Jeremy Renner
☼ Born on 7 December 1971, in Modesto, California, USA
Biography
Jeremy Lee Renner was born in Modesto, California, the son of Valerie (Tague) and Lee Renner, who managed a bowling alley. After a tumultuous yet happy childhood with his four younger siblings, Renner graduated from Beyer High School and attended Modesto Junior College. He explored several areas of study, including computer science, criminology, and psychology, before the theater department, with its freedom of emotional expression, drew him in.
However, Renner recognized the potential in acting as much through the local police academy as through drama classes. During his second year at Modesto Junior College, Renner role-played a domestic disturbance perpetrator as part of a police-training exercise for an easy $50. Deciding to shift his focus away from schoolwork, Renner left college and moved to San Francisco to study at the American Conservatory Theater. From there he moved to Hawaii and, in 1993, to Los Angeles.
In Los Angeles, Renner devoted himself to theater, most notably starring in and co-directing the critically acclaimed "Search and Destroy." He pursued other projects during this time as well, landing his first film role in 1995's National Lampoon's Senior Trip (1995). After several commercials and supporting roles in television movies and series, Renner captured the attention of critics with his gripping, complex portrayal of the infamous serial killer in the 2002 film Dahmer (2002). Renner's performance, which earned him an Independent Spirit Award nomination,
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is especially remarkable for painting a humane and sympathetic, yet deeply disturbing, portrait of the title character.
In 2003, Renner took a break from small indie films to work on his first commercially successful movie, S.W.A.T. (2003), with Colin Farrell. In 2005, he played the leading role in Neo Ned (2005) as an institutionalized white supremacist in love with a black girl, winning the Palm Beach International Film Festival's best actor award. Renner's pivotal supporting roles in 2005's 12 and Holding (2005) and North Country (2005) earned him accolades from critics, and his 2007 turn in Take (2007) garnered him the best actor award at California's Independent Film Festival. Also in 2007, Renner played a leading role in the horror film 28 Weeks Later (2007) as well as a supporting role in the underrated Western epic The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), with Casey Affleck, Brad Pitt, and Sam Rockwell.
Renner's depiction of Jeffrey Dahmer in 2002 caught the attention of director Kathryn Bigelow, and, in 2008, she cast him in his most famous role as Sergeant First Class William James in The Hurt Locker (2008). Renner's performance as a single-minded bomb specialist scored him an Academy Award nomination for best actor. He also earned best actor nominations from the Independent Spirit Awards, the Screen Actors Guild, and the BAFTA Awards, as well as wins in this category from several film critics groups.
In 2009, Renner starred in the short-lived TV series, The Unusuals (2009), and in 2010 he played the chilling but loyal criminal Jem in Ben Affleck bank-heist thriller The Town (2010). In the fall of 2010, Renner began filming Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011). He has also since starred in The Avengers (2012), American Hustle (2013), and Kill the Messenger (2014).
Renner's strengths as an actor derive not only from his expressive eyes but also from his ability to thoroughly embody the characters he portrays. His visceral depiction of these individuals captivates audiences and empowers him to steal scenes in many of his films, even when playing a minor role. Renner gravitates toward flawed, complicated, three-dimensional characters that allow him to explore new territory within himself.
In addition to his work as an actor, Renner continues to cultivate his lifelong love of music. A singer, songwriter, and musician, he performed with the band Sons of Ben early in his career. Scenes in Love Comes to the Executioner (2006), North Country (2005), and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) briefly showcase Renner's singing talents.
Despite traveling the world for film roles and, recently, as a United Nations Goodwill Peace Ambassador to raise awareness for mine-clearing efforts in Afghanistan, Renner remains close to his roots. In 2010, Modesto Junior College presented him the Distinguished Alumnus award in recognition of his body of work as an actor. He also headlined at a benefit for Modesto's Gallo Center for the Arts in the fall of 2010.
Renner maintains a sense of humility and gratitude, even in the wake of his recent successes and recognition. He keeps himself grounded by renovating and restoring old and rundown iconic Hollywood homes, an enterprise he began back in his early days in Los Angeles. He values loyalty and a sense of both age and history, and enjoys the opportunity to help conserve these qualities in a town that favors the young and the new.
