Beyond Hawkeye, Jeremy Renner is a versatile actor who chooses great roles and delivers on them brilliantly. Renner was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his leading role in the Oscar-winning movie, The Hurt Locker. He also received another Oscar nomination the following year, this time for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Town. However, Renner’s journey to success was not smooth.
Jeremy Renner hailed from Modesto, California, and began pursuing an acting career after he took a drama class as an elective in college. To achieve his dream, Renner initially took on some minor TV roles as well as some odd jobs.
Jeremy Renner’s Stint As A Makeup Artist
Jeremy Renner debuted in the industry in 1995 with a small role in National Lampoon’s Senior Trip. Renner’s first leading role came in Dahmer, where he played the infamous serial killer, Jeffrey Dahmer. Throughout this period, The Avengers actor wielded an eyebrow pencil and a foundation sponge instead of a bow and arrow. Renner worked a side gig as a makeup artist to support himself financially while attending auditions.
At CinemaCon 2012, Jeremy Renner revealed to Access Hollywood about his side gig. The Mission: Impossible actor attributed his makeup skills to his theater background. Renner also added that his job was very flexible, which allowed him more free time for auditions. The Silver Linings Playbook actor told Access Hollywood (via Web Archives):
“I could do makeup because I did theater… I couple paint and I could draw, so I’m like, ‘OK, I’ll do makeup on girls all day… It bought me a lot of free time to go audition when I needed to because I only had to work a few hours a week. I didn’t have to wait tables, so it was actually a great gig.”
Renner even offered to do the interviewer’s makeup on the spot, indicating that the Wind River actor was confident about his skills even years after his career transition.
Jeremy Renner Also Had Another Intention With His Side Gig
In a 2013 interview with Elle Magazine, Jeremy Renner once again discussed his time as a makeup artist. The Bourne Legacy actor revealed that he had also hoped to use the job as a way to meet potential women partners. However, the Arrival actor found himself catering to an entirely different client base than he had expected, primarily older women. Renner shared with Elle:
“In the theater, we had to do our own stage makeup. I figured I could tone it down and do it on hot girls all day. It wasn’t the case. It ended up being older ladies, which was just fine.”
Despite his failed attempt at meeting women, Renner did learn one or two things about the art of makeup. He shared that makeup has its roots in human psychology and he was able to provide a guy’s perspective on what looked good on women. As for his romantic life, Renner eventually married Canadian model, Sonni Pacheco, in 2014, but got divorced within a few months.
Jeremy Renner plays Mike McLusky in his current project, Mayor of Kingstown. In the series, he takes over as the mayor of the company town of Kingstown, where the McLusky family is responsible for maintaining peace and order. Mayor of Kingstown is now available for streaming on Paramount+.
Source: Web Archives, Elle
