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Jared Leto

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Jared Leto
Leto in 2009
Born
Jared Joseph Leto

(1971-12-26) December 26, 1971 (age 52)
Occupation(s)Actor, musician, singer-songwriter, guitarist, bassist, pianist, keyboardist, lyricist, composer, film director, music producer
Years active1994–present
Websitejaredleto.com

Jared Joseph Leto (born December 26, 1971) is an American actor and musician. He has appeared in films such as Fight Club; Girl, Interrupted; Panic Room; American Psycho; Alexander; Requiem for a Dream; Lord of War; Mr. Nobody and Chapter 27. He is the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and main songwriter for the American rock band 30 Seconds to Mars and has directed music videos under the pseudonym Bartholomew Cubbins (a name borrowed from Dr. Seuss' The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins).

Career

Early life

Jared Joseph Leto was born December 26, 1971 in Bossier City, Louisiana. During his childhood, Leto and his family—his mother, Constance, and his older brother Shannon Leto—moved frequently, living in Louisiana, Wyoming, Colorado, Virginia, and even Haiti. After dropping out briefly in the 10th grade, Jared decided to return and focus on his education at Flint Hill School in Oakton, Virginia. He graduated from Emerson Preparatory School in Washington, DC in 1989. When he finished school, Leto enrolled at Philadelphia’s University of the Arts to pursue his interests in painting. However, he then transferred to New York City’s School of Visual Arts after developing an interest in acting.

Film

In 1992, Jared Leto moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in music, but also accepted some part-time acting roles. Two years later, he landed a role in the TV show My So-Called Life in which he played Jordan Catalano, opposite Claire Danes. After the show ended in 1995, Leto acted in several films such as How to Make an American Quilt, Girl, Interrupted, Urban Legend, The Thin Red Line, Prefontaine and Fight Club.

However, it was his portrayal of heroin addict Harry Goldfarb in Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream in the year 2000 that garnered him more critical praise. He lived on the streets of New York in preparation for the role, and following the film he moved to Portugal, shaved his head and lived in a monastery for several months to recover.[1][2][3][4]

The same year he portrayed a misfortuned yuppie colleague of Christian Bale's Patrick Bateman, in Mary Harron's American Psycho. In 2001 he was uncredited with his brother Shannon Leto in Sol Goode. After that, he returned with David Fincher for Panic Room, then teamed up with Jake Gyllenhaal in Highway in 2002,( he also had a part in Phone Booth which was deleted from the final cut). He then acted opposite Colin Farrell in Oliver Stone's Alexander, and later with Nicolas Cage in Lord of War. He turned down a key role in Flags of Our Fathers in 2006 because of his band. Also in 2007 he turned down the role of Clayton Beresford in Joby Harold's Awake. This role went to Hayden Christensen. Leto was a lacto-ovo vegetarian,[5] and especially mentioned this in interviews where he talked about his increase of weight for the film Chapter 27 (starring alongside Lindsay Lohan) in which he plays John Lennon's killer, Mark David Chapman. He gained more than 60 pounds for this role.

He played Nemo Nobody in the film Mr. Nobody, which was released in 2010.

Music

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, Shannon Leto, who is the band's drummer. The band has released three full-length albums: the eponymous debut 30 Seconds to Mars, 2005's A Beautiful Lie and 2009's This Is War. They began opening for other bands and started their first headlining tour, Forever Night Never Day, in March 2006. In May 2007, the band started touring Europe. 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 was released on December 8, 2009, while the first single, "Kings and Queens" premiered Tuesday, October 6, 2009. "This is War" was the second single of the album.

Leto directed the videos for the songs "The Kill", "From Yesterday", "Closer to the Edge", and "Kings and Queens" 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 25½" scale length—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.

Leto has cited how the De Havilland Law from decades ago was instrumental in resolving the band’s contract issues and how Olivia de Havilland, the Gone With the Wind actress, helped in a roundabout way.[8] His major influence were The Police and John Lennon.

Recently, the band collaborated with rapper Kanye West on the song "Hurricane" from their latest album This Is War.

Personal life

In 1996 and 1997, Leto was chosen as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World. Both titles were awarded by People magazine. Leto was engaged to actress Cameron Diaz (2000–2002). He had a dog named Judas that died in 2007. He has two half-brothers from his father's second marriage. His hobbies are snowboarding, painting, skateboarding and hiking, among others.

Awards

  • Leto got the award for "Prince of Darkness" at the Fuse Fangoria Chainsaw Awards. (Aired October 28, 2006).
  • Leto received an award for Breakthrough Crossover Artist given at the 6th Annual Hollywood Life Awards held in December 2006.

Filmography

Year Film Role Notes
1992 Camp Wilder Dexter TV Show 2 episodes
1993 The Torkelsons/Almost Home Rick Aiken TV Show 1 episode
1994 My So-Called Life Jordan Catalano TV show
Cool and the Crazy Michael
1995 How to Make an American Quilt Beck
1996 The Last of the High Kings Frankie Griffin (Summer Fling)
1997 Prefontaine Steve Prefontaine
Switchback Lane Dixon
1998 Basil Basil
Urban Legend Paul Gardener
The Thin Red Line Second Lieutenant Whyte
1999 Black and White Casey
Fight Club Angelface
Girl, Interrupted Tobias "Toby" Jacobs
2000 American Psycho Paul Allen
Sunset Strip Glen Walker
Requiem for a Dream Harry Goldfarb
2001 Sol Goode Wannabe Rockstar Uncredited
2002 Panic Room Junior
Highway Jack Hayes
2003 Phone Booth Actor uncredited cameo
2004 Alexander Hephaestion
2005 Lord of War Vitaly Orlov
2006 Lonely Hearts Raymond Fernandez
2007 Chapter 27 Mark David Chapman Gained 67 pounds for this role
2010 Mr. Nobody Nemo Nobody

Discography

30 Seconds to Mars studio albums

References

  1. ^ http://www1.albawaba.com/news/jared-leto%E2%80%99s-pains-%E2%80%98requiem%E2%80%99
  2. ^ http://www.cinema.com/news/item/1002/jarred-leto-flees-to-monastery-to-gain-weight.phtml
  3. ^ http://www.urbancinefile.com.au/home/view.asp?a=4524&s=reviews
  4. ^ http://www.movieline.com/2002/04/jared-leto-thriving-in-the-dark.php?page=2
  5. ^ Twitter.com
  6. ^ "Virgin Records sues Jared Leto's band for $30M". Retrieved 2008-08-16. [dead link]
  7. ^ "30 Seconds to Mars". jaredletoonline.com.
  8. ^ August Brown (29 November 2009). "30 Seconds to Mars Soars:The band's legal struggles with EMI-since resolved with an unlikely Old Hollywood assist-inform its new album, This Is War". Los Angeles Times.

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