Best Known As: Star of Prefontaine and singer for 30 Seconds to Mars
Jared Leto played Jordan on TV's My So-Called Life (1994-95, starring Claire Danes), then appeared in several high-profile movies, then carved out a second career as the frontman for rock band 30 Seconds to Mars. A native of Louisiana, Leto began working in television in the early 1990s. The critical success of the short-lived series My So-Called Life helped push him into the spotlight, and he seemed to make a career of playing small roles in talked-about movies: The Thin Red Line (1998, with Jim Caviezel); Fight Club (1999, with Brad Pitt); Girl, Interrupted (1999, with Winona Ryder); American Psycho (2000, starring Christian Bale); Panic Room (2002, starring Jodie Foster); Alexander (2004, with Colin Farrell; and Lord of War (2005, with Nicolas Cage). Leto has also been an occasional lead player and was the star of 1997's Prefontaine and 1998's Urban Legend (with Alicia Witt). He famously lost several pounds to play a drug addict in Requiem for a Dream (2000, with Ellen Burstyn), and famously gained nearly 60 pounds to play killer Mark David Chapman in the movie Chapter 27 (2007). Since 1998 he has also been the guitarist and singer for the rock band 30 Seconds to Mars, whose second album featured the MTV hit "The Kill," released in 2005 and promoted through all of 2007 with concert dates and international releases.
His brother Shannon Leto is the drummer for 30 Seconds to Mars.
Career Highlights: Requiem for a Dream, American Psycho, Prefontaine
First Major Screen Credit: Cool and the Crazy (1994)
Biography
Since first being introduced to television audiences as the object of Claire Danes' angst-ridden lust in My So-Called Life, Jared Leto has enjoyed a growing popularity that has allowed him to make a name for himself in a steady stream of films. Born December 26, 1971, in Bossier City, LA, Leto led a peripatetic childhood under the care of his mother, who moved her family to places ranging from Haiti to a Colorado commune. Leto, who was interested in becoming a painter, enrolled in Philadelphia's University of the Arts, but then discovered acting and transferred to the School of Visual Arts in New York City. While he was a student there, he wrote and starred in his own film, Crying Joy.
Leto moved to Los Angeles in 1992 to pursue his acting career. In 1994, he got his big break playing My So-Called Life's oblivious heartthrob, Jordan Catalano. Although the show didn't have a long run, it accumulated a loyal cult following from being ceaselessly re-run on MTV. Leto soon became daydream fodder for teenage girls, a status furthered by his selection as one of People's "50 Most Beautiful People" in both 1996 and 1997. After starring with a pre-CluelessAlicia Silverstone in the 1994 TV movie The Cool and the Crazy, Leto was cast in his first big screen role in How to Make an American Quilt (1995). More work followed in The Last of the High Kings (1996), in which he co-starred with Christina Ricci, and in Switchback (1997), opposite Danny Glover and Dennis Quaid. Leto then took on an athletic part in the Disney-produced Prefontaine (1997), the story of legendary runner Steve Prefontaine.
1998 proved a good year for Leto, who appeared in Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line as part of a powerhouse cast including Nick Nolte, George Clooney, and Sean Penn. In addition, he had a major role in Urban Legend, one of the more successful exploitations of the teen horror genre. Leto did hit one stumbling block, however, with Basil, a straight-to-video period drama co-starring Christian Slater and Claire Forlani. This misstep didn't seem to hurt the actor, whose name was already attached to a number of high-profile projects that would no doubt further increase his star wattage.
Two such projects were the edgy indie films American Psycho and Requiem for a Dream, both released in 2000. Though passed up for the lead in the former film, Leto made an impression in a supporting role as an arrogant yuppie doomed to be the first victim of vapid serial killer Patrick Bateman. Later that year, Leto landed the plum lead role in up-and-coming director Darren Aronofsky's sophomore effort, the addiction drama Requiem for a Dream. Playing a young Brooklyn man struggling with heroin and a severely unhinged mother, Leto had the opportunity to play against the legendary Ellen Burstyn as well as future Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly, and garnered the best reviews of his career.
Though two other Leto-starring films -- a would-be Boogie Nights ensemble piece named Sunset Strip (2000) and a grungy, Tarantino-esque road film eventually titled Highway (2001) -- quickly went the way of the video store shelf, the performer would find himself better employed as a supporting actor in two of director David Fincher's more notable films. In the controversial Fight Club (1999), Leto had a small part as a masochistic anarchist wannabe; in 2002's Panic Room, he played the most verbose and bumbling of the three burglars tormenting Jodie Foster's character. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
Leto is a vegetarian[5] and especially mentions this in interviews where he talked about his increase of weight for the film Chapter 27 (alongside Lindsay Lohan) in which he plays John Lennon's killer, Mark David Chapman. He gained more than 60 pounds for this role.
He is set to star in the film Mr. Nobody playing the role of the eponymous Nemo Nobody. The film is set to be released in 2010.
Aside from his film career, Jared Leto is the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and sole songwriter of the band 30 Seconds to Mars. He started the band in 1998 with his brother (who is the band's drummer) Shannon Leto and have released two full-length albums: their eponymous debut 30 Seconds to Mars, 2005's A Beautiful Lie and have an upcoming third album entitled This Is War. They began opening for other bands and started their first ever headlining tour, Forever Night Never Day, in March 2006. In May 2007, they started touring Europe, as the opening act for Linkin Park. In August 2008, Virgin Records filed a $30 million lawsuit against Jared and 30 Seconds to Mars, claiming the band refused to deliver three albums as required by its contract. According to the lawsuit, the band "repudiated" a 1999 contract in July.[6] In late April 2009 the lawsuit with EMI was annulled and 30 Seconds To Mars decided to re-sign with Virgin Records. Their third album This Is War will be released on December 8, 2009, while the first single, "Kings and Queens" premiered on Tuesday, October 6, 2009.
Leto directed the videos for the songs "The Kill" and "From Yesterday" under the alias of Bartholomew Cubbins , and "A Beautiful Lie" under the alias of Angakok Panipaq.[7]
For most shows, Leto uses either one of two custom-made Steve McSwain guitars, a white one called "Pythagoras" or a black one called "Artemis". The guitars—one a baritone and the other with a 25 1/2" neck—have the image of a gryphon which he drew for McSwain. Occasionally he plays a white Gibson SG 61' Reissue as seen in the video for "A Beautiful Lie". Jared also plays a Gibson Maestro acoustic guitar for acoustic performances. Jared uses Mesa/Boogie amps, more specifically the Triple Rectifier model and matches them with Mesa/Boogie speaker cabinets as well.
2.jpg)
