Leonardo DiCaprio believes Titanic allowed him to become the "conductor of [his] own choices".

The 51-year-old actor starred alongside Kate Winslet in the record-breaking movie back in 1997, and DiCaprio admits that the James Cameron-directed project changed the course of his career.

Asked if had any regrets about appearing in the movie, DiCaprio told Deadline: "No regrets.

"I mean, fully now in retrospect, I look back at that film and realise the thanks and the appreciation that I have for being a part of it, and to have been able to be in this incredibly fortunate position and not only to have been a part of that movie, but to be able to be the conductor of my own choices since."

DiCaprio found that Titanic's success gave him the freedom to pick and choose the projects he wanted to work on. As a result, he considers Titanic to have been a huge turning point in his career.

He said: "That has been just the greatest gift."

Meanwhile, in September, DiCaprio revealed that he was once told that his name was "too ethnic" for Hollywood.

The actor is one of the world's highest-paid movie stars - but he was told by his first agent that he'd need to change his name in order to thrive in the film business.

During an appearance on the New Heights podcast, DiCaprio recalled: "I go, 'What do you mean, it's Leonardo DiCaprio?' They go, 'No, too ethnic. They're never going to hire you.'"

The award-winning actor was actually given a new name to use by his former agent.

He was told: "'Your new name is Lenny Williams'. I said, 'What is Lenny?' … 'We took your middle name [Wilhelm] and we made it your [last name]. Now you're Lenny.'"

However, DiCaprio's dad, George DiCaprio, was quick to rubbish the idea.

The actor - whose films credits include Catch Me If You Can, The Departed and The Wolf of Wall Street - explained: "My dad saw his photo, ripped it up, and he said, 'Over my dead body.'"