In the role of actor
Avengers: Endgame (27/04/2019)
The Avengers regroup for one final battle against Thanos in Avengers: Endgame. After suffering defeat at the hands of Thanos (Josh Brolin), Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) and James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) are left in a […]
Hurt (27/07/2018)
A woman spends Halloween night with her PTSD-suffering husband in Hurt. It is Halloween night in the small town of New Caney, Texas and Rose (Emily Van Raay) is reunited with her husband Tommy (Andrew Creer), who has just returned from the war. After spending some time with Rose’s sister Lily (Stephanie Moran) and her husband Mark […]
Tag (29/06/2018)
A group of friends participate in an annual epic game in Tag. Since they were kids, Hogan ‘Hoagie’ Malloy (Ed Helms), Bob Callahan (Jon Hamm), Randy ‘Chilli’ Cilliano (Jake Johnson), Kevin Sable (Hannibal Buress), and Jerry Pierce (Jeremy Renner) have played a game of tag every May, where one of them can become “it” anytime and anywhere. The only one to […]
Arrival (13/11/2016)
A linguist tries to make contact with alien visitors in Arrival. The world is put on standstill as twelve shell-shaped alien spacecraft land around the planet. Linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) is recruited by US Army Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker) to try and make contact with the squid-like alien species, with Louise being joined on […]
Captain America: Civil War (08/05/2016)
The Avengers find themselves divided in Captain America: Civil War. With the actions of The Avengers often ending in mass collateral damage, the United Nations decides to introduce an accord to keep these heroes’ actions in check. While Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr) is all in favour of the accord, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) doesn’t […]
Tag (03/08/2015)
A young woman finds herself caught in the middle of multiple deadly situations in Tag. One day, Mitsuko (Reina Triendl) is riding the school bus on the way to a school trip. Suddenly, a killer gust of wind cuts everyone except Mitsuko in half. This begins a very surreal and deadly adventure, as Mitsuki finds herself […]
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (02/08/2015)
Tom Cruise and team return for a fifth mission, this time against a rogue “anti-IMF” agency. Ethan Hunt (Cruise) discovers proof of the existence of a criminal organization known as The Syndicate, lead by Solomon Lane (Sean Harris). However, since CIA director Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin) successfully campaigned for the IMF to be disbanded, Hunt is left […]
Avengers: Age of Ultron (02/05/2015)
The team of Marvel superheroes reunite to face a new threat in Avengers: Age of Ultron. The Avengers raid a Hydra base in Eastern Europe and recover the scepter previously held by Loki. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) finds that the staff has the capability to create artificial intelligence and he uses it to complete […]
American Hustle (15/01/2014)
From director David O. Russell (The Silver Linings Playbook) come this 1970s-set crime comedy, which is the fresh winner of three Golden Globes, including Best Picture Comedy/Musical. Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) is a New York-based conman, who successfully operates a loan scam operation with his mistress Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams). When the two of them […]
Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (27/01/2013)
It is quite interesting how popular fairy tales seem to be right now. In addition Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, there been three recent adaptations of Snow White (Mirror Mirror, Snow White and the Huntsman, and Blancanieves), Jack the Giant Slayer coming out in March, as well as the TV series’ Once Upon a Time […]
The Bourne Legacy (12/08/2012)
While most would automatically assume The Bourne Legacy is a reboot of the Bourne franchise, it is more a side-story that takes place during and after the events of The Bourne Ultimatum. It turns out that Jason Bourne and the Treadstone and Blackbriar programs that created him were just a small peace of a larger network of […]
The Avengers (06/05/2012)
The Avengers has a lot of set-up. Each of the main members of this superhero team were introduced through their own film over the course of the last 4 years. It’s definitely an ambitious plan to release five independent films to introduce the characters before bringing them together in one epic movie. And the movie is […]
My Thoughts for Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (The IMAX Experience) (17/12/2011)
In a bit of a unique move, the fourth entry of the Mission: Impossible series was released in IMAX a full five days before it goes into wide release. This is, in my opinion, a good way to get people into IMAX theatres to see the film (there are so many IMAX alternates these days), since […]
28 Weeks Later (13/05/2007)
So, this is the sequel to the apocalyptic zombie/virus flick 28 Days Later. This was definitely more of a grim and intense movie than the first film. While the first film had a period where nothing much happened, in this film the characters were always in danger (either by “the infected” or the U.S army, […]