Published, October 2014
Jeremy renner plays journalist Gary Webb in the new thriller, Kill the Messenger
Best Actor Oscar Nomination
Renner starred in The Hurt Locker, which won six Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director (Kathryn Bigelow). For his portrayal of Sgt. William James, he received many accolades, including BAFTA, Screen Actors Guild, Gotham, Independent Spirit, and Critics’ Choice Movie Award nominations; and his first Academy Award nomination, in the Best Actor category.
Supporting Actor Oscar Nomination
The following year, he was again an Academy Award nominee, this time as Best Supporting Actor for his performance as James Coughlin in The Town, directed by Ben Affleck. Mr. Renner also received Screen Actors Guild, Golden Globe, and Critics’ Choice Movie Award nominations. With his fellow actors from the film, he was honored by the National Board of Review’s award for Best Acting by an Ensemble.
Moviegoers worldwide also know him for his starring roles in blockbuster film series. He played Hawkeye in Joss Whedon’s The Avengers, the third-highest-grossing movie of all time, and is reteaming with the filmmaker for Avengers: Age of Ultron. As William Brandt, he joined Tom Cruise for Brad Bird’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, and will do so again in a sequel to be directed by Christopher McQuarrie. He inaugurated the role of Aaron Cross in Tony Gilroy’s The Bourne Legacy, and will reprise the role in a movie to be directed by Justin Lin.
His breakthrough movie role, for which he earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination, was as Jeffrey Dahmer in Dahmer, for writer/director David Jacobson.
Renner’s other films include David O. Russell’s smash American Hustle, for which he shared a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture with his fellow actors from the movie; James Gray’s The Immigrant; Tommy Wirkola’s Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters; Andrew Dominik’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford; Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s 28 Weeks Later; Charles Oliver’s Take, opposite Minnie Driver; Niki Caro’s North Country, with Charlize Theron; Clark Johnson’s S.W.A.T.; and Van Fischer’s Neo Ned, for which he was named Best Actor at the Palm Beach International Film Festival.
He previously starred for Kill the Messenger director Michael Cuesta in 12 and Holding, which was nominated for the Independent Spirit Awards’ John Cassavetes Award.
His initial acting background was in theater; he starred in and co-directed a production of Search and Destroy, produced by Barry Levinson, which received stellar reviews.
Renner and his producing partner Don Handfield have formed The Combine, a production company that is creating, developing and producing high-quality, character-driven content for mainstream audiences. The Combine’s current project is the feature thriller The Throwaways, to premiere on Sony’s digital entertainment network Crackle.
Share this:
