When Leonardo DiCaprio was scared to win an Oscar

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio recalls being terrified when he was nominated for his first Oscar award for his 1993's film "What's Eating Gilbert Grape".

The 39-year-old said that he was totally "shocked" by the nomination at the time and was hesitant to go on stage in front of so many people, reports contactmusic.com.

"Things just happened so quickly. Out of nowhere a nomination came about and I remember being completely shocked. My Leonardo-DiCaprio-Whats-Eating-Gilbert-Grape-first-reaction was being terrified of ever having to go up onstage in front of a billion people," he told deadline.com.

"Someone said 'a billion people watch this' and I thought, 'Oh my god, it's not like doing a movie where you get a second or third take'. Everyone's watching every word that you say. That was my initial reaction to it. It's a nerve-wracking thought," DiCaprio added.

The actor has been nominated for best actor for Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street" at the Oscars this year.