Leonardo DiCaprio claims getting beaten up when he was 15 changed his whole life.

The actor was brought up in a tough area of East Hollywood, Los Angeles, but won a scholarship to University Elementary School in a better part of town, which meant he was in for a shock when he later returned to standard schooling.

"When I went back to the public school system it was like - boom - this is reality. I got beat up the day I arrived because I had the attitude of everyone living harmoniously with one another. That was the motivational thing that happened to me in my life. I was 15, and I said to my mom, 'I want to be an actor. Please take me to auditions.' Because I had to get out of that public school system."

The Wolf of Wall Street star Leonardo, 39, also said his upbringing in an area where there was "a major prostitution ring on my street corner [and] crime and violence everywhere" meant he has never had the desire to take drugs.

"Never done it. That's because I saw this stuff literally every day when I was 3 or 4 years old. So Hollywood was a walk in the park for me... I'd go to parties and it was there and, yeah, there's that temptation. Hollywood is a very volatile place where artists come in and they essentially say they want to belong. It's incredibly vulnerable to be an actor and also get criticism at a young age when you're formulating who you are. We've seen a lot of people fall victim to that, and it's very unfortunate," he added.