Mars attacks!

Actors are meant to act, and rockers are meant to rock. When the two meet, ridicule ensues. But can Jared Leto's band 30 Seconds To Mars smash that stereotype? asks Alex Rayner
Jared Leto's band, 30 Seconds to Mars
Interplanetary fame... Jared Leto's band, 30 Seconds to Mars. Photograph: Kevork Djansezian/AP

Jared Leto is having the time of his life. "That was fantastic!" blurts Leah Miller, the VJ on Toronto's Much Music TV station, "everybody enjoyed it!" Her station has just screened an eleven minute music video by the US rock band, 30 Seconds To Mars. A homage to Chinese cinema, it features fireworks, self flagellation, opera masks and a breast-feeding man.

"They were very well behaved," replies Jared, film star and singer in the band, to the studio audience, "I had to beat a couple of girls up here during the break, but other than that, it was fine."

"Don't say that Jared," says Leah.

"It was fun; they enjoyed it," replies Jared, with a smile.

"Don't say that Jared. It's not very nice," says Leah again.

"Oh, come on," Jared pleads, "they asked for it."

Jared - a witty, whippet-thin vegetarian - is joking. Constant touring, coupled with a flirtatious tone that he takes with his fans, leads to a few off-colour remarks. The girls in the front row don't mind, though. They look as if they would quite like to feel the non-violent attentions of Mr Leto.

By any band's estimations, 30 Seconds To Mars are doing well. However, when compared with other Hollywood related recording projects, the group dwarf all-comers. Unlike Kevin Bacon's country-rock duo, Woody Allen's New Orleans Jazz Band or Eddie Murphy's soul career, 30 Seconds To Mars are actually popular. Their concerts pack out. The sophomore album, A Beautiful Lie, went gold last year in The States, having shifted 500, 000 copies, and receives a full European release later this month. The group, consisting of Jared's brother, Shannen Leto on drums, Matt Wachter on bass and Tomo Milicevic on lead guitar, play emo-ish rock that sits somewhere between My Chemical Romance and the Killers. says that if you like 30 Seconds To Mars you might also like the Used and Fall Out Boy.

Success has not come by accident, as Jared - the band's singer, guitarist and principal songwriter - explains.

"Everyone from Jeff Bridges to the cast of Lost have bands, but I never felt any kinship to any of those people," he says, "people who tried to make music and failed - people who had been dilettantes or hobbyists."

Though they were signed in 1998, 30 Seconds To Mars chose not to promote themselves as Jared's group. There were no photographs, and concert promoters were forbidden from placing Leto's name on posters and concert listings. The band's fanbase grew exponentially during a relentless tour which followed the release of A Beautiful Lie in 2005; now they have Britain in their sights.

While some sacrifices have been made - Jared turned down a role in Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers - Leto has managed to balance singing and cinematic commitments.

Over the band's Christmas break of 2005, Jared visited Hawaii to familiarise himself with the haunts of Mark Chapman, John Lennon's killer, in preparation for his role in the forthcoming film, Chapter 27. Leto gained 65 pounds for the role, downing tubs of melted chocolate ice-cream, until his wiry frame matched Chapman's figure. Jared summons two fat, half-naked pictures of himself onto the screen of his Blackberry. The topless, tubby Leto looks remarkably dull and ordinary.

"It was a very bad thing to do," he says, "but it was very important for the role. It changed the way I walked, talked, and the way people treated me." The role led to some minor medical complications; Jared got gout.

Chapman, famously, accused Lennon of being a "phoney". Does Jared think this question of artistic authenticity is an important one?

"It's a question people - the vox populi - ask and answer every second," he says, dodging the issue slightly, "You hear a song and you immediately think: 'do I like it? Do I believe it?' You can't fool all the people all the time, right?"

Jared Joseph Leto was born on December 26 1971, in Bossier City, Louisiana. He doesn't remember much about the place.

"We moved around a lot," he says. The Letos were poor. "Very poor," Jared says, "food-stamp poor. When you're a kid you don't notice that, unless you're like, 'Goddam, what's up with the food around the house?'"

He had problems with authority, found school easy but boring and was in trouble a great deal when he was young.

"It ranged from just your basic arson and thievery," he says, quite honestly, "through to being charged with starting potential riots and revolutions in fifth grade."

