Is Leonardo DiCaprio Ukrianian? Ancestry explored as star donates $10 million to grandmother's homeland

Leonardo DiCaprio has made a donation of $10million (£7.6million) to a fund for Ukraine, the country where his maternal grandmother was born.

The Oscar-winning actor allegedly did not intend on making his donation public. However, the news was announced/leaked by the International Visegrad Fund, a Visegrad Group project that aims to provide financial support for international initiatives.

At the age of 24, DiCaprio, along with his family, founded the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in 1998 to support "sustainable development around the world."

All about Leonardo DiCaprio's ethnicity

DiCaprio is reportedly a quarter Russian, a quarter Italian, and a half German. The actor, who is also an environmentalist and philanthropist, was born to George DiCaprio (a writer of Italian and German descent) and Irmelin Indenbirken (a woman of German and Russian ancestry).

However, new reports say that DiCaprio has a personal connection to Ukraine. The Hollywood megastar's maternal grandmother, Helene Indenbirken, was born in 1915 as Jelena Stepanovna Smirnova in Odessa, Ukraine. In 1917, Indenbirken and her parents (Stefan/Stepan Petrovich Smirnov and Irene/Irina) emigrated to Germany, where DiCaprio's mother was born.

DiCaprio, who was mainly raised by his mother, was evidently very close to his grandmother as he often took her to the premieres of his movies. Sadly, the star's beloved grandparent, whom he called "Oma," passed away in 2008, at the age of 93.

DiCaprio with her mother and maternal grandmother (Image via Getty Images)

DiCaprio’s maternal grandfather, on the other hand, Wilhelm Heinrich Indenbirken, was born to Wilhelm Indenbirken and Adelheid Grachowski in Herne, Arnsberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

His paternal grandmother, Olga Anne Jacobs, who was the daughter of Paul Jacobs and Bertha Ludwig, was a German emigrant. Her family was possibly from Munich, Bavaria.

Whereas, Leonardo Dicaprio’s paternal grandfather was George Leon DiCaprio. He was born to Italian parents - Salvatore D. DiCaprio and Rosina Cassella - in New York. Both Salvatore and Rosina were born in Alife, Province of Caserta, Campania.

Several celebrities, including Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively, have made donations to help refugees and those living in Ukraine.