Which actor played Howard Hughes in Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator?

Leonardo DiCaprio played Howard Hughes in Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator.

Released in 2004, The Aviator is a biographical film about Howard Hughes, the aviation pioneer, film producer, and business magnate. DiCaprio portrays Hughes from the 1920s through the 1940s, covering his filmmaking, aircraft design, aviation records, and increasingly severe obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The screenplay was written by John Logan. Cate Blanchett plays Katharine Hepburn, Kate Beckinsale plays Ava Gardner, and Alan Alda portrays Senator Owen Brewster. The production used different visual styles to evoke the color processes associated with the periods depicted.

The film received eleven Academy Award nominations and won five Oscars. Blanchett won Best Supporting Actress, while the film also won awards for editing, cinematography, costume design, and art direction. The Aviator was Scorsese’s second feature collaboration with DiCaprio after Gangs of New York and began one of the director’s most important later-career partnerships.