For today’s celebrity birthday, I have chosen Brad Renfro, born on this date in 1982, one day after me. Though his film credits are limited and not as abundant as many other celebrities, I have chosen him due to the fact that he is a young actor who was taken from us prematurely. He heroined himself to death in January of 2008, exactly one week before the untimely death of Heath Ledger.
Now the reason I enjoyed Brad’s work was because in all of the roles I watched, he performed with a certain zest and passion that, I believe, was well beyond his years. His role in Apt Pupil alongside Sir Ian McKellen is a perfect example. Throughout the film, he never loses his focus, which is the same in his other films, as well. It was almost as if he was harnessing the negativity of his personal life and letting it come out in a positive way on film.
I truly believe that his best work was still to come, and it was a tragic loss to the artistic world.