Before Jan. 7, most people thought that Leonardo DiCaprio's closest encounter with a shark occurred when he fended off a young mako shark's attack with a knife in a strikingly violent portrayal of man versus beast as the character Richard in "The Beach." But DiCaprio, who created the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in 1998 to protect and forever preserve endangered wild places and animals, divulged that he has actually survived a real-life shark attack during his appearance on "The Ellen Degeneres Show" this week.
DiCaprio revealed that he went on a cage diving trip while he was filming "Blood Diamond" in 2006 when a great white shark entered his cage in an attempt to chomp at the bait that somehow got stuck at the top of the enclosure.
"The tuna kind of got stuck on the top of the cage, and the great white kind of leapt out and tried to bite it," he told Ellen on Jan. 7. "It went into the cage with me and half its body was in and out, and I flattened down at the bottom and it chomped a few times."
DiCaprio, who voiced his enthusiasm for his foundation's role in protecting sharks, said that it was a frightening (but awesome) experience.
"I don't want to discount their work because they're doing great stuff, but it was absolutely terrifying," he said of the organization that took him cage diving that trip and of the experience itself.
The 39-year-old's foundation also works to protect tigers from extinction in Nepal, save the largest remaining block of rainforests in Indonesia, and to establish marine reserves and prevent overfishing in the world's five oceans. He also recently purchased an electric car racing team that will compete in the Formula E world racing series to advertise the eco-friendly benefits of zero-emission electric cars in contrast to cars that use non-sustainable fuel.
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