brutal filming experience which yielded a similarly brutal film, and over the coming months we’ll learn whether it was enough to earn the actor his first Academy Award. But although it may have been his most physically taxing role, it’s just one of a career’s worth—or really, half a career’s worth—of memorable characters. As The Revenant opens nationwide on Jan. 8, here’s a look back at DiCaprio’s most memorable performances at the movies.
![TM & Copyright © 2002 by Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved. What's Eating Gilbert Grape, 1993.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/whats-eating-gilbert-grape.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![The Basketball Diaries, 1995.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/the-basketball-diaries.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Romeo + Juliet, 1996.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/romeo-and-juliet.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Titanic, 1997.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/titanic-still.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Catch Me If You Can, 2002.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/catch-me-if-you-can.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Gangs of New York, 2002.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/gangs-of-new-york.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![The Aviator, 2004.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/the-aviator-still.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![- The Departed, 2006.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/the-departed.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![- Blood Diamond, 2006.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/blood-diamond.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Revolutionary Road, 2008.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/revolutionary-road-still.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Shutter Island, 2010.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/shutter-island-still.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Leonardo DiCaprio Inception, 2010.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/inception-still.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![J. EDGAR J. Edgar, 2011.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/j-edgar-still.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Django Unchained, 2012.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/django-unchained.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![THE WOLF OF WALL STREET The Wolf of Wall Street, 2013.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/the-wolf-of-wall-street-2.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Welcome to the Noah Lyles Olympics
- Melinda French Gates Is Going It Alone
- What to Do if You Can’t Afford Your Medications
- How to Buy Groceries Without Breaking the Bank
- Sienna Miller Is the Reason to Watch Horizon
- Why So Many Bitcoin Mining Companies Are Pivoting to AI
- The 15 Best Movies to Watch on a Plane
- Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time
Write to Eliza Berman at eliza.berman@time.com