Brad Renfro's apartment

This is the apartment where actor Brad Renfro died of a heroin overdose.

It is located at 1092 South Ogden Drive in Los Angeles, California.

At the time of his death, Renfro was living in the apartment with his on-again, off-again girlfriend, Samantha Pearson, and her cousin.

Background

Renfro was a child actor who gained recognition for his roles in films such as The Client (1994), Tom and Huck (1995), and Sleepers (1996). In Sleepers, he portrayed the younger version of Michael Sullivan, while Brad Pitt played the adult character.

His path to Hollywood began at age 10 while he was living with his grandmother in a trailer park in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Casting directors chose Renfro for the role of Mark Sway in The Client (1994) due to his street-smart demeanor and rough upbringing. Although he had no acting experience, Renfro was naturally talented, charismatic, and unusually mature for his age. He possessed what many in the industry described as the "It factor."

However, his troubled background soon collided with Hollywood's drug culture. By age 12, Renfro was reportedly using heroin and drinking.

Sources said that the young actor was largely left unsupervised. His parents were seldom around, and reports suggested that his grandmother was unable to control him.

Furthermore, authority figures on set had little influence over his actions once filming wrapped. Because he was often mistaken for an adult, he frequently received invitations to Hollywood parties.

Legal issues

Legal troubles soon followed.

At age 15, Renfro was arrested for possession of cocaine and marijuana. By age 18, he had already attended rehabilitation multiple times.

As Renfro grew older, his substance abuse escalated. Over the years, he was arrested for offenses including grand theft, underage drinking, driving under the influence, probation violations, criminal mischief, and attempted possession of heroin.

One charge stemmed from a high-profile incident on Skid Row in December 2005. During an undercover police operation, Renfro was caught attempting to buy heroin. The LAPD arrested 14 people that day, including the actor, who was photographed by reporters covering the sting.

Death

Although Renfro attempted to get clean in 2007 by completing an outpatient rehab program, he soon relapsed.

In one of his final interviews, conducted just four months before his death, Renfro offered advice to aspiring actors.

His warning about the dangers of the industry proved prophetic:

There's so much competition, it's really about persistence. You have to just keep at it. If I'm two inches too short, the role probably goes to another guy, so you really have to learn to be secure with yourself and know that rejection is part of it. This is going to sound silly, man, but I would tell them to stay the hell away from the party scene. Anything you put in front of your goal, whether it's too much gambling, too much food, or too many beers on the weekend. Anything you put in front of the prize is going to end up getting in the way and hurting you in the end. Unfortunately, not many people are lucky enough to traverse through things like that. And a lot of people don't make it. They don't live through it.

On January 15, 2008, Renfro's girlfriend attempted to wake him for an audition, only to find him unresponsive and bleeding from the nose. Although she initially suspected he had taken sleeping pills, an autopsy later confirmed he died of a heroin overdose.

He was 25 years old.

Renfro died just one week before actor Heath Ledger's fatal overdose in Manhattan.