Renner has taken a long, slow road to fame

While it may seem like Jeremy Renner is everywhere all of a sudden, the Modesto native is no overnight success.

The first-time Oscar nominee has been on a nonstop media blitz since the Academy Award nominations were announced a month ago.

He has appeared on "The Today Show," "Late Show With David Letterman," "Larry King Live," "The View," "60 Minutes," "20/20," "Oprah's Oscar Special" and "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."

But the road from starving artist eating Top Ramen to star hobnobbing with A-list celebrities took almost 20 years.

And it's one his friends and family still can't quite believe is happening.

"I have a Google alert for him, and the other day a story came up

that said 'Jeremy Renner spotted,' " said his mother, Modesto resident Valerie Cearley. "That's so strange. From 'Who is Jeremy Renner?' to "Jeremy Renner spotted.' I don't know how he's going to live his life now."

The answer to how his life has been in the 33 days since he was named one of the five best actor nominees is hectic. Renner has been to Los Angeles, New York, London and various stops in between on a whirlwind of press interviews, award shows, talk shows and industry parties.

But the 39-year-old Beyer High graduate makes sure to remember his Central Valley roots. He mentions Modesto in almost every appearance.

And his Oscar date is, of course, his mother.

As he told The Bee, "I have to, that's not even a question."

Cearley has been in Los Angeles with Renner for the past week, getting the full star treatment, including dress fittings, salon days and Oscar parties with her son.

For the record: Both plan to wear Armani for the big night.

'Role of a lifetime'

Renner has called his part as lead bomb technician Staff Sgt. William James in "The Hurt Locker" the "role of a lifetime." But it was preceded by years of well-reviewed work that gradually came to a critical mass.

"He has worked long and hard," Cearley said. "I think (the slow rise) has been good for him. If this had happened when he was young, it might have changed him. Now he's such a grounded person."

Still, his parents never would have guessed he would become an actor. In fact, Renner, who moved around attending Coleman F. Brown, Garrison, Sylvan, Stockard Coffee and Sherwood elementary schools, was shy as a child.

"He always stood in the back to get his picture taken," Cearley said. "He was just a quiet little kid."

Renner's father, Lee, managed McHenry Bowl in the 1980s, so he and his younger sister, Kym, bowled competitively until their teens.

His parents divorced when Renner was about 10, but they stayed close and bought houses across the street from each other. Lee Renner and Cearley still live across the street, though in a different neighborhood.

Renner went to Somerset Middle School and then Beyer. In high school, he wasn't into drama or sports, instead spending his free time playing drums in his garage band, Hot Ice. Cearley can't remember them playing any gigs, but she does remember the neighbors complaining.

After graduating in 1989, he went to Modesto Junior College and studied computer science and criminology.

Then he took a drama class.

Retired MJC instructor Charline Freedman remembers him as one of her two best acting students from her 12-year career. She said the 19-year-old connected almost immediately with her demanding Stanislavsky acting method.

"It's a very difficult process. You work to find yourself and become the character, rather than just acting," she said. "Very quickly, once he got it and realized what I was asking for, that's when I knew, 'Uh-oh, we've got a real winner here.' "