Jared Leto

Jared Joseph Leto is an American actor and musician born on December 26, 1971, in Bossier City, Louisiana. He grew up with his mother, Constance, and his older brother, Shannon, after his parents divorced. Raised in an artistic environment, Leto pursued his education at Emerson Preparatory School in Washington, D.C., followed by the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and the School of Visual Arts in New York City, where he wrote and starred in his own short film, Crying Joy.

In 1992, Leto moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career, making his television film debut in Cool and the Crazy before securing his first feature film role in How to Make an American Quilt (1995). His portrayal of Olympic runner Steve Prefontaine in the 1997 biopic Prefontaine earned him critical acclaim and served as his breakthrough role. During the late 1990s, he took on roles in films such as Basil, Urban Legend, The Thin Red Line, Black and White, Girl, Interrupted, and Fight Club.

Leto achieved further critical praise for starring as a heroin addict in Requiem for a Dream (2000), losing 28 pounds to depict his character's physical degradation. After appearing in American Psycho and Highway, he returned to screen acting with Panic Room (2002), Alexander (2004), Lord of War (2005), Lonely Hearts (2006), and Mr. Nobody (2009). For his role as Mark David Chapman in the 2007 biographical film Chapter 27, Leto gained 67 pounds, a rapid weight increase that temporarily caused him to develop gout.

His performance as a transgender woman in Dallas Buyers Club (2013) earned him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and a Golden Globe. Leto's subsequent film credits include Suicide Squad (2016), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), The Little Things (2021), House of Gucci (2021), and Morbius (2022), alongside projects such as Tron: Ares (2025) and Masters of the Universe (2026).

In addition to his acting, Leto is the lead vocalist, main songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist for the rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars, which he formed with his brother Shannon in 1998. The band released its self-titled debut album in 2002 through Immortal Records, followed by its commercially successful second album, A Beautiful Lie, in 2005. Their subsequent studio releases include This Is War (2009), Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams (2013), America (2018), and It's the End of the World but It's a Beautiful Day (2023). Worldwide, the group has sold over 15 million albums.

Leto has also directed music videos for Thirty Seconds to Mars under pseudonyms such as Bartholomew Cubbins and Angakok Panipaq. His directorial projects include the award-winning video for "The Kill", "From Yesterday"—which was shot in the Forbidden City in China—and "A Beautiful Lie", filmed north of the Arctic Circle in Greenland. Additionally, he served as narrator for the 2006 documentary film The Armenian Genocide.