Jeremy Renner is the perfect reason why an actor should never give up, even when things are looking like they are going to be tough for a while. Renner has slaved his way through a career that started way back in 1995 and it has only been the last few years that this talented actor has received the acclaim and popularity that he deserves.
Renner’s love for acting began way back in his college days at Modesto Junior College. While he dabbled in psychology, computer science and criminology, it was the fact that he could show emotional expression in the theater department that led him to concentrate on his acting. Aside from college, he decided to expand his acting range by working at the local Police Academy as an actor as part of the Police training exercises. He then traveled to San Francisco so he could train at the American Conservatory Theater.
On his arrival in Los Angeles in 1993, he headed straight into the theater world when he starred in and co-directed the critically acclaimed “Search And Destroy,” before landing a role in the feature film “National Lampoon’s Senior Trip.” He then appeared in a number of television shows and movies including “Deadly Games,” “Strange Luck,” “A Friend’s Betrayal,” “A Nightmare Come True,” “To Have & Hold,” “Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane,” “The Net,” “Time Of Your Life” and “Angel” before scoring more feature film roles in “Paper Dragons,” “Fish In A Barrel” and “Monkey Love.”
Renner’s career took a huge step forward when in 2002 he played serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer in David Jacobson’s “Dahmer” – a role that saw him gain plenty of critically praise. Then in 2003, he gained box office success when he starred alongside good friend Colin Farrell in the action blockbuster “S.W.A.T.”
The success of “S.W.A.T.,” however, didn’t have a huge impact on Renner’s career straight away and soon the actor once again found himself picking up a variety of roles, ranging from voicing a character in the “Catwoman” video game through to appearing in Pink’s video clip for “Trouble.” He did, however, manage to appear in notable films including “The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things,” “Lords Of Dogtown,” (with Heath Ledger), “North Country,” (alongside good friend Charlize Theron) zombie flick “28 Weeks Later” and the critically acclaimed “The Assassination Of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” – the latter being a film that saw him get to act amongst an A-List cast including Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck.
Then came the film that made Renner a worldwide name right around the world – Kathryn Bigelow’s intense war drama “The Hurt Locker,” which earned him a Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Academy Award nomination at the 2010 Oscars. He then backed that up with another performance that saw him earn another Oscar nomination; this time for the Ben Affleck directed “The Town.”
These nominations saw Renner become hot property in Hollywood. Soon he found himself playing comic book character Hawkeye who first appeared in “Thor” and then had a major part in the mega blockbuster hit “The Avengers.” Now considered a true action hero Renner soon found himself acting alongside Tom Cruise in “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol” and then with Rachel Weisz in “The Bourne Legacy.” He also starred in the underrated “Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters.”
Jeremy Renner is very much THE MAN in Hollywood at the moment and the fact that he is one of the stars of three major franchises will ensure that he will be seen on cinema screens for a number of years. Yes, Jeremy Renner really has made it in Hollywood.
