Jeremy Renner

Jeremy Renner's gutsy performance in 'The Hurt Locker' has landed him in the thick of this year's Oscar race for Best Actor.

Courtesy Summit Entertainment

He’s touted as a dark horse in Oscar’s Best Actor race, a relative unknown in a field of nominees highlighted by presumed frontrunner Jeff Bridges and George Clooney. Yet Modesto native Jeremy Renner, the fair-haired star of Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker, is no stranger to the screen, or to awards consideration.

Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) takes aim in The Hurt Locker.

Courtesy Summit Entertainment

Americans have made their will known at the polls and the box office, and the message is clear: Our military presence in the Middle East is only slightly less popular than the movies inspired by it. The Hurt Locker may not change that sentiment, which felled recent offerings like Ridley Scott’s underrated Body of Lies and the equally overlooked Rendition, but that takes nothing away from Kathryn Bigelow’s most gripping thriller to date.