Leonardo DiCaprio turns the big 5-0 today, What better way to celebrate his birthday than to rank his all-time best performances.

Whenever the topic of DiCaprio’s acting talents comes into conversation, it’s either he’s overrated or underrated, there’s no in-between. I’m sure that debate will continue on here. Given all of the acclaimed and successful films he’s starred in, DiCaprio has turned into an iconic actor, one who never plays it safe, and always goes for auteur-driven projects. I’ll admit that he’s been miscast in some films, but when given the right role, he tends to deliver the goods.

DiCaprio may be one of the very last old-school male leads left in Hollywood, an actor who never plays it safe and always goes for risky, adventurous fare. Just take a look at the list of filmmakers the 50-year-old actor has worked with over the years: Scorsese, Spielberg, Inarritu, Nolan, Tarantino, PTA, Allen, Cameron, Eastwood, Scott, Mendes. A who’s who of great directors.

DiCaprio has been Oscar-nominated seven times, and of course only won once (for “The Revenant” in 2016). I’ve actually decided to omit his ‘Revenant’ performance from this list, and not because I dislike the film, or the performance, but rather because I find DiCaprio has delivered better work in his career. Here are his ten best performances.

1) Jordan Belfort, “The Wolf Of Wall Street”

This was the best work of his career. The sky’s the limit for DiCaprio, and in Scorsese’s now classic epic of debauchery, he brought a whole new range to his repertoire. With some scenes veering towards slapstick comedy, Leo’s portrayal of a Wall Street madman could have quite easily tipped over the top towards caricature, but I don’t think anyone could have pulled it off better than he did. It was a very divisive movie upon its release, but has gained notoriety over the last few years and will continue to do so as a classic. It is the riskiest performance DiCaprio.

2) Howard Hughes, “The Aviator”

Martin Scorsese’s movie is the best one ever made about OCD. A mental disease that hasn’t really been understood or treated in the best of ways in pop culture. DiCaprio beautifully captured Howard Hughes’ inner and outer demons in a lavish but personal movie. There are some moments with the tiniest of details that it’s very easy to miss them. Hughes was a neurotic, eccentric billionaire who, as his obsessive compulsion grew, isolated himself entirely from society. This could have been the one to win it all for the then 30-year-old actor. A big budget Hollywood epic, that dealt with an industry legend. Every note was perfect in the performance, capturing the quirks and eccentricities that come with having mental illness.

3) Arnie Grape, “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?”

Tropic Thunder’s Kirk Lazarus said you should never go “full retard.” Crude phrasing aside, DiCaprio clearly didn’t get the memo. It’s in Lasse Hallstrom’s touching film that I first noticed a then 19-year-old actor stealing scenes from Johnny Depp. Playing a character with a developmental disability is not the easiest task to tackle for a young actor, let alone a veteran actor. I didn’t know DiCaprio back then and actually believed that a mentally challenged actor was playing Arnie Grape — that’s how great this performance was. Not many people knew who DiCaprio was, but after watching this movie you sure as hell weren’t going to make that same mistake again. Here was a performance that captured all the details, big and small, and made them feel so real.

4) Billy Costigan, “The Departed”

When you’re in the same movie as an over-the-top but equally brilliant Jack Nicholson, or have to share screen time with a swear-a-minute ticking time bomb cop played by Mark Wahlberg, good luck getting the recognition you deserve. That’s what happened here. DiCaprio’s was the most subtle of performances: a calm, cool and collected guy having to deal with the anarchy unfolding in a society about to breakdown and trapped in unique circumstances where he can’t tell the good guys from the bad guys. Scorsese’s best movie since “Casino” or even “Goodfellas” had DiCaprio in his most emotionally and physically complex role carrying the movie through its twists and turns.

5) Jack Dawson, “Titanic”

DiCaprio got robbed of a nomination for this movie. Kate Winslet and Gloria Stuart were nominated. It was in fact DiCaprio who carried the movie on his then lanky shoulders, giving it soul and putting a heartbeat to the corny dialogue James Cameron is so well known to write for his films. This is also the movie that many people claim will be the reason why DiCaprio will never win the big award. Leo-Mania was huge. He was a heartthrob who stole millions of hearts, but so what? Ironically, Jack Nicholson won that same year for playing an OCD-ridden Grinch in “As Good As It Gets”. But if you want a truer depiction of OCD go check out “The Aviator”.

