Brad Renfro

Brad Renfro
Renfro in 2000
Born	Brad Barron Renfro July 25, 1982(1982-07-25) Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.
Died	January 15, 2008(2008-01-15) (aged 25) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Heroin overdose
Resting place	Red House Cemetery Blaine, Tennessee, US
Residence	Los Angeles
Nationality	American
Ethnicity	White American
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1994–2008
Children	1 Son, Yamato Renfro
Parents	Mark and Angela Renfro

Brad Barron Renfro (July 25, 1982 – January 15, 2008) was an American actor. He made his film debut in 1994 at age 12 in the lead role of Joel Schumacher's The Client, going on to star in 21 feature films, several short films, and two television episodes during his career. Much of his later career was marred by a pattern of substance abuse. He died from a heroin overdose on January 15, 2008.

Early life and career

Renfro was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. He was the son of Angela and Mark Renfro, who was a factory worker. He was raised from the age of five by his paternal grandmother, Joanne Barron Renfro, a church secretary.

When he was ten, Renfro was discovered by Mali Finn, a casting director for Joel Schumacher. Cast by Finn as the lead in Schumacher's The Client, Renfro starred alongside Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones. Based on the bestselling John Grisham novel, it became one of the top-grossing films of 1994. In 1995, he won Hollywood Reporter's "Young Star" award, and was nominated as one of People's "Top 30 Under 30." That year, he played Huckleberry "Huck" Finn in 1995's Tom and Huck with Jonathan Taylor Thomas. He also won a second "Young Star" award, as well as the "Young Artist" award, for his performance in The Cure.

In 1996, Renfro was cast in Sleepers, based on the novel by Lorenzo Carcaterra. The film was directed by Barry Levinson and co-starred Robert De Niro, Kevin Bacon, Dustin Hoffman and Brad Pitt.

In 1998, he starred opposite Ian McKellen in Apt Pupil, directed by Bryan Singer. That same year, he played Leon S. Kennedy in a live-action preview of Resident Evil 2. Renfro went on to act in other films, including 2001's Ghost World and Bully, 2002's Confessions of an American Girl, and 2005's The Jacket. He also appeared in an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and completed filming on the film The Informers, co-starring Mickey Rourke, Winona Ryder and Billy Bob Thornton.

Renfro was the cousin of Jesse Hasek, lead singer of the band 10 Years, and featured in the first version of the music video for their song "Wasteland".

Renfro fathered one child, a son named Yamato Renfro, who was born in 2003. He was raised solely in Japan by his mother.

Renfro recorded an album under the name Frodad Band which performed all over L.A. and made appearances at Sundance Film Festival.^{[citation needed]}

Substance abuse and criminal record

Mug shot of Renfro taken in 2000

On June 3, 1998, Renfro, then 15, and his 19-year-old cousin were arrested and charged with drug possession. He was carrying two small bags of cocaine in a cigarette box and a bag of marijuana in his sock. He avoided trial by agreeing to be screened randomly for drugs and evaluated for any substance abuse problems in his plea bargain.

On August 28, 2000, Renfro and his friend Harold Bond tried to steal a 45-foot yacht from Fort Lauderdale harbour. They were arrested on the same night and Renfro was charged with grand theft and criminal mischief. In January 2001, Renfro was sentenced to probation of two years and ordered to pay repair costs of the vessel to its owner and investigative costs to Lauderdale Police Department.

On January 14, 2002, Renfro violated his probation and was arrested on charges of public intoxication and driving without a valid license in Knoxville. He was put into a three-month substance abuse treatment program as a result.

In December 2005, Renfro was arrested by LAPD officers during an undercover drug sweep of Skid Row and was charged with attempted possession of heroin. A photograph showing him in handcuffs made the front page of the Los Angeles Times. Renfro admitted to a detective that he was using heroin and methadone. In court, he pleaded guilty to the charges, and was sentenced to three years' probation. In 2006, he spent 10 days in jail for convictions of driving while under the influence and attempted heroin possession.

Death

Renfro was found dead on January 15, 2008 in his Los Angeles apartment. He was 25 years old. On February 8, 2008, the Los Angeles County Coroner's office ruled that Renfro's death was accidental, attributing it to acute heroin/morphine intoxication. His body was returned to East Tennessee, where he was buried on January 22, 2008 north of Knoxville, at Red House Cemetery in the small community of Blaine. He was not included in the annual Academy Awards tribute to Hollywood figures who died in the past year.

Exactly two weeks after Renfro's death, his grandmother Joanne – who had raised him and accompanied him regularly during his early acting career – died at her home at the age of 76. Local officials stated that she died of natural causes.

Mark Foster of Foster the People was roommates with Renfro and wrote a song about his death called Downtown.

Filmography

Year	Film	Character
1994	The Client	Mark Sway
1995	Tom and Huck	Huckleberry Finn
	The Cure	Erik
1996	Sleepers	Young Michael Sullivan
1997	Telling Lies in America	Karchy Jonas
1998	Apt Pupil	Todd Bowden
1999	2 Little, 2 Late	Jimmy Walsh
2000	Skipped Parts	Dothan Talbot
2001	The Theory of the Leisure Class	Billy
	Happy Campers	Wichita
	Bully	Marty Puccio
	Tart	William Sellers
	Ghost World	Josh
2002	American Girl	Jay Grubb
	Deuces Wild	Bobby
2003	The Job	Troy Riverside
2004	Hollywood Flies	Jamie
	Mummy an' the Armadillo	Wyatte
2005	Coat Pockets	Kenny
	The Jacket	The Stranger
2006	10th and Wolf	Vincent
2009	The Informers	Jack

Honors

Occasion	Year	Award	Movie	Movie year	Notes
YoungStar Awards	1995	Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Drama Film	The Cure	1995	Won
Young Artist Award	1995	Young Artist Award for Best Performance by a Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture	The Client	1994	Won
YoungStar Awards	1996	Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Comedy Film	Tom and Huck	1995	Nominated
Young Artist Award	1996	Young Artist Award for Best Young Leading Actor in a Feature Film	The Cure	1995	Won — Shared with Joseph Mazzello
YoungStar Awards	1997	Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Drama Film	Sleepers	1996	Nominated
Tokyo International Film Festival	1998	Best Actor Award	Apt Pupil	1998	Won
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films	1999	Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor	Apt Pupil	1998	Nominated
Sedona International Film Festival	2004	Director's Choice Award for Most Spirited Rising Performer	—	—	Won

External links

• Brad Renfro at the Internet Movie Database
• Obituary in The Times, January 18, 2008
• Brad Renfro: The End, January 27, 2008
• 9-1-1 call regarding Renfro's overdose and death
• Remembering Brad Renfro
• Renfro’s Death Pains Director Who Helped Make Him A Star, January 27, 2008
• Brad Renfro at Find a Grave