Leonardo DiCaprio Says This Growing Pains Decision Helped Launch His Movie Career

Leonardo DiCaprio has had an illustrious career on the big screen... but it might not have happened if not for a fateful decision on the set of "Growing Pains."

DiCaprio looked back at his early days in showbiz in an "Actors on Actors" conversation with Jennifer Lawrence for Variety, including his time as homeless teen Luke Brower on the long-running ABC family sitcom. "Growing Pains" may have just been a blip in DiCaprio's career, but he actually credits the show with letting him leave to take on his breakout film role opposite Robert De Niro in 1993's "This Boy's Life." 

"I did one year on 'Growing Pains,' then I got the movie 'This Boy's Life,' which was my first starring role," DiCaprio remembered. "They were so incredibly awesome to me because I think that we were going to do another year on 'Growing Pains,' and the late great Alan Thicke and everyone got together and said, 'Let the kid go do this.' It was really an amazing moment."

Debuting in 1985, "Growing Pains" became a Top 10 hit for ABC in its second season, with Thicke starring as psychiatrist Jason Seaver, who begins working from home and taking care of the kids when his wife Maggie goes back to work. But the ratings began to fade, so in Season 7, the show introduced the character of Luke Brower (played by DiCaprio), a homeless teen taken in by Kirk Cameron's character Mike and becoming a surrogate son to the Seaver family. 

DiCaprio had only been in a few TV shows and movies (including the infamous "Critters 3") before joining the "Growing Pains" cast as Luke in 1991. Producers were hoping DiCaprio's good looks would turn him into a teen heartthrob and boost their ratings. Well, they were half right: DiCaprio did become a heartthrob, but it didn't help the show much, with "Growing Pains" slipping to a dismal 75th in the ratings by the end of Season 7.

While shooting that season, DiCaprio beat out 400 other young actors to earn the role of Toby, a rebellious teen with an abusive stepfather, in the film "This Boy's Life," with De Niro set to play the stepfather. In order to take the role, though, DiCaprio had to step away from "Growing Pains," and he didn't appear in the final three episodes of Season 7 — which turned out to be the show's final season. "Growing Pains" signed off for good in May 1992 after seven seasons, and less than a year later, "This Boy's Life" debuted in theaters... and the rest is showbiz history.