The person behind the name

Two Oscar nominations in two years

Jeremy Renner was earning major acting recognition before many viewers knew him as Hawkeye. The Academy nominated him for a leading role in The Hurt Locker at its 2010 ceremony, then for a supporting role in The Town the next year. Those performances helped make his name in serious drama before his long run in a superhero ensemble.[2][5]

Born Jeremy Lee Renner in Modesto, California, on January 7, 1971, he has worked across war films, crime stories, science fiction, and action adventures. His screen presence often suggests someone who can handle a dangerous situation. His later public story has made room for something different: needing help, accepting care, and finding purpose while recovering.[1][6]

A career in range

Selected work, at a glance

More than one familiar role

Danger, grief, and an unexpected comic side

Renner’s work changes with the scale of the story. In Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation, he is an IMF agent working beside Tom Cruise and the rest of the team. In Mayor of Kingstown, he plays Mike McLusky, a broker between people and institutions in a city shaped by prisons. Mike’s title is unofficial: influence, deals, and personal connections give him power.[12][4]

Wind River brings the focus closer. Renner plays Cory Lambert, a wildlife officer drawn into a murder investigation alongside Elizabeth Olsen’s FBI agent. In his 2017 interview with The National, he explained that the role became more emotional than he had first expected. His own experience as a father helped him connect with the character’s pain.[10]

Hawkeye gave Renner another long-running partnership. As Clint Barton, he appeared in The Avengers and several later films before sharing the lead in the 2021 Hawkeye series. The series made space for a more personal story after the large battles of the films.[3]

He also plays Dr. Nat Sharp in the 2025 mystery Wake Up Dead Man. Director Rian Johnson told Netflix that Renner’s humor between scenes surprised the cast. Viewers may know the hard stare and tense action scenes, but the people working beside him saw a performer who could make them laugh.[11]

A life interrupted

The next breath became the next task

On January 1, 2023, Renner was critically injured by a snowplow while trying to protect his nephew. His interview with Diane Sawyer described both the severe injuries and the help that followed. Family members, neighbors, first responders, and medical teams became part of a recovery that reached far beyond the hospital.[6]

In that interview, Renner spoke about seeing his daughter Ava again and the fear his family had been through. The familiar screen figure was also a father trying to help a child understand what had happened. He described love as something his family had lived through together, including the suffering.[6]

His memoir My Next Breath, published in April 2025, tells the story at greater length. Its title points to a small, immediate goal rather than a grand promise about the future. At a University of San Francisco event later that year, he talked about learning to face obstacles one step at a time and paying more attention to what mattered to him.[13][14][15]

Making room for others

Opportunity is the point of RennerVation

Renner and his sister Kym founded the RennerVation Foundation to support children in foster care and young people facing difficult circumstances. The foundation describes a mix of mentoring, learning, and activities meant to build confidence and open doors. Kym brings years of professional child-welfare experience to the work.[16][7]

Its stated aim is for children to feel supported and have the chance to try, learn, and grow. That gives a practical shape to Renner’s public interest in helping young people. The work is about access to experiences and steady encouragement, not simply an appearance by someone they have seen on screen.[16][7]

A closer look

Three ways into the work

Belief in his own words

What has Renner said about God and spirituality?

In his 2017 interview with The National, Renner stressed protecting children, women, and animals. He also spoke about accepting people who believe differently about God. It was a direct account of what mattered to him, centered on how people treat one another.[10]

At the August 2025 University of San Francisco event, he described a peaceful experience that he understood as being close to death. He spoke about love continuing, using either God or the universe as language for it. That is his account of the experience. It does not tell us everything he believes about God, Jesus, or life after death. His public comments leave those questions partly open.[15]

Listen to the person

In their own words

People connected to the story

Follow the connections

Elizabeth Olsen

His costar in Wind River, where their characters work together on a murder investigation.[10]

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Kevin Feige

Producer of projects featuring Renner, including The Avengers and Hawkeye.[3]

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Josh Brolin

A fellow member of the Wake Up Dead Man ensemble.[11]

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A useful detail

A question worth clearing up

Watch in context

Jeremy Renner’s interview with Diane Sawyer — preview

Published by ABC News. Watch on YouTube ↗