Evidence that Jared Leto is a legitimate musician (as outlined in a recent Entertainment Weekly profile):
1. Jared Leto sits in dirty chairs at rock clubs and pontificates to reporters–just like a real musician!
"There are plenty of examples of what not to do," Leto says, sinking into a grubby chair backstage at the Electric Factory rock club in Philadelphia. "The landscape is littered with the bodies of dilettantes who have dared walk upon this holy ground," he adds sarcastically.
2. He's not afraid to use that old, legitimate-musician standby when defending his legitimacy: the conspiratorial whisper.
But Leto insists, "I knew what I was walking into." He lowers his voice to a conspiratorial whisper: "But. It. Did. Not. Deter. Me. For. One. Second."
3. He totally wears Vans.
"Like our music or not, people can't deny our legitimacy," Leto crows, kicking his Vans-clad feet up onto the coffee table.
4. Displaying a casual disregard for fingertip warmth that is so prevelant among today's legitimate musicians, Leto also wears fingerless gloves.
"I could've made 20 movies in the past 10 years. I could be sitting in some big, stupid, ugly house in the Hollywood Hills without a care in the world. Achieving roomfuls of cash was never my goal." He motions a fingerless-gloved hand around the dingy room. "I'm happy to be here."
5. He won't sleep until that mark of every legitimate musician–the epic, self-directed martial arts video–is ready to roll.
After playing to the Philly crowd, Leto signs autographs and doles out hugs until 3 a.m., when he steps on the bus for the nine-hour drive to Toronto. But sleep isn't on the agenda: He's editing 30 Seconds' video "From Yesterday," a martial-arts epic he directed last summer in China.
6. And perhaps the biggest evidence that Jared Leto is a legitimate musician: A sidebar called "My Brilliant Career: The haircuts are as varied as the roles" which outlines Leto's many characters from Jordan in My So-Called Life to Mark David Chapman in the upcoming Chapter 27.
Strangely, Frontman in 30 Seconds To Mars is not on the list.