hat do an Eighteenth Century vampire, a gun toting alcoholic, and a notorious serial killer all have in common? They have all been brilliantly portrayed through the acting styles of Jeremy Renner. Not a stranger to television, film, or theatre, Renner has been storming the acting scene in LA for the past eight years. He has furiously tackled a wide range of mediums and acting styles and shows no signs of slowing down. Whether he's playing a vampire, or a methodical killer, Jeremy brings a unique blend of subtlety and finesse to all the roles he tackles.

Actor Jeremy Renner

Acting is one of the most unique professions of society. It is a job where one gets to escape reality and take on different personas that one would not normally experience. Many people are taken to acting early on in life. Renner, however, did not find his passion until college, "I was a computer science major, a criminology major, I just bounced around like every other jackass," he joked. While exploring different academic areas Jeremy explained how he stumbled upon acting, "I just took an elective and fell in love with it." From then on his goals in college were clear, "I took 23 units from there on out every semester. I took psychology and theatre, a double major." Renner found solace in the medium of acting during the transitional period in college, "What attracted me to it, while not consciously knowing at the time, it was a venue for me to express emotion which I didn't really do for the first 19 years really. So it was a safe venue for me to vent and then it became about the art after that," he explained. His love for the art lured him to the epicenter of the acting world, Los Angeles, where he would try his hand in a wide variety of acting genres. He is hard pressed to find a favorite genre. "If you had asked me this several years ago I would have said theatre all the way, hands down. Theatre is an actor's market, like television is a producer's and film is the director's market. TV is like, whatever, the middle ground, unless you get on a great show, it pays the bills. Film is an art where the subtlety, and in television as well, but I think the subtlety in film is something you can't do on stage and that is what I'm really, really learning to love," he said. While Jeremy may be particularly found of film right now he specifically noted, that "You can't take away the theatre, theatre is the greatest."

Renner as the vampire Penn on ANGEL

Somnambulist has been hailed as one of ANGEL's most brilliant episodes from season one. Earlier this year City of Angel interviewed writer/producer Tim Minear and discussed the episode. He specifically praised Jeremy's performance, ""It took forever to cast Penn for instance. We saw a jillion actors and Jeremy came in at the last minute. He was the last guy to read and Amy [Brit - Casting Director] said, 'I read a guy today and seemed really good.' He came in and just nailed it! So we were lucky," admitted Tim. Jeremy had previously seen the show and had actually known David Boreanaz (Angel), "I knew David from acting class, we were in the same acting class for a little bit." However, while time was running out for the ANGEL crew, it was just another audition for Jeremy, maybe 'a little more rushed.' But this did not put any additional pressure on his shoulders, "For a lot of jobs I come in at the last minute because I see every other tool on the freakin' planet like me. I just walk in. Timing is pretty essential. If you're good and deliver, that's the best time to come in. The last minute when they are desperately looking for somebody, and if you do it, you do it right. If I had done that early on, same audition, it would have been like "oh yeah, he's great but let's see what else is out there," he casually commented. "It's like guys and dating, 'oh yeah I got a great girl, but you can always get something better and upgrade', that's just how the human condition works. There's not any other pressure on me knowing they have to cast faster,

"I like repressed characters. That gives me a lot of freedom to make a lot of different choices through subtleties"

or they looked at a trillion people and haven't found the right guy." Ultimately he likes to go in, do his best, and leave the worrying to the casting directors. "That's not my concern. That's their concern. All I do is what I do. Either it works or it doesn't. If I'm close then you can shove me in the right direction and I'll do that. It doesn't matter who I'm reading for. I don't care if it's a huge director or if it's just some small guest star role on something. It doesn't affect what I do."

Penn was an intensely interesting character because while he was extremely cold and calculated, he was also very mentally unstable. As an actor it is very difficult to portray the inner workings of a character's mind without the help of devices like narrative. Jeremy found it difficult to explain his techniques used to convey what is not said, he simply replied with a laugh, "That's acting brother. That's just acting. That's why we get paid money to do what we do versus any other jerk-off. We're all just jackasses. Some of us can express a little more than others." He loves to be challenged with characters such as Penn, "I like repressed characters. I like characters where there is always a lot going on. That gives me a lot of freedom to make a lot of different choices through subtleties. There is a lot of subtle ways to be able to express it. I find the challenge in that." While playing a less difficult and more verbally extravagant character can be refreshing, Jeremy tends to find himself drawn to the more difficult, reserved roles, "Being big and crazy and whatever, that's fun, but I find it more challenging to have a lot going on but not be able to express and cap it." Penn was actually one of Jeremy's favorite roles that he played, "That was a lot of fun to make. With all the choreography and stunts I got to do, the make up was intriguing, and just all of it. Every part of it was great."