Brad Renfro

Brad Barron Renfro (July 25, 1982 – January 15, 2008) was an American actor.

Renfro was born on July 25, 1982, in Knoxville, Tennessee, the son of Angela Denise Olsen (née McCrory) and Mark Renfro, a factory worker.

He was raised from the age of five by his paternal grandmother, Joanne Renfro, a church secretary, after his parents divorced.

The actor reportedly did not have a close relationship with his father.

At the age of 10, Renfro was discovered by Mali Finn, a casting director for Joel Schumacher.

He was recommended to Finn by a former D.A.R.E. officer of his, who was captivated by Renfro's charm and street smarts.

He had no prior acting experience or training at the time.

Finn had contacted various agencies that worked with youth; she was looking to cast a "tough" kid and settled on Renfro after looking at 5,000 such boys all over the United States.

At the time, Renfro had been living in a trailer park outside Knoxville with his grandmother.

"I wanted a kid who understood in the marrow of his psyche what it was like to grow up too soon," Schumacher later told The New York Times.

Renfro was cast by Finn in the lead role of Mark Sway in Schumacher's The Client.

Beginning in the late 1990s, Renfro experienced difficulties in his private life, including drug addiction and a series of arrests.

He died at age 25 of acute heroin and morphine intoxication.

His casting was announced in May 1993, and the movie was filmed in the summer of that year.

He made his film debut at age 11 with a starring role in The Client (1994).

Renfro went on to appear in 21 feature films and won several awards.

Prior to being cast in The Client, Renfro had no acting background and was living with his grandmother in a trailer park.

Wanting to cast a "tough kid" who had the life experience to understand the character he would portray, director Joel Schumacher chose Renfro to play the role of Mark Sway.

Renfro soon attracted a large fanbase as he continued to star in films such as The Cure, Tom and Huck, Sleepers, Apt Pupil, Bully and Ghost World.

Based on the bestselling John Grisham novel, The Client became one of the top-grossing films of 1994.

In 1995, he won The Hollywood Reporter's "Young Star" award, and was nominated as one of People magazine's "Top 30 Under 30."

Renfro played Huckleberry Finn in 1995's Tom and Huck.

He also won a second "Young Star" award, as well as a "Young Artist" award, for his performance in The Cure.

In 1996, Renfro appeared in Sleepers, which was based on the novel of the same name by Lorenzo Carcaterra.

The film was directed by Barry Levinson and Renfro played the younger version of co-star Brad Pitt's character.

The following year, Renfro starred in Telling Lies in America, directed by Guy Ferland.

In 1998, he starred in Apt Pupil, directed by Bryan Singer, for which he won the Best Actor award at Tokyo International Film Festival and was also nominated for a Saturn Award.

The several films Renfro starred in that followed gained little attention, with the majority going straight to video.

He played Leon S. Kennedy in a live-action ad for Resident Evil 2 directed by George A. Romero, which aired in Japan.

On June 3, 1998, Renfro, then 15, and his 19-year-old cousin were arrested and charged with drug possession.

Renfro was carrying two small bags of cocaine in a cigarette box and a bag of marijuana in his sock.

He entered into a plea bargain in which he agreed to random drug tests.

By the age of 18, Renfro had already been in drug rehabilitation more than once.

On August 28, 2000, he and a friend attempted to steal a yacht from the Fort Lauderdale harbor.

He went on to act in other films, including 2001's Ghost World, Bully, Happy Campers, Tart; 2002's American Girl; and 2005's The Jacket.

Renfro had a son, who was born in Japan in 2003 and was raised there by his mother, a Japanese citizen.

He also appeared in the 2006 Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode "Watch" and completed filming on the film The Informers.

Renfro appeared in the first version of the music video for the 10 Years song "Wasteland"; his cousin, Jesse Hasek, is the band's lead singer.

He was also featured in the video for the N.E.R.D song "Provider", playing the part of a petty drug dealer.

Prior to Renfro's death, the public had been unaware he had a son, and mention of him did not appear in his obituary, though his son was eventually named in the obituary of Renfro's mother, Angela, who died in 2012.