Jared Leto

• 1. Introduction

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  On the 9th of November 2023, Jared Leto became the first person to legally scale the Empire State Building. He climbed it to promote a worldwide concert run called the Seasons Tour. Few actors would hang from a skyscraper to sell tickets, and that choice says a good deal about him. Leto is an American actor and musician, born in 1971. He is known for method acting, for an eccentric stage persona, and as the frontman of the rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars. How did a boy raised among hippie artists end up here? What did he do to his own body for a role, and what did it cost him? Why did a legal fight between his band and its record label become his first film as a director? And what happens when one man's devotion to a character unsettles the people working beside him?

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• 2. Artist Before Actor

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  Jared Leto was born on the 26th of December 1971 in Bossier City, Louisiana, to Constance Leto, whose maiden name was Metrejon. She has Cajun ancestry, and Leto is the surname of his stepfather. His parents divorced while he was a child. He and his older brother Shannon then lived with their mother and her parents, Ruby and William Lee Metrejon. When Jared was eight, his father, who had remarried, died by suicide. That second marriage gave him two younger half-brothers.

  The Metrejon household moved constantly, starting in Louisiana and then on to different cities around the country. "My mom's father was in the Air Force," Leto has explained, "so moving around a lot was a normal way of life."

  Constance joined the hippie movement and pushed her sons toward the arts. Leto remembers being "raised around a lot of artists, musicians, photographers, painters and people that were in theater." In his telling, nobody drew a clear line between creative life and ordinary life. "We celebrated creative experience and creative expression," he has said. His first instrument, played with Shannon from an early age, was a broken-down piano.

  In the 10th grade, Leto briefly dropped out of school. He then returned to finish his education at the private Emerson Preparatory School in Washington, D.C. Large-scale visual art drew him to the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. A growing interest in filmmaking led him to the School of Visual Arts in New York City, where he wrote and starred in a short film called Crying Joy. He also attended the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, now part of George Washington University.

  In 1992, Leto moved to Los Angeles with a plan to direct and to take acting jobs on the side. Minor television roles came first. His first real break arrived in 1994, when ABC cast him as Jordan Catalano, the love interest of Claire Danes, in My So-Called Life. Critics praised the teen drama for its portrait of adolescence. It was cancelled after a single season, yet it kept a strong cult following. That same year he starred opposite Alicia Silverstone in the television film Cool and the Crazy.

  His first feature came in 1995 with How to Make an American Quilt. In 1996 he co-starred with Christina Ricci in The Last of the High Kings, and in 1997 he took a supporting part in Switchback. In 1998 he played a British aristocrat in the drama Basil, then starred in the horror film Urban Legend. Critics mostly disliked it, but it made money.

  That same year, Terrence Malick cast him in the war film The Thin Red Line, alongside Sean Penn and Adrien Brody. It earned seven Academy Award nominations, and Leto shared a Satellite Award with the rest of the cast. In 1999 he played a gay high school teacher who draws the attention of Robert Downey, Jr.'s character in Black and White. He also appeared in Girl, Interrupted, based on Susanna Kaysen's memoir, and played Angel Face in David Fincher's Fight Club, adapted from a Chuck Palahniuk novel.

  In 2000, he played Paul Allen, the rival of Patrick Bateman, in American Psycho. The film divided audiences and critics, though his own work was well received. The role that followed that year would ask something very different of him.

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• 3. Roles and Transformations

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  In 1997 Leto played the Olympic hopeful Steve Prefontaine in the biopic Prefontaine. He trained for six weeks and met members of the runner's family and friends. He looked strikingly like the real man, and he copied his voice and upright running style. Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that Leto "captures the rock-star style Prefontaine affected." The part is often called his breakthrough.

  Requiem for a Dream, released in 2000, demanded far more. Leto played the heroin addict Harry Goldfarb in Darren Aronofsky's adaptation of Hubert Selby, Jr.'s novel. His co-stars were Ellen Burstyn, Jennifer Connelly and Marlon Wayans. Before shooting, he lived on the streets of New York City and abstained from sex for two months. He starved himself for months and lost 28 pounds. When filming ended, he moved to a monastery in Portugal for several months to gain the weight back. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote that Leto "excels by going beyond Harry's gaunt look to capture his grieving heart."

  In 2002, Panic Room reunited him with David Fincher. Leto played Junior, a burglar who terrorizes Jodie Foster's character Meg Altman. The thriller grossed nearly US$200 million worldwide. In 2004, Oliver Stone cast him as Hephaestion, the closest friend of Alexander the Great, in Alexander. The film failed in the United States, and Stone blamed disapproval of its depiction of Alexander's bisexuality. Abroad it took in US$167 million.

  In 2005, Leto starred beside Nicolas Cage in Lord of War as Vitaly, the younger brother of the arms dealer Yuri Orlov. Amnesty International endorsed the film for highlighting arms trafficking. In 2006 he played Raymond Fernandez, one of the notorious lonely hearts killers of the 1940s, opposite Salma Hayek as Martha Beck. Heather Huntington of Reelz called his work a "layered performance as the nattily dressing dandy with no remorse."

  In 2007, Leto played Mark David Chapman, the Beatles fanatic who murdered John Lennon, in Chapter 27. He studied interviews with Chapman and audiotapes recorded by a librarian he met on a visit to the inmate's hometown. He then gained 67 pounds. The abrupt weight gain gave him gout, and the strain forced him into a wheelchair. After shooting, he went on a liquid diet. The film premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly called the performance "a genuine transformation."

  Mr. Nobody, which premiered at the 2009 Venice Film Festival, carried a different challenge. Director Jaco Van Dormael had him play Nemo Nobody, the last mortal on Earth after humanity achieves quasi-immortality. The role spanned ages from 34 to 118. Leto spent six hours a day in the make-up chair and adopted the voice of an old man. Bruce Kirkland of the Toronto Sun praised "a marvelously full-blooded, brain-spinning, tour-de-force performance."

  Then Dallas Buyers Club arrived in 2013, after a five-year break from filming. Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, it cast Leto as Rayon, a drug-addicted transgender woman with AIDS who befriends Matthew McConaughey's Ron Woodroof. He lost 30 pounds, shaved his eyebrows and waxed his entire body. He says the portrayal grew out of meeting transgender people while researching the part. On set, he refused to break character. The film won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and the Golden Globe for the same category. He also collected a Screen Actors Guild Award and a variety of film critics' circle awards.

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• 4. Brothers and Band

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  In 1998, Jared and Shannon Leto formed Thirty Seconds to Mars in Los Angeles. At first, Jared refused to let his status as a Hollywood actor be used to promote the group. He wrote most of the songs for a debut album that had been in the works for a couple of years. Several record labels showed interest, and the band eventually signed to Immortal Records.

  That debut, 30 Seconds to Mars, came out on the 27th of August 2002 through Immortal and Virgin. Bob Ezrin and Brian Virtue produced it. It reached number 107 on the Billboard 200 and number one on the US Top Heatseekers chart. The critic Megan O'Toole felt the band had managed to "carve out a unique niche for themselves in the rock realm." The album sold slowly but steadily, eventually reaching two million copies worldwide.

  Recording the second album, A Beautiful Lie, took two years, because the band had to travel across four continents to fit around Leto's film schedule. It was released on the 30th of August 2005. The Recording Industry Association of America certified it platinum, and it sold over four million copies in total. On tour, the band played major festivals including Roskilde, Pinkpop, Rock am Ring and Download.

  The Into the Wild Tour began in February 2010. In December 2011, Thirty Seconds to Mars entered the Guinness World Records for the most live shows during a single album cycle, with 300 shows. The Guinness organization also certified the tour as the longest running in the history of rock music. Leto later told that story in a documentary series, Into the Wild, which he produced with Emma Ludbrook and released in 2014.

  Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams appeared in May 2013 on Interscope Records. Leto produced it with his earlier collaborator Steve Lillywhite, and it reached the top ten in more than fifteen countries. From May to September 2017, the band toured North America with Muse and PVRIS. At that year's MTV Video Music Awards, the band performed with Travis Scott as a guest, and Leto drew attention for a tribute to Chester Bennington and Chris Cornell.

