With Jared Leto, the saying that “there is no great genius without a mixture of madness” is very accurate. He’s as talented as he is unorthodox, to say the least. He’s known for his complex persona and powerful performances. In fact, he constantly challenges himself and takes on a diverse range of roles in both film and television.
Leto has been in movies and TV shows like My So-Called Life, Requiem for a Dream, and Suicide Squad. Needless to say, he’s a cocktail of talent. Between his charisma as frontman of a rock band and his method acting, here are some intriguing facts about his life and career.
1. He Doesn’t Watch His Own Films
Leto has said in the past that he doesn’t watch his own films. There seem to be two different camps in Hollywood regarding this subject. There are some actors who don’t have any problem watching them, and there are some actors who get very anxious about watching them.
Once, Adam Driver walked out of an interview when he was pressed to watch a clip from a film he appeared in. Leto has stated that, since Requiem for a Dream, he doesn’t like to view his films. This is because he doesn’t like watching his performances from the outside, as he inhabits the characters when he plays them.
2. Jared Leto Is Older Than He Looks
Some people look a little younger or older than they really are, but Leto takes this to the next level. Despite looking quite young, he was born in 1971. To put that into perspective, he’s older than Christian Bale, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jude Law, and Oscar Isaac. Yet, he doesn’t look older than them. He attributes his looks to his healthy lifestyle and diet.
3. The Actor Is A Vegan
Speaking of his diet, Leto is vegan. Or at least he tries to be. He has said that he is “cheagan”, meaning that while he doesn’t eat meat ever, he would eat a cookie if offered or salmon if it was taken out of the river in front of him. Additionally, his whole band converted to veganism. Furthermore, he is an animal rights activist and has participated in several fundraisers to bring attention to animal rights.
4. He Volunteered In Haiti
When Leto was younger, he lived in Haiti for a year. The star decided to return to the country after the disastrous 2010 earthquake. He later published a book of pictures he took documenting his trip to the country in an effort to raise funds for the humanitarian efforts on the island.
5. Leto Has Appeared In Some Amazing Films
After appearing in Perfointaine, a performance that garnered praise from critics, Leto appeared in some of the best films of the 1990s and early 2000s. He started this run by appearing on The Thin Red Line, directed by Terrence Malik, in 1998. The next year, he appeared in Fight Club and Girl, Interrupted. He ended this impressive run with American Psycho and Requiem for a Dream. Some actors are known for their great performances in one high-profile or cult classic film. But Leto was able to be in all of these productions fairly early in his career.
6. He Has A Rock Band
One of the most impressive things about Leto is the way that he has been able to balance both his film career and his music career. With his band, Thirty Seconds to Mars, he has released five albums and even managed to appear in the Guinness World Records for most live shows supporting a single album. The band even organized a music festival called Camp Mars in 2015, which is held annually.
7. He Gained 67 Pounds For A Role
When Leto commits to a role, he goes all-in. This can be seen in his portrayal of John Lennon’s killer, Mark David Chapman, in the 2007 film Chapter 27. Beyond learning lines and studying interviews done with Chapman, he also gained 67 pounds, making him disappear in the character.
The change to his body was so severe that he ended up in a wheelchair and with gout. While the film’s reception was somewhat divided, there was almost universal praise for Leto’s performance.
8. He Won An Oscar
After 4 years of not acting in films and another Thirty Seconds to Mars album in the bag, Leto starred with Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club. The 2013 film was directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, and Leto plays a trans woman with HIV who helps McConaughey’s character, a Dallas electrician and rodeo cowboy who is diagnosed with AIDS.
Leto did extensive research for the role and also went through a big physical change, losing 30 pounds, shaving his eyebrows, and waxing his body. During filming, Leto refused to break character, a common tactic used by method actors.
9. Leto Sent Devious Gifts To His Suicide Squad Cast
As previously mentioned, Leto tends not to break character during filming. In 2015, it was announced that he would be portraying the Joker in the coming Suicide Squad adaptation directed by David Ayer. The rest of the cast consisted of high-profile actors like Will Smith and Margot Robbie.
Around the film’s release, rumors started swirling and were later confirmed by Leto and other cast members that he had sent gifts to his fellow cast members as the Joker. Some of the items sent by him include a live rat to Margot Robbie, among others like bullets or a dead pig to other undisclosed cast members.
10. Leto Showed Up With His Decapitated Head
Playing to his somber image, Leto appeared at the 2019 Met Gala wearing a waxed replica of his own head. Leto also played a member of the Gucci family in Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci. He collaborated with Gucci again in 2022, when he appeared as a doppelgänger of Alessandro Michele, Gucci’s Creative Director. In this year’s Met Gala, Leto appeared disguised as Karl Lagerfeld’s cat in a human-sized cat disguise.