6) Ernest, “Killers of the Flower Moon”

Dicaprio is astonishing as the useful idiot in “Killers of the Flower Moon.” In Martin Scorsese’s film, Dicaprio’s Ernest and Lily Gladstone’s Mollie have this completely twisted relationship — the bond between an Osage woman and the white man who murders her entire family. It’s literally that. And yet, as human nature has a way of doing, Ernest still has this sweet natured love for Mollie. You almost can’t help but like him as his every move is being controlled by his madcap and greed-loving uncle (played by Robert De Niro). You don’t even realize the overall impact of Ernest and Mollie’s messed-up union until the very end. It’s complex stuff and DiCaprio absolutely nails this role. He’s not a hero nor is he some kind of one-dimensional villain, but rather a low-thinking, naive henchman, who is willingly in love with one of his victims, his wife.

7) Frank Abagnale Jr, “Catch Me If You Can”

What a playful, enjoyably persistent performance by DiCaprio. Steven Spielberg took Leo’s charisma and infectious personality and used it to move his film into such cheery, infectious territory. This was only five years after “Titanic”. DiCaprio had just come out of relative failures such as “The Man in the Iron Mask”, “Celebrity”, and “The Beach”. With all three movies, he was trying to destroy his public image as the pretty boy next door. What he didn’t realize was that he could use his aforementioned image and charisma to give us this great performance. Abagnale Jr’s escapades are so absurd, yet they all actually happened. The real life Frank had such a great personality that he got away with almost every bad deed he did. DiCaprio shone because he did just that; he used his attractiveness to mold a character that we cheered for even as he was breaking the law and making the FBI look like idiots. What is there not to like? Looking back on this performance, we can see just how tough a performance like this can be, yet DiCaprio made it look effortless.

8) Calvin Candie, “Django Unchained”

Christoph Waltz won the big prize for “Django”, and he was great, but you know who was equally great? Dicaprio as Calvin Candie: A loony, absurd, frightening performance this otherwise mess of a movie needed. Yes, the performance was over the top, but that’s the kind of thing that was required to get to the eccentric tone of the character just right. A professional connoisseur of the Mandingo game, Candie might just be the most despicable person in the entire movie, a bigoted fool who has enough money to build his own nightmarish empire-esque version of Neverland, this one aptly titled “Candieland”. Not even a nomination for this brilliant portrayal of absurd proportions. At least the Globes nominated Leo alongside Waltz.

9) Danny Archer, “Blood Diamond”

This performance he actually got nominated for. In this case, a nomination was probably enough. Justified in fact, but nothing more, nothing less. It’s sorta like when Marlon Brando got nominated for “Viva Zapata!” — great acting, but you knew there was so much this actor could do if it were a better screenplay. The role of Danny Archer wasn’t really written with any real subtleties or foreshadowed characterizations, but he was played by DiCaprio with such movie star vigor that it ended up getting him a nomination. That’s no small feat. The film has been reasonably better received over the years, with an 8.0 rating on IMDB, and it’s one of the last movies where the highly talented Jennifer Connelly would get a decent script to work with. Sad.

10) Teddy Daniels, “Shutter island”

Here’s a film that got no Awards love whatsoever. Relegated to a February release back in 2010, Martin Scorsese’s expertly tense horror movie has, rightfully so, had its reputation grow in stature over the last few years. Every decade there are films that were ill-received upon their release and then get reassessed later on and are proclaimed great movies. The scantily underwhelming 68% RT score and 63 on Metacritic that “Shutter Island” got are quite shocking considering that its IMDB rating now is at 8.1 with almost 700,000 votes. “Shutter Island” can now be considered one of the very best releases of 2010, with DiCaprio giving an exquisitely layered but brutally honest performance as Teddy Daniels, a man trying to relocate himself and his disturbed past. No Awards love but, something better, a reputation that far exceeds any awards, that of an audience-approved classic.