Leonardo DiCaprio developed an interest in acting because he wanted to "get out of [his] neighbourhood".

The award-winning film star has become one of the most successful actors of all time, starring in movies such as Titanic, The Great Gatsby and The Wolf of Wall Street - but DiCaprio admits that his initial ambitions were simply focused on making money and bettering his own life.

Speaking to Jennifer Lawrence for Variety, DiCaprio - who was born and raised in Los Angeles - explained: "I think a lot of my propulsion to want to act as a kid was to get out of my neighbourhood.

"My stepbrother did a lot of commercials. He was like, 'Wait a minute, you can get paid to do that? I got to get out of this place.' I was [our] stage mom, pushing my parents to take me on auditions.

"I told them, 'This is going to be my college fund to get me money to try to have some sort of career in something.' I didn't book anything for a while. I got a Matchbox car commercial where I played a gangster with slicked back hair. I had a briefcase and I opened it up."

Asked if he went to the audition looking like a gangster, DiCaprio replied: "Yes. I slicked back my hair and I put a little leather jacket on. I booked Mickey's Safety Club, too. An after-school special thing where you teach kids the dangers of drugs My first television show was The Outsiders. There's my whole filmography."

Meanwhile, DiCaprio recently claimed that he believes Titanic allowed him to become the "conductor of [his] own choices".

The actor starred alongside Kate Winslet in the record-breaking movie back in 1997, and DiCaprio admits that the James Cameron-directed project changed the course of his career.

DiCaprio told Deadline: "Fully now in retrospect, I look back at that film and realise the thanks and the appreciation that I have for being a part of it, and to have been able to be in this incredibly fortunate position and not only to have been a part of that movie, but to be able to be the conductor of my own choices since."

DiCaprio found that Titanic's success gave him the freedom to pick and choose the projects he wanted to work on. As a result, he considers Titanic to have been a huge turning point in his career.

He said: "That has been just the greatest gift."