Jeremy Renner

Jeremy Renner
Renner at the 82nd Academy Awards, March 7, 2010
Born	Jeremy Lee Renner (1971-01-07) January 7, 1971 (age 41) Modesto, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, musician
Years active	1995–present

Jeremy Lee Renner (born January 7, 1971) is an American actor, film producer and musician. Renner appeared largely in independent films throughout the 2000's such as Dahmer (2002) and Neo Ned (2005). He also offered supporting acting work in bigger films, S.W.A.T. and 28 Weeks Later (2007). He eventually came to prominence for his critically acclaimed performance in The Hurt Locker (2009) which garnered him a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actor. He then turned out another praising performance for his role in The Town for which he received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. This subsequent recognition gave him the opportunity to star alongside some of Hollywood's biggest talent in blockbusters such as Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011) and The Avengers (2012) which broke records grossing more than a billion dollars internationally.

Early life

Renner was born in Modesto, California, the first child of Valerie and Lee Renner, who managed a bowling alley.^[1][2] His parents married as teenagers and divorced when he was ten.^[3][4][5] He has five younger siblings, and his ancestry includes German and English.^[6][7][8] He graduated from Fred C. Beyer High School and attended Modesto Junior College.^[9]

Career

Early work

Renner's film debut came in 1995 when he played an underachieving student in the cult favorite National Lampoon's Senior Trip. Although the film was critically panned, he went on to guest star on two television shows, Deadly Games and Strange Luck and had a minor role in the television movie, A Friend's Betrayal as the friend of Brian Austin Green's character. Over the next few years, Renner had guest roles in Zoe, Duncan, Jack and Jane (1999), The Net (1999), The Time of Your Life (1999) and Angel (2000).^[10] Renner also had a small role on an episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation in 2001. In between acting roles, Renner worked as a makeup artist to make ends meet.^[11]

Early success: 2002–2008

In 2002, Renner had a starring role in the film Dahmer playing serial-killer Jeffrey Dahmer. He found the role a challenge to cope with after he had finished shooting after seeing how easily Dahmer took advantage of his victims.^[12] His performance was well received, and he gained a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Male. He also appeared in Pink's 2003 music video for her song "Trouble" as a Bad Boy Sheriff.^[13] Renner went on to appear in S.W.A.T.^[14] as the former police partner of Colin Farrell's character in 2003 and The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things^[15] in 2004.

In 2005, Renner starred with Julia Stiles and Forest Whitaker in A Little Trip to Heaven, North Country and 12 and Holding.^[16] He next starred as a neo-Nazi skinhead who is admitted into a psychiatric hospital in Neo Ned opposite Gabrielle Union. The film won all of the awards it was nominated for at festivals, including the Palm Beach International Film Festival Award for Best Actor. Renner also had a small (though uncredited) role in skateboard film Lords of Dogtown as the manager of Emile Hirsch's character. In 2006 he starred with Ginnifer Goodwin in Love Comes to the Executioner.

Renner had supporting roles in 2007 in the critically acclaimed The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford as Wood Hite, the cousin of outlaw Jesse James portrayed by Brad Pitt, and as Sergeant Doyle in 28 Weeks Later.^[17] He appeared alongside Minnie Driver in Take and guest starred as a patient in an episode of House as a reckless musician. Renner had a role in the pilot of The Oaks^[18] but the series was not picked up.^[19]

Breakthrough: 2009–present

After starring with Dallas Roberts in the comedy-drama Lightbulb and starring in the short-lived television series The Unusuals, Renner went on to achieve critical success for his portrayal as bomb disposal expert, Sergeant William James in the 2009 Iraq war thriller The Hurt Locker (directed by Kathryn Bigelow). The role earned him several awards in the Best Actor category and his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor^[20] as well a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.^[21]

In 2010, Renner's performance in Ben Affleck's The Town alongside Jon Hamm, Blake Lively, Slaine and Michael Yebba garnered him rave reviews and his second Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.^[22] He also gained his first Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor^[23] and his second Screen Actors Guild nomination.^[24]

In 2011, Renner had an uncredited cameo appearance as Hawkeye in Thor for familiarity with his character for The Avengers, which was released in May 2012.^[25] He starred alongside Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, the fourth installment of the Mission: Impossible series, as a new addition to Ethan Hunt's team. The film was released in December 2011.^[26]

Renner has completed filming for the action horror-comedy Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, in which he and Gemma Arterton star as both Hansel and Gretel. The 3-D film is set 15 years after Hansel and Gretel kill the witch who kidnapped them. The film's release date has been pushed to January 2013 by the Studio.^[27] He is also the star of the fourth film in the Bourne franchise, The Bourne Legacy, written and directed by Tony Gilroy.^[28] Renner plays the new lead character, Aaron Cross, in the place of Jason Bourne who was played by Matt Damon in the first three films. Renner has expressed interest in doing a Bourne film with Damon in the future, stating that "[it] would be kick-ass. I love Matt". In 2012, Renner starred as Hawkeye in the Marvel film, The Avengers.

Other interests

Music

As well as acting, Renner is a singer-songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist and drummer. Early in his acting career, he performed in the Sons of Ben. For the soundtrack of North Country he performed "I Drink Alone". In the 2006 films Love Comes to the Executioner and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Renner performed the songs "American Pie" and "Good Ole Rebel." He also appeared in music videos like Trouble by P!nk and Scenes on sunset by Brother Sal.

Property developing

He and one of his best friends, Kristoffer Winters, have run a home renovation business since very early on in Renner's acting career, the job "paid his rent when acting didn't".^[4]

Personal life

He is good friends with actors Sam Rockwell, Colin Farrell, Scarlett Johansson and Charlize Theron.^[29]

Filmography

Further reading

• Peter Howell (September 9, 2008). "Iraq War Movie Put Hurt on Actor". The Toronto Star. http://www.toronto.com/movies/article/623163. Retrieved February 25, 2010. 

References

External links

• Jeremy Renner at the Internet Movie Database
• Jeremy Lee Renner – fansite
• MySpace