Entertainment

Jordan Catalano Remains Jared Leto's Best Role

by Alanna Bennett

Dec. 26, 2014

He may be an Oscar winner now, but I will always remember Jared Leto first and foremost as an A+ leaner. His turn in Dallas Buyers Club remains plagued by the problems with his casting and with his comments on the awards season campaign trail. Leto as Jordan Catalano of My So-Called Life , though? That is a role that remains pristine, preserved in the lovelorn, shyly horny adolescent naïveté it has always represented. It's Leto's 43rd birthday this Boxing Day, so let's take this occasion to celebrate his most immortal part.

It is very important to remember, when watching or re-watching My So-Called Life, that Jordan Catalano is hardly an ideal partner for a mature relationship. What Jordan represents — to Claire Dane's Angela Chase and to the masses of young people who relate far heavily to her life and her angst — is that era in youth where actual compatibility doesn't tend to play a major role in how we choose our crushes. Jordan Catalano is all instinct, all mixed-up hormones, all floppy hair and bedroom eyes. He's not without his own poignancy, his own pathos — he can barely read! The system failed him but Angela won't! But when it comes to his relationship with Angela, it's clear that he is very much the lusty boyfriend of a certain classic youth; the kind you easily lose touch with when you leave high school and find yourself — and the kind with whom you have absolutely nothing to talk about when you meet up over Thanksgiving break for one last hookup.

So here are some of Jordan Catalano's memorable moments, both good and bad. No matter what else Jared Leto does with his life, this one character was enough to ensure he'll live forever. The world will always, always have Jordan Catalanos.

Jordan's Apology Non-Apology

He comments that Angela's not like "those other girls," the ultimate teenage boy backhanded compliment that actually means nothing but that is so totally dreamy in the moment for some reason.