JARED LETO

'Jared Joseph Leto' (born December 26, 1971) is an American actor and musician. His first major acting performance was as Jordan Catalano in the television series ''My So-Called Life''. This led to a growing film career, including a critically-acclaimed portrayal of a drug addict in ''Requiem for a Dream''. Additionally, Leto is the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and main songwriter of the rock band 30 Seconds to Mars. Leto is a vegetarian^[1][2] and especially mentions this in interviews where he talked about his increase of weight for the film ''Chapter 27'' in which he plays John Lennon's killer, Mark Chapman.

Contents

Early life

Career

Film

Music

Awards

Filmography

References

External links

Early life

Jared Leto was born on December 26, 1971 in Bossier City, Louisiana. During his childhood, Leto and his family — comprised of his mother, Constance, and his older brother Shannon Leto — moved frequently living in Louisiana, Wyoming, Colorado, Virginia, and even Haiti.^[3][4] Jared's father, Tony, divorced with Constance when Jared and his brother were still young. Tony had passed away after remarrying. His stepfather, Carl Leto, adopted him, although he later divorced Leto's mother. From both of his parents remarriages, he has two younger half-brothers and one younger half-sister.
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.^[5]

Career

Film

In 1992, Leto moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. Two years later, he landed a role in the TV show ''My So-Called Life'' where 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'', ''Urban Legend'', ''The Thin Red Line'', and ''Fight Club'', among others.
However, it was his portrayal of heroin addict Harry Goldfarb in Darren Aronofsky's ''Requiem for a Dream'' that garnered him more critical praise. After that, he returned with David Fincher for ''Panic Room'', then acted opposite Colin Farrell in Oliver Stone's ''Alexander'', and later with Nicolas Cage in ''Lord of War''.
Leto worked on ''Chapter 27'' where he played Mark David Chapman, the man who shot John Lennon in 1980. He gained more than 60 pounds for this role.
He is set to star in the film ''Mr. Nobody'', playing the lead role, and is currently in talks to play a god in ''Osiris Release''.^[6]

Music

Main articles: 30 Seconds to Mars

Aside from his film career, Jared Leto is the lead vocalist, back-up guitarist and sole songwriter of the band 30 Seconds to Mars along with his brother, Shannon Leto, on drums. They started the band in 1998 and have released two albums: their eponymous debut ''30 Seconds to Mars'' and 2005's ''A Beautiful Lie''. They began opening for other bands and started their first ever headlining tour, Forever Night Never Day, in March of 2006. In May 2007, they started touring Europe, as the opening act for Linkin Park.
Leto directed the videos for the songs "The Kill" and "From Yesterday" under the alias of Bartholomew Cubbins.^[7]
For most shows, Leto uses a either one of 2 custom made Steve McSwain guitar, both called "The Pythagoras". The guitars - both identical to each other, although one is black and the other white - have the image of a gryphon which he drew for McSwain.

Awards

★ Leto got the award for "Prince of Darkness" at the Fuse Fangoria Chainsaw Awards. (Aired October 28th, 2006)

★ Leto received an award for Breakthrough Crossover Artist given at the 6th Annual Hollywood Life Awards held in December of 2006.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
1994	''My So-Called Life''	Jordan Catalano	TV show
	''Cool and the Crazy''	Michael
1995	''How to Make an American Quilt''	Beck
1996	''Summer Fling''	Frankie Griffin
1996	''The Last of the High Kings''	Frankie Griffin
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	Abstained from sex for two months, and lost 28 pounds for this role.
2002	''Panic Room''	Junior
	''Highway''	Jack Hayes
2004	''Alexander''	Hephaestion
2005	''Lord of War''	Vitaly Orlov
2006	''Lonely Hearts''	Raymond Fernandez
2007	''Chapter 27''	Mark David Chapman	Gained 62 pounds for this role.
2008	''Mr. Nobody''	Nemo Nobody

References

1. Vegetarian of the Year 2007 Page
2. Peta 2 Vegetarian of the Year 2007 Voting
3. Jared Leto Biography
4. Jared Leto Biography
5. Jared Leto Bio
6. http://www.ifmagazine.com/new.asp?article=4503
7. 30 Seconds to Mars

External links

★

★ 30 Seconds To Mars Official Site

★ 30 Seconds To Mars' MySpace

★ TheMarsArmy.com 30STM Fansite

★ TheMarsArmy on Myspace

★ Argus Apocraphex ~ A 30STM Fansite