Jeremy Renner became a star in 2008, when his leading performance in Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. He spent the next decade busying himself with franchises, most notably that of The Avengers and Mission: Impossible, before he returned to his first love of music, releasing his debut single, "Main Attraction," in 2019. A native of Modesto, California, Jeremy Renner graduated from Fred C. Beyer High School in 1989 and attended at Modesto Junior College. Initially, he pursued criminology and computer science, but he found himself drawn to acting. He made his film debut in 1995's National Lampoon's Senior Trip, then he made his way through a number of one-shot appearances on TV shows before landing the title role in the 2002 indie Dahmer. Renner's performance earned enough acclaim to elevate him to supporting roles in major movies, including 2003's S.W.A.T., 2005's North Country, and 28 Weeks Later and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, which were both released in 2007. Bigelow cast Renner as her lead in the Iraq war thriller The Hurt Locker. The film became a critical smash, then a commercial hit, leading him to an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor; he did not take home the trophy, but the film won Best Picture and Best Director. Renner next appeared in Ben Affleck's The Town, but in 2012 he appeared as Hawkeye in the Marvel movie The Avengers. Over the next seven years, he continually appeared in Marvel movies, while also having a regular role in Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible franchise and appearing in David O. Russell's 2013 Oscar-nominated American Hustle. As The Avengers concluded in 2018, Renner launched his musical career. In 2018, he issued a cover of Crash Test Dummies' "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmmm" and sang on Sam Feldt's single "Heaven (Don't Have a Name)." The following year, he put out his first solo single, "Main Attraction," which was quickly followed by "Nomad" and "Sign." ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine