Jared Leto is "amazed" by his Oscar nomination.
The musician-and-actor was excited when he was offered the role of Rayon, a transgender woman with HIV, alongside Matthew McConaughey in 'Dallas Buyers Club' - which has gone on to receive six Academy Award nominations and already won a host of accolades.
Jared - who put his acting career on hold for over six years to release music with his band Thirty Seconds To Mars - is in the running for the Best Supporting Actor prize and he admits the acclaim he is receiving for the role proves he was right to end his film hiatus for the project.
In an interview on UK station BBC Radio 1, he said: "It took six years for this to come to me. I wasn't looking to make a film but I ended up reading the script and fell in love (with it). I don't want to sound like a jerk right now but someone told me yesterday that I've won over 30 awards for it already. I didn't even know there were 30 awards to win. The big ones were the Golden Globes and the SAG Awards recently."
Referring to his Oscar nomination, he added: "I feel like this is insane and amazing - I feel like the luckiest person in the world. It's a really special story and I feel proud to be a part of it."
Jared, 42, had to dress as a woman and lose weight for his portrayal of Rayon and his transformation was so stark he didn't think audiences would even recognise him on screen.
He said: "It's pretty crazy. I play a transgender woman. A lot of people wouldn't recognise me in the role.
He added jokily: "As soon as you saw those legs you went, 'Jared - it's Jared.' "
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