Multifaceted Jared Leto acts on -- and rocks on, too

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Apr 28, 2006 | by Tom Lanham, CONTRIBUTOR

IT WAS such an unusual sight, passersby didn't know quite what to make of it. Stage mascara running down his face, short hair matted to his head with sweat, a post-set Jared Leto stood in the merchandise booth for his aggro-rawk band 30 Seconds To Mars, signing autographs for giddy fans.

Until, that is, an earnest young visitor from Ukraine approached him. Soon, Leto and the lad were not only conversing in Russian, but -- arm in arm -- crooning an obscure folk ditty from the kid's hometown. All signing stopped as the pair bonded like long-lost comrades.

Leto -- doe-eyed star of blockbuster films "Alexander," "Panic Room" and "Requiem for a Dream" -- in a Soviet-era singalong? It's not so far-fetched as you'd imagine, he laughs later. "I learned Russian for my role in 'Lord of War,'" he explains. "And people from Ukraine are always very surprised that someone knows that funny song we were singing, and there's a silly polka-sounding version of it, as well. It's a tune you would never know unless you were from Ukraine, but when I was learning Russian someone taught me this song."

Leto, 34, seems to delight in surprising people. His biggest achievement isn't gaining nearly 70 pounds for his recent portrayal of John Lennon's killer Mark David Chapman in the upcoming "Chapter 27," nor the crash diet that shot him down to a gaunt 124 pounds for "Requiem for a Dream." No, it's his stereotype-shattering success as frontman for 30 Seconds To Mars, which features his older brother Shannon on drums.

Look around at all the failed thespian-led combos, Leto invites. "And the thing I'm most proud of is being singled out as the exception to that rule, that you can't do both (acting and singing) without embarrassing yourself or being horrible at one or the other. Now we're doing our first-ever national headlining tour, we've sold out virtually every single show, and I'm really happy about people going 'Wow! They actually don't suck!' It's a big achievement to get to that, to have people look beyond my acting and see the music."

Onstage, Leto was almost unrecognizable as he flayed away at his axe and boomed out self-penned anthems from "A Beautiful Lie," 30STM's rock-solid sophomore disc on Virgin; the band returns to Great American Music Hall in San Francisco Sunday.

The aggressive persona he assumes in songs like "Attack," "Savior" and new single "The Kill" isn't merely some role. He says, "I think I just become who I am -- I am who I really am onstage, and we have fun putting a little performance back into rock music."

His free-spirited mother Constance (who resides in the Bay Area) took Leto to Led Zeppelin and Iron Maiden concerts as a tyke, he adds. "Shows that changed your life -- you came out of'em excited about the possibilities of everything. Now kids would rather stay home and watch a video game, so what we do is really a reaction that frustration."

The Bossier City, La.-born Leto lived all over the country -- even in Haiti -- with his peripatetic parents before attending painting, then filmmaking classes on the East Coast.

Eventually, he headed west, with the unassuming intention of making music with Shannon. "Then I started getting work in film," he recalls. "And the fact that I was able to pay my rent with that was a blessing for someone who grew up on food stamps."

Leto likens his career to Johnny Depp's, another aspiring rocker who got sidetracked by Hollywood. "But whereas he just gave up music and pursued acting, I was never able to let go of it. And now I'm really glad that I haven't, because we've had an incredible journey."

Leto's more seasoned fans, of course, will remember his first big break, playing Claire Danes' aloof high school crush Jordan Catalano on TV's brilliant "My So-Called

Life" series. The hottest scuttlebutt of the moment has him returning to the small screen as Eva Longoria's new love interest on "Desperate Housewives."

Leto shrugs it off. "It's just rumor -- total and complete rumor. I have never heard anything about that from anyone, I've never seen the show, never even seen a photo of this actress. I'm sure she's wonderful, but I doubt it's even true -- they're probably over there scratching their heads, saying 'Why would we want this kid on the show?'"

Besides, Leto says, he's literally been all over the world lately, thanks to the exotic sets of "Alexander" and "Lord of War."

"I was in South Africa and Thailand and Cambodia throughout the making of this record," he explains. "And as an American, it's strange to travel abroad and have people have outward disdain for you -- people don't understand that, outside of this country, there are many people who are not fond at all of America or Americans. But you don't have to leave, say, San Francisco, to see injustices. And a big point of the title of this record, 'A Beautiful Lie,' is making the choice -- a strange and optimistic choice -- to look past all of that and try to move forward, regardless of all the chaos and insanity that's happening everywhere."