50 interesting facts about Jared Leto: he's vegetarian, is a method actor

19 July 2014, 6:10 am EDT By Staff Reporter

Jared Leto is an actor known for roles in the films Requiem for a Dream and Dallas Buyers Club. He is also co-founder and lead singer of the rock band 30 Seconds to Mars.

His full name is Jared Joseph Leto and he was born on December 26, 1971 in Bossier City, Louisiana.
His mother, Constance, continued to raise Jared and Shannon after she and their father divorced, and has since remarried. His father died after remarrying.
He has a dog named Judas.
He also got his first guitar aged 12, which was a Roland Juno-106.
The first instrument he ever learnt to play though, was the "old beat up piano" in his first home.
After developing an interest in filmmaking, he transferred to the School of Visual Arts in New York City. While he was a student there, he wrote and starred in his own short film, Crying Joy.
Jared Leto attended the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
He landed his first on screen role as a guest star on the short-lived television show Camp Wilder (1992).
It was then followed by a role opposite Claire Danes in the TV series My So-Called Life (1995). Leto's character was "Jordan Catalano", the handsome, dyslexic slacker, but also the main love interest of "Angela" (played by Claire Danes). Leto contributed to the soundtrack of the film, and so impressed the producers initially that he was soon a regular on the show until its end.
Later that year, Leto earned his first film role in How to Make an American Quilt(1995), a film based on the same name novel and starring Winona Ryder.
Leto went on to snag his first lead role in Prefontaine (1997), based on long-distance Olympian Steven Prefontaine. Although highly praised by critics, including Roger Ebert, the film was a financial bust.
Leto was engaged to Cameron Diaz. [2000-2002].
Jared gave up sex for two months when he was preparing for his role as a heroin addict in the movie Requiem for a Dream (2000).
He claims he spent time living on the streets of New York to get into character for his role as a drug addict in the 2000 film Requiem for A Dream.
Jared also claims that the closest he's ever come to dying involves "a gun and some cocaine".
In many of his movies, he is disfigured in some way. In Requiem for a Dream (2000), his arm becomes infected and is amputated. In Fight Club (1999), his face is beaten beyond recognition. In Panic Room (2002), he is badly burned. In American Psycho (2000), he is brutally murdered with an ax.
Leto had a part in Phone Booth (2002) which was deleted from the theatrical cut.
Leto is the vocalist and guitarist of the rock band 30 Seconds to Mars.
The video for his band 30 Seconds to Mars' song "A Beautiful Lie" was shot in Greenland.
He once suffered a broken nose after being trampled by his very own fans at a 30 Seconds to Mars show.
For most shows he uses one of two custom-made McSwain guitars. They're both engraved with the image of a gryphon drawn by Jared himself.
He has the Latin phrase Provehito In Altum tattooed across his right collar bone. It's the band's motto and roughly translates into 'Launch forth into the deep'.
He was once caught on camera while making out with Paris Hilton.
He created his own online live-streaming concert platform. It's called Vyrt, and it gives fans everywhere up-close and personal access to his band though this "social theater." Its idea came from some frustrating experiences Leto faced with Thirty Seconds to Mars in streaming their own live events.
His hobbies include snowboarding, skateboarding, hiking, writing songs, reading, and painting.
Bartholomew Cubbins is his pseudonym with which he signs the videos/films he directs (including most of his band 30 Seconds to Mars's video clips starting with "The Kill").
He is a vegetarian and was included in PETA's World's Sexiest Vegetarians list for 2007.
He loves to eat popcorn, vegetable and is also a fan of hot chocolate.
He is 5′ 9″ (1.75 m) tall.
He gained 62 lb for his latest role, playing Mark David Chapman, in Chapter 27 (2007). He then lost the weight by going on an all-liquid diet consisting of lemon juice, maple syrup, cayenne pepper, and water. He lost 20 lb in 10 days.
In 2009, however, Leto returned to acting with his most ambitious film yet; Mr. Nobody (2009). Leto's role as "Nemo Nobody" required him to play the character as far aged as 118, even as he undergoes a soul-searching as to whether his life turned out the way he wanted it to.
In October 2009, Leto raised money to the campaign against California Proposition 8, created by opponents of same-sex marriage to overturn the California Supreme Court decision that had legalized same-sex marriage.
In 2010, Leto launched The One and Only Golden Tickets, a full service company which operates worldwide and manages exclusive services for concerts, festivals, and events.
In 2013, the company was renamed Adventures In Wonderland.
In 2012, Leto became an investor in Surf Air, a California-based air service.
After the 2010 Haiti earthquake, he released a book of photographs taken during his trip to the Caribbean country in 2011, in a bid to raise funds for the earthquake-ravaged country. He has connected with and helped various organizations since arriving there, including J/P Haitian Relief Organization. Leto spent a year in Haiti during his childhood, and he returned there in January 2011 to "reconnect" with his former home following the devastating tremor of January 2010.
Jared Leto's net worth is $40 million.
After a five years hiatus from filming, Leto returned to act in the drama Dallas Buyers Club (2013), directed by Jean-Marc Vallée and co-starring Matthew McConaughey. Leto portrayed Rayon, a drug addicted transgender woman with AIDS who befriends McConaughey's character Ron Woodroof. In order to accurately portray his role, Leto lost 30 pounds, shaved his eyebrows and waxed his entire body.
While filming, he never broke character.
In March 2014, Jared Leto won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the movie Dallas Buyers Club.