Part of Musicians Who Act featuring Lady Gaga, Will Smith, Ice Cube, Justin Timberlake, and Frank Sinatra.
Rise to Fame
Jordan Catalano made him a teen heartthrob before he'd made a single film. The My So-Called Life role in 1994 opened every door, but he walked through the ones nobody else wanted. Requiem for a Dream (2000) required him to play a heroin addict in freefall, and he dropped 25 pounds for the part. The industry noticed. After a six-year gap focused on 30 Seconds to Mars, he came back with Dallas Buyers Club, shed another 30 pounds, stayed in character the entire shoot, and walked out with the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
In the Spotlight
Morbius earned a 15% Rotten Tomatoes score, bombed at the box office, then got a second theatrical release because TikTok irony-watched it into a meme. That's the current state of his film career. In June 2025, Air Mail published accusations from nine women, some claiming to have been minors when alleged incidents occurred; his representatives denied everything. Franchise work is still coming (Skeletor in Masters of the Universe, Tron: Ares), but the distance between his Oscar and where he is now has become the defining fact of his career.
Side Notes
He's been fronting 30 Seconds to Mars since 1998, which sold over 15 million albums and set a Guinness record for the longest concert tour by a rock band (300 shows). The fanbase, called the Echelon, gets weirder from there. In 2019, the band hosted 'Mars Island,' a three-day retreat on a Croatian island with VIP packages reportedly priced at up to $6,499. Leto showed up in white robes. The band has put 'Yes, this is a cult' on official merchandise, which is either self-aware irony or the most honest marketing in rock.