Meet Leonardo DiCaprio’s fascinating parents, George and Irmelin: the actor’s mum was born in a German air raid shelter during WWII, while his dad was a beatnik and comic book writer in 1960s New York

From LA’s gritty streets to Hollywood’s grand stages, Leonardo DiCaprio has had two constants – his parents, George DiCaprio, 81, and Irmelin Indenbirken, 81. Long before Romeo + Juliet and Titanic catapulted him to global fame, Leonardo DiCaprio’s parents laid the groundwork for his success.

Raised by a comic book enthusiast dad and a dedicated legal secretary mum, Leo’s upbringing was far from ordinary, People notes. His parents split up early on, but both were all-in on his Hollywood dreams, standing by him through the ups and downs.

Leo has never shied away from expressing his gratitude. “To my parents, thank you for listening to an overly ambitious, slightly annoying 13-year-old kid who wanted to go on auditions every day after school. I would not be standing here without you,” he shared during his 2016 Sag Awards speech, per Vanity Fair.

The challenges didn’t stop there. As Leo shared with Vanity Fair, his mum faced a severe health crisis as a child back in Germany. “All these refugees from the war and all the soldiers came into the hospital,” he explained. “She ended up contracting five or six major illnesses and stayed for two and a half, three years.”

From asbestos installation to launching a waterbed business called Foggy Bottom, George DiCaprio took on various jobs to support his family, according to the Daily Mail. But his true passion lay elsewhere. Per People, by the time Leo was older, George had embraced his creative side as an underground comic book writer and distributor in Los Angeles. “I’d go on trips with him to all the comic book stores around town when I was little,” Leo shared with Interview magazine back in 1994.