From TMZ:
This is sad. I haven’t seen Apt Pupil, but I thought he was terrific in The Client with Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones, plus Mary Louise Parker as his mother. He had such potential, and it looks like he was just starting to get his acting career back on track, after being heavily sidetracked by drugs. Damn.
Sad- he was very good in the crapfest Bully.
I am saddened to hear this - he was a talent that was not ready for success.
What a waste. I can’t believe I’m so torn up over this, but I had the hugest crush on him after seeing The Client and followed his career closely. He was such a fucking star in everything he did- Sleepers, Apt Pupil, The Cure even Tom and Huck with Jonathan Taylor Thomas.
When he got into heroin and fell off the radar, I kept checking up on him. He was on Law & Order recently but he did not look good. Then he got picked up buying heroin on skid row around Christmas. I saw a few Imdb credits after that, so I figured he might be turning things around. How tragic.
Oh NO!
Holy shit. I can’t believe it. I LOVED this guy. In Bully, he was absolutely amazing. I am really, really shocked, totally surprised, and very sad to hear about this. Renfro really had great potential, and the looks of a young Paul Newman. He truly has died before his time.
Oh Jesus Christ, that’s awful. I had no idea he was having these problems.
So much potential lost. How sad for him and especially his family.
I’m stunned too…what a shame. He was definitely someone I thought would succeed, someone I had high hopes for and kept my eye on.
Sad.
While I’m sad to hear this too (The Client is fantastic), I’m not surprised. He’s been a drug addict since his mid-teens and he’s been arrested multiple times.
He was a fuck-up that couldn’t kick his habit.
Wow.
No, it’s not a shock in that he has been struggling for some time - but you always hope people get it together.
I always imagined him (when he was young) playing Jack Sawyer in the movie version of *The Talisman *
Hey, that would have been great casting back inthe day.
Maybe there’s a curse on my middle school crushes. First it was Jonathan Brandis and now Brad Renfro. 
Now, if Rider Strong knows what’s best for him, he’ll hide out in the country for a decade, get some therapy, and swear off all controlled substances.
Agreed. I hated Bully, but his performance in it was really terrific. What a shame.
I agree with everyone on Brad as Marty, but I also thought Leo Fitzpatrick did a great job as Derek (the hit-guy). I also thought it was a good movie. The stabbing scene with its “Ow! Ow!” and a long, agonizing demise, instead of dramatic facial expressions followed by falling asleep, was electrifying.
Most of the actors were good- Nick Stahl, Michael Pitt, the large guy from Mean Girls- and its by far the best Larry Clark film. But its still a Larry Clark film, and its still the work of a creepy 65 year old paedophile and you feel the need to take a shower after watching it- at least the actors in this one were of age.
No kidding!
My first thought- dammit! 75 points if I’d only picked him! I’d forgotten all about that Skid Row bust…
Oh my god, thank you for that link! I found out there that the figure skater Christopher Bowman is dead!! I hadn’t heard that! Ah, I loved him back in the day. He was a great talent, but frittered it away by not practicing and preferring to be a party boy. He seemed to me to think he could go the distance through natural talent alone, but such was not the case. If he’d applied himself, he could have been the greatest skater who ever lived. At least, that’s how it seemed, as an outsider.
Dammit dammit dammit!
Btw, I totally forgot that Brad Renfro was Enid’s friend in Ghost World.
Holy crow! I just IMDB’d him a few days ago!! I was watching L&O and I was like “who IS that guy anyway?” So I looked him up.
So sorry to hear this.