If you had to describe the life of Jordan Belfort in three words they would be as follows: drugs, money, and women. This life of debauchery was depicted in the Martin Scorsese Oscar nominated film, “The Wolf of Wall Street”. This movie was based off the memoir he wrote in 2008. Belfort was played by Leonardo DiCaprio, and according to Belfort, he really enjoyed DiCaprio’s performance. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter he says, “I was blown away. The way he was able to capture my energy, especially during the sales scenes and the speeches.” Throughout this interview Jordan compares the movie to his actual real life. Usually, the movies over exaggerate the truth. On the contrary, “The Wolf of Wall Street” did the exact opposite. He ventures to say that the raunchy and illegal acts in the movie were even worse in real life. "The drug use and the stuff with the hookers and the sales assistants and the sex in the office … that stuff is really, really accurate," said Belfort. "In some respects, my life was even worse than that. Although I'd say I did more quaaludes than cocaine." Based on the movie, his life looked as if it couldn’t get any more absurd—you would be wrong.
Jordan Belfort is the only person that can tell the story of his life in fullness and completeness. He is the most credible person to tell the tales of The Wolf of Wall Street. That is why he wrote his memoir, to educate the public of how he was not just a money craving degenerate. Instead, he was a master of sales and an exceptional motivational speaker. In Greek terms, it would be called ethos. Ethos is an argument by the character themselves, they employ personality, reputation, and the ability to look trustworthy. Throughout the memoir, Belfort is the epitome of ethos. If you were to merely just read about him you would assume he was a white collar criminal that only cared about himself. Opposed to the actual Jordan Belfort, who travels the world speaking to all kinds of people encouraging them and teaching life skills.