Former friend Mark la Femina told the News of the World: ‘Leo used to see her in the street when they were kids. She was at least five years older than him but he couldn’t get her out of his mind.’
Whenever Leo was asked in school what he wanted to be, he felt foolish mentioning an acting career that hadn’t quite taken off.
‘At school, when they asked what I wanted as a career I tried to choose between a travel agent and a biologist,’ he says. ‘I knew I didn’t want to be one of the set things they said I should be at school – doctor, lawyer, blah blah blah…’
And he was convinced he was a better prospect than many of the other kids who cluttered up his television screen – including big brother Adam.
‘I was always play-acting at home and in school. I used to watch TV commercials all the time and honestly believed that I was better than any of those kids, including my brother.’
Eventually it was Adam who offered to help put him in touch with an agent. Initially, the move looked promising. Leo landed a role in a Matchbox advert and further parts in a breakfast cereal campaign and one for bubblegum, which was ironic given his previous ‘life of crime’.
The role might not have won him any awards but on a local level, he attained a level of fame from it. ‘When I started getting into commercials everyone started saying, “Hey, you’re the ‘keeps it poppin’ kid!” People recognise you from stuff like that. That’s probably my most famous commercial.’
However, the commercials were a false dawn. After this meagre success it was back to the customary rejections, some for spurious reasons. One producer refused him because he had the ‘wrong haircut’. His agent had a brainwave. What was hindering Leo’s shot at stardom was his name – he felt it was too ethnic. Instead he should try using the more universal ‘Lenny Williams’.
Leonardo was horrified. Aside from the usual teasing he received in school, he loved and was proud of his name. Years later, he recalled: ‘They thought my name was a little too ethnic. They dissected it and said, “Leonardo – Lenny”. Wilhelm, they changed to Williams. I didn’t want to act under that.’
In fact, the only name he changed was his agent’s – he sacked him and began the search for someone more on his wavelength. However, that depressing episode plus the mounting rejections were beginning to take their toll on the impressionable young teenager.
‘I hadn’t gotten a job in a year and a half,’ he explained. ‘That’s like over a hundred auditions. You get pretty disillusioned. One day I just decided I hated everyone. I hated all these casting directors, I hated them all – I was ready to quit.’
He recalls returning home dejected after yet another knockback and complaining to his father: ‘Dad, I really want to become an actor but if this is what it’s all about, I don’t want to do it.’
George replied: ‘Someday, Leonardo, it will happen for you. Remember these words – just relax.’
Simple words of wisdom they might have been, but they had the desired effect: Leonardo duly calmed down, refocused and carried on with renewed impetus. In addition, if he ever needed a reminder of why he was striving to make a better life for himself and his mother, it was there on a daily basis.
‘Money was always on my mind,’ he admits. ‘If I am honest, it was what inspired me most to come into acting. I was aware that a lot of people in Los Angeles were earning great money. I was always wondering from where, and how we were going to afford this and that – acting seemed to be a shortcut to getting out of the mess.’
Adam gave his take on early life with Leo and their unconventional family set-up: ‘We grew up together as brothers in the same homes, we were a very close-knit family. All the parents lived close to each other and were friendly. We’ve known each other since I was four and Leo was one: we are as close as two brothers could be.
‘Leo wanted to get into showbiz after he saw me in a TV ad and found out what I got paid for it. He decided that was what he wanted to do.’
Then came the little breaks. A friend of Irmelin’s knew a talent agent and offered to put in a good word. Within weeks, Leonardo was signed up. In the following months he landed parts in about 20 commercials. Those small roles led to work starring in information films. One, for the Disney-produced Mickey’s Safety Club, was on road safety. Another, on the dangers of drugs, entitled ‘How to Deal With A Parent Who Takes Drugs’, saw the 15-year-old Leonardo pose with a crack vial that transformed into a shotgun. This was also somewhat ironic given the substances that had been passed around in George’s circle of friends since Leonardo was a youngster. After all, this was the kid who once told friends smoking cannabis looked ‘as normal as drinking beer.’ Leo was quoted in The Times in 1998 saying ‘With parents like mine, I didn’t need to rebel against anything’, and his mother Irmelin backed this up in comments in the Mail on Sunday, saying: ‘We already did the craziness for him.’
Suddenly, Leonardo’s attitude to acting changed. Rather than being disillusioned by the profession, he was remarking: ‘I’m getting paid for something I enjoy doing, and I get to miss two days of school.’
Gradually, in small baby steps, he was beginning to get noticed. The information films were one thing, but what Leonardo craved was something tangible. And he got it in the shape of Lassie. Luckily for Leo, the exploits of the clever canine were being revived for a 1980s audience. The New Lassie started filming in 1989 and it was just the vehicle to get him on television. He appeared infrequently but crucially more than once, as a pal of the dog’s owner, Will Estes. His introduction to the series was a two-parter. ‘Lassie was having puppies before the big BMX bike race and I was the sort of cocky kid who just wanted to win,’ he recalls.
While the experience was a positive one, it opened the eyes of the impressionable young idealist to the fakeries of TV. As he told David Letterman, years later after hitting the big time: ‘Lassie was supposed to be a female dog but they had five different guys who were supposed to do all the tricks – maybe male dogs are smarter or something like that. They had this big pregnancy scene and I first realised how fake this business is because they had to tape over Lassie’s bits with special fur. I was little shocked and I was a little disappointed – I thought they’d use the real thing.’
At the same time he auditioned for a part in The Outsiders, a television version of the seminal 1983 movie of the same name which had been directed by Francis Ford Coppola and made stars of Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Matt Dillon, Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Ralph Macchio and C. Thomas Howell. Following the success of the movie, which launched the notion of the new ‘Brat Pack’, a series was devised with Coppola installed as executive producer. However, it was short-lived and Leonardo’s role even shorter (he appeared fleetingly as ‘Young Boy’ in one episode) but it marked a continual development.
That progression furthered with a meatier role on daytime soap opera Santa Barbara, where he had the more challenging role of playing a teenage alcoholic called Mason Capwell in five episodes. The journey from the odd bit part to the well-oiled production line of a successful soap proved a wake-up call for the young actor. As Leonardo was still only 15, he was permitted on set for half days at a time but these appearances were demanding and he was required to learn the entire script for his episodes. By this time his soon-to-be-trademark blond quiff was evident and he could throw a look suggesting there was more to come from this confident young actor. Of all his early appearances, this was the one that proved most beneficial. His part was emotionally challenging and demanding for an actor who had never once had a drama class in his life. Leonardo came through with flying colours, though and looked to the next opportunity with relish.
He didn’t have long to wait. A one-off appearance on top-rated sitcom Roseanne was merely a stopgap until he was cast in another TV spin-off from a hit movie, Parenthood. Ron Howard’s 1989 film, starring Steve