 "Photo: Courtesy Adrian Mendoza, Copyright 2009.")
Modesto Junior College alumnus Jeremy Renner has been nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in the 2009 film, The Hurt Locker.
Renner was born in Modesto, California and graduated from Beyer High School in 1989 before attending MJC. His success is being hailed as an accomplishment not only for himself, but for the whole community.
Michael Lynch, longtime MJC Instructor of Theater, recalls his first encounter with Renner.
“He was my first audition ever [at MJC] for a play that I wrote…I showed that play in New York and San Francisco and he was the best [actor] out of them all,” Lynch said.
Acting wasn’t Renner’s original plan when he started college. He was taking courses for computer science and criminology and took an acting class with Lynch as an elective. Through it Renner discovered his passion for acting, because it allowed him to express emotions he didn’t know he had. His father Lee Renner, says he was an “extremely bright, shy, and quiet” youth. But, once he tried acting he seemed to have truly found his calling.
“I really did know right away that he had what it took. Not only the talent, but also integrity and a good heart.” Lynch added Renner is taking his mom as his date to the Academy Awards.
Lynch had heard Renner was possibly up for the award and anxiously awaited the day of the results.
“I woke up at five am to hear the nominations. One: no. Two: no. Three: no. Four: no. Five…yes! He was the very last one to be listed,” Lynch recalls.
Although Lynch knew Jeremy in the early days of his acting career, he takes no credit for his ability.
“He would have done it without me…he makes everything easy,” Lynch said.
Renner’s father Lee remembers the first time he saw Jeremy act at MJC in “The Wizard of Oz.”
“He was hanging as the scarecrow and comes off the stake and starts singing and dancing. All I could think was ‘is that really my son?’ ” Renner says. “He really got into it like a fish in water.”
After college, Jeremy Renner moved to Los Angeles in hopes of pursuing a professional acting career. He found work in commercials for McDonalds and Budweiser that set him up financially.
In 1995, Renner made his feature movie debut starring in National Lampoon’s Senior Trip. Renner gained recognition and made appearances on several TV shows including the WB’s “Angel” and “CSI.”
In 2002, Renner played the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer in the film Dahmer and it led to an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Male Lead. After Dahmer Renner’s acting career really took off.
In the film S.W.A.T., Renner stars opposite Samuel L. Jackson and Colin Farrell as a former Los Angeles police officer who is at odds with his ex-partner (Farrell).
In 2005 he played the bad guy Bobby Sharp against Charlize Theron in North Country, a mining town drama, and also performed a song for the soundtrack. As the character Wood Hite, he also sang, "Good Ole Rebel" in a campfire scene in the 2007 film The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford starring Brad Pitt.
In The Hurt Locker, Renner plays Sergeant William James, a bomb disposal expert in Iraq. Sgt. James takes the place of Sgt. Matt Thompson, who was killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) in Baghdad with less than a month left on duty. James takes over the unit as Sergeant with his ultimate priority being the dismantlement of a bomb over the safety of his soldiers, which is one of the character conflicts in the film.
The Hurt Locker has received numerous awards as well as nominations, including those of Best Film and Best Director at the upcoming 2010 Academy Awards. Most importantly, Jeremy Renner has earned his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and has the potential to add an Oscar to his list of accomplishments. Perhaps the reason his performance in the film has been so successful is because of Renner’s ability to identify with his character.
“He takes his role seriously and tries to discover the character in his soul. It takes people somewhere to think ‘What’s that like?” said Lee Renner about the success of Jeremy’s performance. “Soldiers have shown up in their uniforms to show how much they appreciate his work in the film,” Renner says.
So how does Renner’s family feel about his award nomination?
“We’re excited. What more can I say?” said Lee Renner.
Jeremy Renner keeps ties with his hometown as many of his family and friends are here and he also owns a home in Modesto.
Tune in to the Academy Awards on March 7, 2010 to see if Renner goes home with an Oscar.
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