Tuesday, October 2, 2012

JARED LETO :: Hollywood Actor -turned- Rock Star

Jared Leto — Hollywood Actor turned Rock Star

Born in Bossier City, Louisiana on December 26, 1971, Jared Leto lived a transient childhood thanks to his mother, who moved him to Haiti and then to a Colorado commune (and to some spots in between). The multi-faceted & multi-talented Leto initially enrolled at Philadelphia's University of the Arts because he wished to be a painter, but transferred to New York City's School of Visual Arts after becoming passionate about acting.

In 1992, he made the big decision and moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. Two years later, he landed a role as the object of Claire Danes' affection on the cult hit teenage drama, My So-Called Life. As millions of girls began hanging Jared Leto posters on their walls, he starred in his first film, 1995's How to Make an American Quilt.


Hollywood Hunk: Jared Leto

In 1998, he finally got some serious recognition in film, having impressed his fellow cast members in The Thin Red Line and Urban Legend. Leto's penchant for starring in critically-acclaimed movies became apparent after supporting roles in 1999's Girl, Interrupted & Fight Club, and 2000's American Psycho. Though he was passed up for the lead role in the latter, Leto earned a starring spot as a heroin addict in 2000's disturbing, much-lauded flick, Requiem for a Dream.

After more supporting roles in blockbuster films — 2002's Panic Room and 2004's Alexander, he also switched gears and pursued his passion in music; forming a rock group called 30 Seconds to Mars. Although Leto is a Hollywood actor, he originally preferred not to use his celebrity status to promote the band...in fact, the band used to refuse to play at venues that uses his movie star fame to promote shows.


"Actually comes from a thesis that the band found online that was written by a former Harvard professor. And one of the subsections of the thesis was titled 'thirty seconds to mars ' and he goes on to talk about the exponential growth of technology that relates to humans and saying that we are quite literally thirty seconds to mars. What it means to us is, we thought it best described our music, in short." — Virgin Records interview

"The Kill" – 30 Seconds To Mars

In August 2006, the band won the MTV Award for "The Kill" at the MTV Video Music Awards. The music video is loosely based on the film The Shining. Their next single, "A Beautiful Lie" was certified platinum by the RIAA in January 2006 for distribution of over 1,000,000 units. In November 2006, MTV premiered the video for "From Yesterday"; the video is the first American rock video ever shot in its entirety in the People's Republic of China.

Despite their growing momentum & popularity, Virgin Records filed a $30 million lawsuit –claiming that 30 Seconds to Mars was under contract to produce three more albums. After the legal battle, the band eventually returned to their record label and dropped their third album entitled This Is War in 2009. To encourage audience participation, the band solicited photographs from their fans and created 2,000 different covers for the album.


"Hurricane" – 30 Seconds To Mars


Jared Leto, Hollywood actor turned rock musician...who would have thunk it?

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