Though his brother has played drums since their infancy, Jared's earliest ambitions were, if anything, more rock'n'roll.

"I wanted to be a painter or a drug dealer," he says.

Which does he think his parents would be more proud of?

"I'm really not sure" he jokes; he dabbled in both professions.

Aged 16, Jared studied at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington DC, an institution founded in the 19th century "for the purpose of encouraging American genius." Later he attended the School of Visual Arts in New York, where he majored in film-making. Then Jared undertook what he describes - with only a hint of irony - as a "Homeric journey" across America, from the east coast to California. When he reached LA he went to the beach.

"I had a backpack, a couple of hundred bucks," he recalls, "and nowhere to go."

Jared slept outdoors, before being offered a bed in a youth hostel.

"They gave me a room because I had an out-of-state driver's license," says Leto, "but you had to buy your own sheets there, because of lice or something."

Though he now harboured cinematic and musical ambitions, his primary goals were more parsimonious. He simply wished to win. "To win, no matter what," he says, "I did not go out to fuck around." He was 19 years old.

"It took a year banging my head against the wall," he says. Then came some minor roles, followed by his part in seminal teen drama, My So Called Life, supporting positions in Fight Club and a breakthrough performance in Requiem For A Dream. The director of the latter film, Darren Aronofsky, has spoken of the remarkable degree of dedication Jared, then better known as a TV actor, displayed in his portrayal of an ill-fated Brooklyn smack addict. In this instance, Leto's scales tipped the other way; he dropped 25 pounds for this role.

"I'm a big believer in a decisive amount of conviction and focus," he explains on this, the second day of his promotional band's trip to Toronto - their sixth in 18 months. The band is equally assertive during their live performances.

"There are some great bands that get on stage in jeans and a T-shirt," says Jared, "but that's not us." In Toronto, they enter the arena wearing Chinese operatic masks and oriental style military dress. The band disrobes simultaneously, uncovering their white, tightly fitted, slightly technical looking stage wear. Jared wears a long-sleeved top with a picture of a Kalashnikov rifle on it.

A few songs on, the rest of the band depart and Jared accompanies himself on guitar for three numbers. Towards the end of the set he calls all the deranged concert goers into the mosh-pit, in preparation for a revolution. The band then play their song, R-Evolve. They end on Attack, a number 10 hit single in the Billboard modern rock track chart, tell the crowd this has been one of the largest, best concerts, and promise to meet willing fans at the merchandising stand. All members appear at the signing line-up.

It's hard to imagine a more rewarding teen rock experience, than watching your Hollywood idol spin through a rollocking set of emo bangers, incite the crowd to riot, before giving them all a cuddle and a handshake after the show.

Jared says his workload has a negative effect on serious relationships, however. "It doesn't negate any long term commitment," he says, "but it makes it more challenging," adding that he has given monogamy, "the old college try - had to try it out". This could be an oblique reference to old flames Cameron Diaz or Scarlett Johansson. In any case, he claims that, despite his good looks, Leto never really knew he was that attractive.

"Didn't get that much attention when I was a little kid," he says, "and I'm kinda upset about it. Had I known the powers that I had, I would like to go back."

Once he had found fame he did receive more attention, yet he remained moderately chaste.

"I was always a loner," he says, "Given what's written about me in the press you'd think I was fucking every moment I was alive. But what I'm most passionate about is my work, my creative life; that's what drives me."

Any further enquiry prompts Jared to raise his guard, "people are fascinated; you guys started the tabloid." To be fair, Jared has been linked recently, with varying degrees of accuracy, to everyone from Chapter 27 co-star Lindsay Lohan to MySpace vixen, Tila Tequila. He says that, contrary to speculation, his everyday existence consists of "a lot of enjoyable, hard work. No one wants to hear about that," he adds, "they prefer to read about me banging the latest starlet."

As our interview draws to a close he questions whether these past few months have been filled with happiness.

"This has been the most amazing year of our lives, for sure. I don't know if it's been the happiest year so far," he says, looks upward with a smile and concludes, "I like what Bob Dylan said about happiness: 'why would I want to be happy? Anybody can do that.'"

· The single, Attack is out Feb 12. The band play The Academy 3, Manchester, Wed 31 and The Electric Ballroom, London, Thu 1