Jared Leto
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Notes
His last name is pronounced LET-o.
"I'm such a freak in comparison to most other twenty-five-year-old guys. I have no idea what other people are thinking. I'm not really in touch."---Jared Leto in Details, March 1997.
Biography
Actor and musician Jared Leto got his start in the beloved but ill-fated TV series "My So-Called Life" (ABC, 1994-95), but along with his co-star Claire Danes quickly transitioned to feature films. He earned a solid acting reputation with supporting roles in frequently off-beat films and grew into a lead actor known for his daring choices. For several years he alternated between the life of an actor -- immersing himself in roles to the point that his in-character behavior as The Joker during the filming of "Suicide Squad" (2016) reportedly alarmed and upset his castmates -- and the life of a rock star, touring and recording with his successful emo band, 30 Seconds to Mars. Equally captivating was his celebrated love life, which, to the delight of tabloid readers, included an array of Hollywood beauties, including Cameron Diaz, Lindsay Lohan and Scarlett Johansson. But it was his increasingly confident work as an actor, culminating in his Best Supporting Actor Oscar win as a transgender prostitute in "Dallas Buyers Club" (2013), that made him one of his generation's most interesting movie stars.
Jared Leto was born on Dec. 26, 1971, in Bossier City, LA. His mother was a travel-loving photographer who raised Leto and his older brother, Shannon, on the road in Alaska, Virginia, Haiti and Brazil, among other locales. After graduating from high school in Massachusetts, Leto attended the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and studied painting before transferring to the filmmaking program at the School of Visual Arts in New York. He wrote and starred in his first film while at SVA, a short called "Crying Joy." In keeping with his transient nature, Leto picked up and headed for Los Angeles in 1992, this time with his sights firmly set on acting. He made his TV debut on the cult teen hit "My So-Called Life" as Angela's (Claire Danes) crush, whom she was unable to refer to using anything less than his entire name: Jordan Catalano. The show was cancelled after only one season, but public outcry by its rabid fan base led MTV to air endless re-runs. As Jordan Catalano, Leto had all the ingredients necessary to become a heartthrob for the MTV teen rebel set, including a disaffected manner, grungy hairstyle, and a rock band.
When the show was cancelled, Leto was able to shed the teen slacker image pretty quickly by taking on challenging roles in distinctive films. His first screen roles of note were in "How to Make an American Quilt" (1995) and as a virginal Irish teenager in the British film "The Last of the High Kings" (1996), but it was "Prefontaine," a 1997 biopic about Olympic athlete Steve Prefontaine, that put him on the critics' radar. For this challenging role, the actor immersed himself in the athlete's life, meeting with members of the family and training for six weeks with one of the runner's college roommates. With his blond hair and sculpted physique, he bore a striking resemblance to the real Prefontaine, but Leto went beyond just the surface, adopting Prefontaine's voice and unique, upright running style. Despite the attention and praise, the film failed to attract a large audience and disappeared quickly from multiplexes. Leto next delivered another strong turn as a hitchhiking college student suspected of being a serial killer in the thriller "SwitchBack" (1997) before landing the lead role of an aristocratic Brit in the period drama "Basil" (1998). In 1998, he started playing with the big boys, appearing in Terrence Malick's star-packed WWII flick, "The Thin Red Line," alongside Nick Nolte, George Clooney, and Sean Penn.
Due to his raised profile, in 1996 and 1997 Leto appeared on People magazine's "Most Beautiful People" list; whether in spite of or because of that fact, he went on to take a series of roles that required drastic changes in physical appearance or significant strain on his body. In the highly-praised "Fight Club" (1999), a bleached blond "Angel Face" Leto was beaten almost beyond recognition. In "American Psycho" (2000), he was killed with an axe. In "Panic Room" (2002) he was badly burned. For his role as a despairing young drug addict in Darren Aronofsky's "Requiem for a Dream" (2000), he lost nearly 30 pounds. And for his role in the almost universally panned "Chapter 27" (2007), he gained nearly 60 pounds to play the man who killed John Lennon, Mark David Chapman.
Leto had started his career as a young talent admirably determined to avoid the blockbusters, go where the challenges were, and stretch himself and his craft. But somewhere along the way, he became increasingly prone to extolling his own virtues and making public outbursts. Coinciding with this shift, was the rising fame of the band he and his brother, Shannon, had begun in 1998, 30 Seconds to Mars. Their first album had done moderately well but it was their sophomore effort A Beautiful Lie that spawned a successful video for "The Kill," a world tour, and achieved certified sales of over one million copies. Leto's look had gone from '90s suburban kid to retro-gothic, and he was photographed pouting under jet-black hair and wearing dark eyeliner. In 2006, he allegedly attacked fellow actor Elijah Wood at an awards show for Wood's comment during an interview that he didn't like Leto's band.
