Leonardo Dicaprio is at it again, making everyone fall in love with him yet again, this time by raising an eye-watering amount for his own charity, which deals with environmental issues. The actor stood as a guest auctioneer at Christie’s in New York as the rich and famous bought and sold art all in the name of charity, at an event that took place a month ago but has been kept under wraps by the ever modest actor until now.

The 11th Hour Charity Auction was held on April 13, with DiCaprio the night's co-host with a Christie's regular, with a host of star guests in the audience to held raise some money, including Mark Ruffalo, Salma Hayek and Bradley Cooper. Organisers had first put together the plans to raise money for Leo's foundation, with an initial goal of $18 million set by organisers, who must have been overwhelmed by the actual amount raise - reported to be $38,827,000 (£25.6 million).

Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio's efforts more than paid off

It is believed that the Great Gatsby actor spent months asking for donations from artists for the auction and developing a buzz amongst art collectors to investigate and bid on items. To say Leo's work paid off might be a bit of an understatement as the auction saw 13 world auction records for individual artists set, with nine works of the artworks sold fore more than $1 million. 'Untitled’, by American painter Mark Grotjahn, sold for the most, fetching a hefty $6.51m, whilst other works included contributions from graffiti artist Banksy, sculptor Anish Kapoor and American artist Elizabeth Peyton, who had her portrait of DiCaprio sold for $1.05 million.

Shortly before the event, DiCaprio outline the ambitions of the auction, saying; “The modern world is placing enormous pressure on the very natural systems that sustain us; we are destroying our forests, polluting the air and water, overfishing our oceans and facing overwhelming extinction rates of plants and animals.”

Leonardo DiCaprio
The Wolf of Wall Street actor was an animal in the auction house