Jared Leto Biography

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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-Clueless Alicia 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.

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. The same year he portrayed a misfortuned yuppie colleague of Christian Bale’s Patrick Bateman, in Mary Harron’s American Psycho. After that, he returned with David Fincher for Panic Room, then teamed up with Jake Gyllenhaal in Highway in 2002, then acted opposite Colin Farrell in Oliver Stone’s Alexander, and later with Nicolas Cage in Lord of War.

Leto was a lacto-ovo vegetarian, 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.

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.

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” and “Kings and Queens” under the alias of Bartholomew Cubbins , and “A Beautiful Lie” under the alias of Angakok Panipaq.

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. Also the band collaborated with rapper Kanye West on the song Hurricane from their album This Is War.