Jared Leto

---
name: "Jared Leto"
relatedPeople:
  - "edward-norton"
  - "michael-douglas"
  - "tom-waits"
  - "chris-colfer"
date: "2012-09-08"
sources:
  - sourceTitle: "Jared Leto – Biography"
    sourceUrl: "http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001467/bio"
  - sourceTitle: "What religion is Jared Leto"
    sourceUrl: "http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_religion_is_Jared_Leto"
  - sourceTitle: "Is Jared Leto an Atheist"
    sourceUrl: "http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_Jared_Leto_an_Atheist"
  - sourceTitle: "Jared Leto on MySpace"
    sourceUrl: "http://www.myspace.com/60086537"
  - sourceTitle: "Jared Leto Compares His Band to a Religion"
    sourceUrl: "http://www.patheos.com/blogs/faithgoespop/2011/12/jared-leto-compares-his-band-to-a-religion/"
  - sourceTitle: "Obama's Skipping Jared Leto's Hollywood Fundraiser"
    sourceUrl: "http://perezhilton.com/2012-06-27-obama-skipping-jared-leto-fundraiser#.UEZFbFQ1afQ"
  - sourceTitle: "10 Sexy Environmentalists Just In Time For Earth Day"
    sourceUrl: "http://www.jared-leto.net/10-sexy-environmentalists-just-in-time-for-earthday/"
  - sourceTitle: "MTV Asks Jared or Ian, Leto Chooses Ian"
    sourceUrl: "http://www.ecorazzi.com/2012/08/14/mtv-asks-jared-or-ian-leto-chooses-ian/"
  - sourceTitle: "Jared Leto Gets Fired Up Over Gay Marriage."
    sourceUrl: "http://www.eonline.com/news/148781/jared-leto-gets-fired-up-over-gay-marriage"
summaries:
  religion: "Leto's religious background is highly contested. He grew up in hippie communes, so some type of general spirituality probably persisted during his childhood. He's been silent on the topic as an adult except to compare his band to religion."
  politicalViews: "Leto is a liberal Democrat who supports Barack Obama, gay marriage, and has made environmentalism his personal cause."
---

Jared Leto was born in Bossier City, Louisiana and grew up traveling all over the U.S. and even spent some time in Haiti as a child. Leto's mother raised him primarily, often with the help of, as Leto describes it, a "hippie commune." He once said:

>Just having the art-communal hippie experience as a child, there wasn't a clear line that was drawn. We celebrated creative experience and creative expression. We didn't try and curtail it and stunt any of that kind of growth.<a class="source-citation" href="#http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imdb.com%2Fname%2Fnm0001467%2Fbio" title="Jared Leto – Biography">[1]</a>

Though many cite Leto's religious upbringing as Catholic,<a class="source-citation" href="#http%3A%2F%2Fwiki.answers.com%2FQ%2FWhat_religion_is_Jared_Leto" title="What religion is Jared Leto">[2]</a> there is an equal amount of debate that he's an atheist–or Jewish.<a class="source-citation" href="#http%3A%2F%2Fwiki.answers.com%2FQ%2FIs_Jared_Leto_an_Atheist" title="Is Jared Leto an Atheist">[3]</a> The best evidence we've got is his MySpace page (which we assume comes straight for the horse's mouth), in which he indicates his religion as "Christian-other."<a class="source-citation" href="#http%3A%2F%2Fwww.myspace.com%2F60086537" title="Jared Leto on MySpace">[4]</a> What's the other?

Leto has compared the social environment surrounding his band, 30 Seconds to Mars, to that of a religion, saying:

>People form bonds at a church, at a bar, at work. It happens in Scientology, it happen in Catholicism, and it happens with us.<a class="source-citation" href="#http%3A%2F%2Fwww.patheos.com%2Fblogs%2Ffaithgoespop%2F2011%2F12%2Fjared-leto-compares-his-band-to-a-religion%2F" title="Jared Leto Compares His Band to a Religion">[5]</a>

But that certainly doesn't help to clarify anything.


## Planetary politics

Leto is an Obama-supporting Democrat. He even held his own star-studded Obama fundraiser, charging between $500 and $2,500 for entrance. Three of the president's top aides attended.<a class="source-citation" href="#http%3A%2F%2Fperezhilton.com%2F2012-06-27-obama-skipping-jared-leto-fundraiser%23.UEZFbFQ1afQ" title="Obama&apos;s Skipping Jared Leto&apos;s Hollywood Fundraiser">[6]</a>

But the issue closest to Leto's heart is the environment. He walks the walk too–from touring with his band in a vegetable oil-fueled bus to convincing fans to donate 71,000 trees to a reforestation initiative in Haiti.<a class="source-citation" href="#http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jared-leto.net%2F10-sexy-environmentalists-just-in-time-for-earthday%2F" title="10 Sexy Environmentalists Just In Time For Earth Day">[7]</a> Leto also made a music [video](http://www.ecorazzi.com/2012/06/14/watch-jared-letos-music-video-benefits-eco-causes/) for his song, "A Beautiful Lie," to illustrate the effects of climate change by shooting it in the arctic and including factoids onscreen for interested parties to read. He said:

>We all know by now that our planet is in deep trouble. We have abused it horribly and we are paying the price. It's time to try to do what we can, both as individuals and collectively, to find better and kinder ways to live. It's not our right; it's our responsibility. We are all guilty. We can all change.<a class="source-citation" href="#http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ecorazzi.com%2F2012%2F08%2F14%2Fmtv-asks-jared-or-ian-leto-chooses-ian%2F" title="MTV Asks Jared or Ian, Leto Chooses Ian">[8]</a>

If that doesn't put Leto squarely in the liberal camp, his effigy for gay rights certainly does. During a gay rights group fundraiser, Leto took the written wording of California's controversial Prop 8 (the law defining marriage as only between a man and woman) and set it on fire.<a class="source-citation" href="#http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eonline.com%2Fnews%2F148781%2Fjared-leto-gets-fired-up-over-gay-marriage" title="Jared Leto Gets Fired Up Over Gay Marriage.">[9]</a>

In a tweet, Jared Leto share images to show support for Black lives matter, and he later tweets #BlackLivesMatter

What are the views of Jared Leto on Race?