Troubled actor Brad Renfro Found Dead in L.A. Home
By on
January 15th, 2008
Actor Brad Renfro, 25, was found dead in his Los Angeles home Tuesday morning (January 15). The cause of death of Brad Renfro has not been determined, however, he had a history of drug abuse.
Brad Barron Renfro was born on July 25 of 1982. He was best known for a skyrocketing career that began with a central role in the 1994 John Grisham legal thriller “The Client,” a part he landed when he was 10 years old. In the years that followed, the Tennessee-born teen would continue to choose gritty, adult-oriented work in films like the Kevin Bacon drama “Telling Lies in America,” the critically acclaimed AIDS tale “The Cure,” and the high-wattage “Sleepers” (in which he played a young Brad Pitt).
Paramedics pronounced him dead at 9 a.m., said Craig Harvey, chief investigator for the Los Angeles County coroner’s office. Renfro had reportedly been drinking with friends the evening before his death, Harvey said.
Renfro’s lawyer, Richard Kaplan, said he did not know whether the death was connected to any problems with addiction.
“He was working hard on his sobriety,” Kaplan said. “He was doing well. He was a nice person.”
Renfro recently completed a role in “The Informers,” a film adaptation of a Bret Easton Ellis novel that stars Winona Ryder, Brandon Routh and Billy Bob Thornton.
“Brad was an exceptionally talented young actor and our time spent with him was thoroughly enjoyable,” Marco Weber, president of the film’s production house, Senator Entertainment, said in a statement.
The actor served 10 days in jail in May 2006 after pleading no contest to driving while intoxicated and guilty to attempted possession of heroin.
The latter charge stemmed from his arrest in Los Angeles’ Skid Row area, when he attempted to buy heroin from an undercover officer in 2005.
For several years he was better known for that drug bust and the resulting criminal case than for acting.
After one court appearance, he talked to reporters about drug rehabilitation, saying he was “tired of paying the consequences” for drinking and drug use and eager to get clean.
“It’s definitely been an eye-opener,” he said of his rehabilitation program.
Other run-ins with the law included a 1998 charge of cocaine and marijuana possession, for which he avoided jail time in a plea deal. He was also placed on probation in January 2001 and ordered to pay $4,000 for repairs to a 45-foot yacht he and a friend tried to steal in Florida in August 2000.
He was arrested again in May 2001 and charged with underage drinking, violating the terms of his probation, and was ordered into alcohol rehabilitation the following March.
A native of Knoxville, Tenn., Renfro’s film career began when he was 12, acting opposite Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones in “The Client.” His other credits included “Sleepers,” “Deuces Wild,” “Apt Pupil” and “The Jacket.”
About his career:
Renfro was ten when he was discovered by Mali Finn, a casting director for Joel Schumacher, director of The Client. He played the title role in the film, adapted from a best-selling John Grisham novel, opposite Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones. The suspense/drama was one of the top-grossing films of 1994. Renfro went on to act in other films including 2001’s Ghost World and Bully and 2005’s The Jacket with Keira Knightley and Adrien Brody. He also played Huck Finn in Tom and Huck with Jonathan Taylor Thomas. In 1995, he won Hollywood Reporter’s “Young Star” award and was nominated as one of People magazine’s “Top 30 Under 30″. Renfro also appeared in “Watch”, an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
He was in the Japanese Biohazard 2 commercial, acting as Leon S. Kennedy, one of the game’s characters.
He acted in following movies:
- Joe the Engineer (2008) (in production) (attached) …. Joe
- The Informers (2008) (filming) …. Jack
- 10th & Wolf (2006) …. Vincent
- “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” …. Duane Wilson (1 episode, 2006)
- Coat Pockets (2005) …. Kenny
- The Jacket (2005) …. The Stranger
- Hollywood Flies (2004) (TV) …. Jamie
- Mummy an’ the Armadillo (2004) …. Wyatte
- The Car Kid (2003)
- The Job (2003/I) …. Troy Riverside
- American Girl (2002/I) …. Jay Grubb
- Deuces Wild (2002) …. Bobby
- Ghost World (2001) …. Josh
- Bully (2001) …. Marty Puccio
- Tart (2001) …. William Sellers
- Happy Campers (2001) …. Wichita
- The Theory of the Leisure Class (2001) …. Billy
- Meter Man (2000) …. Sal
- Skipped Parts (2000) …. Dothan Talbot
- Herschel Hopper: New York Rabbit (2000) …. Tanner
- 2 Little, 2 Late (1999) …. Jimmy Walsh
- Apt Pupil (1998) …. Todd Bowden
- Telling Lies in America (1997) …. Karchy ‘Chucky’/'Slick’ Jonas
- Sleepers (1996) …. Young Michael Sullivan
- Tom and Huck (1995) …. Huck Finn
- The Cure (1995) …. Erik
- The Client (1994) …. Mark Sway
He was also the associate producer in the movie Bully (2001) and he wrote Meter Man (2000)
Popularity: 5% [?]