When I was in high school, my theatre teacher would bash his acting abilities all the time. I always found that appalling. I know a bad actor when I see one, and Leonardo in my opinion, definitely isn't one of them. He's one of my favorite actors. I think my theatre teacher was trippin.
shareMy theater teachers had it out for Alec Baldwin, Cameron Diaz, and Keanu Reeves.
I don't think he was necessarily wrong here (as much as I love Keanu). He would often go on 20-minute-long diatribes about the difference between being an actor and a movie star. This I would often agree on.
Baldwin and Reeves were decent actors. Diaz is a terrible actress, though.
sharePersonally, I love Reeves, always have. But some of his earlier roles are hard to defend.
Baldwin I go back and forth with. I mean he's good overall, but I can see why my teacher had him pegged.
and yes Diaz had always been terrible
Baldwin has some decent films like The Edge, The Getaway, Mercury Rising, Miami Blues, Beetlejuice but yes, a lot of crap as well, same with Keanu who for every decent film did 10 bad ones.
It's hard to judge actors when they do so many terrible films, but there are far worse performers out there than those two.
Your theater teacher is correct.
Leonardo Di Caprio lacks a vital trait that every leading actor should have - likability. He is simply unlikable. He is cold. That makes his characters unrelatable, and thus his films unenjoyable.
He's also an overactor. When he's supposed to be emotional, he just overacts. He has no range (plays the same type of character in every film). Any decent film he's in (The Departed) only works in spite of him, and the fact that the other actors in the film carry it for him.
Di Caprio has a career thanks to his mass popularity with girls. This gave his name huge appeal from the late 90s onwards and ensured millions of people flocked to his films just to see him alone regardless of the quality of the film. Danny Boyle even dropped Ewan McGregor from The Beach because he knew Di Caprio's name was a much bigger draw, even though McGregor was a better actor.