Jared Leto has deeply ‘special’ reason to keep going after considering leaving Hollywood-Rishma Dosani-Entertainment – Metro

Jared Leto is set to embark on the UK leg of Thirty Seconds To Mars’ world tour (Picture: Rex)

Jared Leto has opened up about his decades-long stint in the spotlight, revealing that there was a moment he considered leaving Hollywood for good.

After stepping into the limelight with his first role in 1994, in My So-Called Life, the 52-year-old has split his time between the screen and the stage, thanks to his efforts in iconic rock band Thirty Seconds To Mars.

The frontman founded the group with his brother, Shannon Leto, in 1998 and they have been releasing hit after hit ever since – they are currently traveling the globe on their Seasons world tour.

Shedding light on what to expect from their UK run of dates, which begin in Nottingham tonight, Jared told Metro.co.uk ‘I would have never thought that we would be having the best tour of our lives this far into our career. There are a lot of reasons for it, but we’re playing a lot of songs. It’s the longest show that we’ve ever done, it’s coming [in at] around two hours.

‘We’re playing a lot of old songs that we haven’t played in years. I think the fun thing about that is it’s been so long since we played them, they almost feel new again. This is a bizarre thing to say maybe but it feels almost like we’re playing a cover song, somebody else’s songs.

‘It’s been really nice to [look] back into the history of the band, and go back to our roots and play some of the songs that we were burnt out on playing. Now they are refreshed again, and exciting again, and it feels really good, and really fun to play them.

Jared first stepped into the spotlight with a role in My So-Called Life, in 1994 (Picture: ABC)

The actor has been in the public eye for decades (Picture: Rex)

‘The setlist is a beautiful thing to go through your life, your history, and play songs from different periods of your life. I get to share it with my brother, Shannon, he’s doing great and feeling great. We’re just really grateful to be out here.’

The siblings first formed the group in LA in 1998, and they have been working tirelessly ever since, releasing their self-titled debut album four years later, and dropping hit singles Kings and Queens, This Is War, Up in the Air, and From Yesterday.

Thirty Seconds have also won a string of awards, taking home a selection of MTV VMAs, Billboard Music Awards and multiple Kerrang! trophies.

Aside from music, Jared has lit up the screen with acclaimed roles in House of Gucci, the Justice League, American Psycho, Fight Club and Dallas Buyers Club – which he nabbed the coveted best supporting actor Oscar for in 2014.

He has split his time between being on screen and performing on stage (Picture: Rex)

Thirty Seconds To Mars was founded in 1998 (Picture: Rex)

Never one to sit back and twiddle his thumbs, the actor will be popping up in Tron: Ares next year, after his world tour is done and dusted.

He never seems to rest and, when asked if there was ever a point that he considered stepping away from the spotlight for good, he shared: ‘I have thought about that actually. I left acting for about six years and it was relatively easy to do. To be honest, I didn’t really know if I was going to go back to it.

‘Music is a really special thing because I share it with my brother, and it’s a really personal thing. People always ask me like, “What do you like better? What’s the difference between music and movies?” They’re both pretty amazing things and I’m lucky to be able to do them.

‘As a musician, you’re an owner, as an actor, you’re an employee. There’s a responsibility that comes along with it, there’s a participation. There’s a contribution to the outcome that you’re more directly responsible for, or that you’re making an impact on. For me, it’s, it’s a family thing, it’s a really special thing, so it’d be easy to choose.

‘If I gave them both up… I don’t know, I’ve always been a creative person. I love photography, I love art, I’d probably do something like that.’

There was another ‘profession’ on Jared’s mind, as he quipped: ‘I’m always tripping out on those people who walk…. I want to walk the rest of the world. I’m joking, but [I’d] kind of stop it and pull a Forrest Gump, and just start running.

‘The music right now is such a beautiful thing. When you play a show, you go back to London and you’re at the O2 – even though it could be tens of thousands of people, there’s still this feeling like you’re seeing someone that is really important to you.

‘It’s hard to explain, but it’s really quite an emotional thing to play the shows. You give and you share something pretty sacred, so it’d be really hard to give that up.’

Thankfully, Jared isn’t ready to lace up his shoes to walk the streets just yet – as he still has countless dates left on the road with his band, and is having the time of his life on stage again, after six years away from performing.

They have kicked off the UK leg of dates with a very impromptu gig in the middle of Piccadilly Circus on Sunday night, before jetting to Nottingham, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham and Cardiff.

Spilling the beans on their plans for the next few shows, the rocker explained that being back across the pond will always be special for the group, after they started their music careers playing for ‘seven people’ at the iconic Barfly in Camden.

‘Every time I get on stage, I’m earning the privilege to come back again,’ he said. ‘These shows have just been absolutely mind blowing on this tour so far, and we’re very excited about it. It has been six years since we’ve played, it’s been a been a really long time.

The group have transformed into huge rockstars (Picture: Rex)

Jared joked he wanted to leave the spotlight and ‘walk the world'(Picture: Rex)

‘There was Covid and then we’re working on an album, before we knew it, it’s been six years so it’s good to finally get back. You never know how many shows you have left. I don’t know what’s around the corner, so we don’t take them for granted. We know what a privilege it is.’

Despite spending close to 30 years on the road, with sold out concerts all over the world – and a Guinness World Record entry for most live shows during a single album cycle after racking up a whopping 300 performances – it’s fair to say that Jared and Shannon are some of the biggest names in music.

However, he vowed that they leave that energy completely on stage, and haven’t succumbed to wild demands on their riders.

Unless you count water and almond milk, that is…

Thirty Seconds To Mars will be performing in the UK this week (Picture: Rex)

‘What’s so disappointing is my rider is literally bottled water. Glass bottle water,’ he laughed. ‘That’s my most indulgent thing because I don’t like to drink out of plastic bottles, I drink out of glass bottle of water. If they have it, we’ll take it. Other than that, I don’t think I have anything…

‘What happens is years ago, you get a rider and all this stuff shows up, and you don’t eat it, you don’t drink it, and it’s just wasteful. So I was like, “Get rid of all of it!”

‘The other thing I’ll get is almond milk. That’s how exciting it is. That’s my indulgent thing, I’ll get some Acqua Panna.’

Hopefully those UK venues got the memo to stock up on bottled water in time…

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