  America followed on the 6th of April 2018. Critics were polarized, yet it debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, the band's highest entry on that chart. A companion documentary directed by Leto, A Day in the Life of America, was released in January 2021. The band's sixth album, It's the End of the World but It's a Beautiful Day, arrived in 2023 and also split critics. Across all six records, Thirty Seconds to Mars has sold over 15 million albums worldwide.

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• 5. Pseudonyms and Short Films

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  For the video to the band's song "The Kill" in 2006, Leto told the press that an "insanely obnoxious Danish albino" named Bartholomew Cubbins had directed it. In truth, Leto did it himself. Bartholomew Cubbins is a recurring Dr. Seuss character and one of Leto's favorites. He explained the disguise this way: "I really wanted people to be able to enjoy and experience the video without having any more preconceived notions or distractions." The video drew on the isolation and insanity of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, and it won an MTV Video Music Award.

  His next video, "From Yesterday," was filmed in the Forbidden City. It became the first American music video shot entirely in the People's Republic of China. Hundreds of costumed extras filled the frame, inspired by the empires of ancient Chinese dynasties. Leto looked to Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor and to the work of Akira Kurosawa.

  In 2008, he directed "A Beautiful Lie" under the name Angakok Panipaq. The shoot took place 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle in Greenland. To limit its footprint, Leto worked with the Natural Resources Defense Council on ways to cut fuel use. The video won the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Video, and its sales proceeds went to the same council.

  "Kings and Queens" premiered on the 9th of November 2009 at the Montalban Theater in Los Angeles. It sent scores of extras and surrealist street performers through the city at night. At the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, it earned four nominations, including Video of the Year, and won Best Rock Video. Leto also made "Closer to the Edge" in 2010 from tour footage and fan commentary. James Montgomery of MTV wrote of "tens of thousands of fans finding a simultaneous salvation."

  The 2010 short "Hurricane," filmed in New York City, was an experimental piece that Leto called a "surrealistic nightmare dream-fantasy." It drew controversy and was initially censored for violence. In 2013, "Up in the Air" brought together the burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese, the gymnasts McKayla Maroney and Jordyn Wieber, the writer Neil Strauss and a number of animals. It was shot in a now-defunct aerospace manufacturing building and won an MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock Video.

  On the 12th of October 2013, "City of Angels" premiered at the Hollywood Bowl. Michael Jackson and Marilyn Monroe impersonators wandered among monoliths and murals. Leto hired homeless people for the shoot himself.

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• 6. The EMI Fight

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  In August 2008, while recording their third album, Thirty Seconds to Mars tried to sign with a new label. EMI, the parent company of Virgin, answered with a US$30 million breach-of-contract lawsuit. The legal battle dragged on for nearly a year. On the 28th of April 2009, the band announced a settlement, reached after a defence built on the De Havilland Law. The band then signed a new contract with EMI.

  The album they had been recording, This Is War, came out in December 2009 to critical acclaim. It reached the top ten of several national album charts and won numerous music awards.

  The dispute became Leto's first film as a director. Artifact, released in 2012, follows the legal fight that began when the band tried to leave its contract over a royalties dispute. Leto and his personal assistant Emma Ludbrook paid for it themselves through their company, Sisyphus Corporation, on a limited budget. The film premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and won the People's Choice Award for Best Documentary.

  Critics praised its look at the modern music business and at the relationship between artists and record companies. A limited theatrical release began on the 23rd of November 2013. The digital release followed on the 3rd of December 2013.

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• 7. Beyond the Screen

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  Leto's business ventures grew from the bond between Thirty Seconds to Mars and its fans. He launched The Hive, a social media and digital marketing company in Studio City, Los Angeles, focused on creative community building. It later took on other artists, including Jessie J and Semi Precious Weapons. In 2010 he started The One and Only Golden Tickets, which manages exclusive services for concerts, festivals and events. In 2013 it was renamed Adventures In Wonderland.

  In 2011 he launched VyRT, a live video streaming service with social networking and official merchandise. The idea came from frustrating experiences streaming the band's own live events. In June 2012, VyRT won Best Online Concert Experience at the O Music Awards. That same year, Leto became an investor in the California air service Surf Air. He is also a funder of Reddit, Robinhood Markets and Aetherflux.

  In 2008, Leto backed California Proposition 2, which dealt with the treatment of farm animals, and supported Senator Barack Obama for president. In 2012 he chaired a Gen44 event, a campaign Obama set up to energize voters under 40. Leto is also a gay rights activist. In October 2009 he raised money against California Proposition 8, which sought to overturn the court decision that had legalized same-sex marriage. He backed the LGBT rights group Freedom Action Inclusion Rights, known as FAIR.

  His charity work is wide. He has volunteered for Art of Elysium, which helps children with serious medical conditions, and supported the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes. In 2006 he created cover art for the album 97X Green Room: Volume 2, with proceeds going to The Nature Conservancy. In June 2008, he joined Habitat for Humanity and the band to renovate a home through the Los Angeles programme "A Brush With Kindness." He also supported Habitat for Humanity in Sentul, Kuala Lumpur.

  Haiti holds a personal place for him. Leto spent a year there in childhood. After the 2010 earthquake he returned in January 2011 to reconnect with his former home. He then published a book of his photographs to raise funds and supported Aid Still Required and the J/P Haitian Relief Organization. On the 30th of September 2014 he hosted the event Haiti: The Journey Is the Destination in New York City.

  In his private life, Leto began dating the actress Cameron Diaz in 1999. They became engaged in 2000 and split in 2003. He became a teetotaler in 2007. In February 2015, he was named a global ambassador for the World Wide Fund for Nature, and in 2018 he led an online fundraiser for the organization to mark his 47th birthday.

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• 8. Villains and Reckonings

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  In December 2015, Warner Bros. confirmed that Leto would play the Joker in Suicide Squad, released in 2016. His commitment drew attention. Will Smith, who played Deadshot, said he had "never actually met Jared Leto." He explained that after six months of work together they had exchanged nothing but "action!" and "cut!" Smith added that Leto "was all in on the Joker."

  Reports of unorthodox gifts followed. Margot Robbie, who played Harley Quinn, said Leto gave her a live rat, which she kept as a pet until her landlord found out. Viola Davis told Vanity Fair that a henchman delivered a dead pig to the rehearsal room, calling it her introduction to Leto. At the 2016 premiere, Leto told E! News he wanted to create spontaneity and "break down any kind of walls that may be there."

  In a 2021 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Leto said his premiere comments had been "in jest." He insisted that any gifts were given in a spirit of fun. "The only gifts I ever gave Margot were cupcakes," he said, adding that he thought he might also have given her a mouse. Suicide Squad opened to generally negative reviews, though some critics praised Leto despite the character's limited screen time. In October 2020, it was reported that he would reprise the role in Zack Snyder's Justice League.

  Villains kept coming. In 2016 he was cast as Niander Wallace in Blade Runner 2049, and he also appeared in the promotional short 2036: Nexus Dawn, directed by Luke Scott with Benedict Wong. On the 27th of June 2018, it was announced that he would star in Morbius, directed by Daniel Espinosa, which reached screens on the 1st of April 2022. In 2021 he played a suspected serial killer, Albert Sparma, in John Lee Hancock's The Little Things. That role earned nominations for a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award. He also played the fashion designer Paolo Gucci in Ridley Scott's House of Gucci.

  In 2022 he played Adam Neumann, the WeWork founder, opposite Anne Hathaway in the Apple series WeCrashed. The Disney film Haunted Mansion, directed by Justin Simien, followed on the 28th of July 2023. He then took the role of Ares in Tron: Ares. In November 2024 he was cast in the crime film Lunik Heist for Searchlight Pictures.

  In June 2025, the publication Air Mail reported that nine women had accused Leto of sexual misconduct, with one allegation dating back to 2006.

  On the 20th of December 2024, it was announced that Leto would play Skeletor in a reboot of Masters of the Universe. The film is scheduled for release in the United States on the 5th of June 2026.

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