On the romance front, Leto made headlines as well, dating actress Cameron Diaz for several years, which resulted in an engagement that was later broken off. Also reportedly involved with Scarlett Johansson and Ashley Olson, Leto's most famous post-Diaz dalliance was with his "Chapter 27" co-star, fellow wild child Lindsay Lohan. A few months after the Wood run-in, Leto was in the headlines for lashing out at a photographer at the Sundance Film Festival, after he had reportedly ended the relationship with the actress, stating that he was uncomfortable with being the object of paparazzi. Leto subsequently steered clear of screen acting and focused on his career as a rock star, with his group's third album, This Is War (2009), also proving to be successful. That year, Leto starred in the art-house film "Mr. Nobody," but then returned to music, further cultivating his frontman persona with wild hairstyles and intense performances. In 2013, Thirty Seconds to Mars unveiled Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams, and Leto was featured as a transvestite named Rayon in the drama "Dallas Buyers Club." In addition to dressing in drag, the role found the already-thin Leto shedding 30 pounds. His performance won him the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, among other accolades. However, Leto chose not to capitalize on that publicity, instead focusing on his band with the filming of a tour documentary miniseries, "Into the Wild" (2014), which he directed under the pseudonym Bartholomew Cubbins. Leto next appeared onscreen with a small but pivotal role as The Joker in the DC Comics anti-hero comedy-drama "Suicide Squad" (2016), though his time on screen was short, Leto garnered significant press attention for his in-character antics during filming, which reportedly included outlandish pranks on his co-stars. Following the film's commercial success, Leto co-starred in Denis Villeneuve's critically acclaimed sequel to cult science fiction favorite "Blade Runner" (1982) and starred in action thriller "The Outsider" (2018).
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Music (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Film Production - Main (Special)
Life Events
1994
TV-movie debut, starring in "Cool and The Crazy", an installment of Showtime's "Rebel Highway" series
1994
Made TV series debut as a regular on "My So-Called Life" (ABC), playing high school anti-hero Jordan Catalano, the on-off love interest of star Claire Danes
1995
Made feature film debut in "How to Make an American Quilt"; Claire Danes was also in the cast
1996
Co-starred in "Last of the High Kings" (released in the USA on video as "Summer Fling" in 1998)
1997
Had first leading role in a U.S. film, playing the title character in the biopic of the track star "Prefontaine"
1998
Starred opposite Christian Slater in the title role of the tepid "Basil"; aired on TV's Romance Classics
1998
Starred in horror offering "Urban Legend"
1998
Appeared in Terrence Malick's "The Thin Red Line"
1999
Portrayed the blond Angel Face in David Fincher's "Fight Club"
1999
Co-starred as Winona Ryder's boyfriend in "Girl, Interrupted"
2000
Portrayed one of two Las Vegas 20-year-olds who go to Seattle and stand vigil after rocker Kurt Cobain's suicide in "Highway"
2000
Had small role as a gay high school teacher in James Toback's "Black and White"
2000
Starred as a heroin addict in Darren Aronofsky's "Requiem for a Dream", adapted from the novel by Hubert Selby Jr.
2000
Played a rival co-worker of Christian Bale's Patrick Bateman in "American Psycho", adapted from the novel by Bret Easton Ellis
2002
Released self titled debut "30 Seconds to Mars" (Also known as "Red Planet")
2002
Reunited with David Fincher on "Panic Room"
2004
Played a murderous con man in "Lonely Hearts," which is based on the true story the notorious Lonely Hearts Killers of the 1940s
2004
Co-starred with Colin Farrell in Oliver Stone's "Alexander" playing Hephaestion, Alexander's friend and lover
2005
Released second album, "A Beautiful Lie"
2005
Cast as Nicholas Cage's brother and fellow arms dealer in Andrew Niccol's "Lord of War"
2007
Co-starred with Lindsay Lohan in "Chapter 27," an indie film about a woman (Lohan) who befriends Mark David Chapman during the weekend that he kills John Lennon (lensed 2006)
2009
Starred in Jaco Van Dormael's romance fantasy "Mr. Nobody"
2009
Released third 30 Seconds to Mars album "This Is War"
2013
The fourth 30 Seconds to Mars album released
2014
Won an Oscar for his supporting role in "Dallas Buyers Club"
2016
Appeared in the Skrillex and Rick Ross music video "Purple Lamborghini"
2016
Played the Joker in the DC comic adaptation "Suicide Squad"
2017
Cast as the megalomaniac Niander Wallace in Denis Villeneuve's masterful sequel "Blade Runner 2049"
Family
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
His last name is pronounced LET-o.
"I'm such a freak in comparison to most other twenty-five-year-old guys. I have no idea what other people are thinking. I'm not really in touch."---Jared Leto in Details, March 1997.
"I don't like doing interviews. I'm not pretending to be some superneurotic, hiding in my closet. I could care less about anybody knowing who I am, but I realize this is part of the game. Maybe if I really hated this whole public thing, I would go do plays in Hoboken."---Leto quoted in Details, March 1997.
"The casual Jared is a gas to be around because he's so funny. He's a little all over the place, which I attribute to his being young. But on the set, he was very focused. He's very earnest. He takes what he's doing very seriously."---"Prefontaine" director Steve James quoted to US, January 1997.
"I'm rarely proud of what I've done. I hated everything I did on 'My So-Called Life'. It was a great show, no thanks to me. But I think there's some pretty decent moments in 'Prefontaine'. I worked really, really hard at the running. I trained really hard. And I worked really hard to look like him."---Leto quoted in Us, January 1997.
"My coolest job was when I was 12 years old and I was a dishwasher at the Three Pigs Bar-B-Que restaurant for $2.50 an hour. All the fleabags and stoners worked there, so that's where I wanted to be."---Leto quoted to Detour Magazine, November 1996.
Leto has a band with his brother Shannon called 30 Seconds to Mars
"I've made, I think, three movies in the last five years," he says. "I doubt if anyone in this town would advise that."---Leto quoted to GQ, October 2004.
