Jared Leto shows off injuries after becoming first person to climb the Empire State Building

Jared Leto has quite a few strings to his bow and apparently a new one is 'Empire State Building climber'.

The actor and 30 Seconds to Mars singer today (9 November) became the first ever person to climb up the Empire State Building, or at least part of it.

As it turns out, the Empire State Building is a pretty big structure and climbing the whole thing would take quite a while.

Leto instead scaled the section between floor 86 and the top of the building, which took him about 20 minutes.

While you might have thought some oddball in a Spider-Man costume would have done more than that it's apparently the most anyone has ever scaled of the iconic New York building.

YouTube/Today

Speaking to Today after he scaled the Empire State Building, Leto said he was 'more excited than nervous' to be climbing the skyscraper.

"But I have to be honest, it was very, very hard. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be," he said.

"Just the endurance that it took, the stamina that it took, and it was very sharp."

At this point you might be wondering why Leto wanted to climb the Empire State Building and that question was put to the 51-year-old.

In response he showed off his hands, cut and bruised from his 20 minute climb up to the top of the skyscraper.

YouTube/Today

"It was very challenging as you can see," Leto said has he showed off his injured hands.

"I've always had a fascination with the Empire State Building and I love to climb. We're launching a world tour, 30 Seconds to Mars is back on the road.

"It was in celebration of the tour and doing this things that you aspire to do."

While Leto says he really loves the Empire State Building it sounds like this was done in large part to promote his band's new album It's the End of the World but It's a Beautiful Day.

YouTube/Today

Leto was secured by ropes and harnesses on his climb up, so a wrong move would not have spelled the end of his life.

He said: "It's incredible. To watch the sun rise overlooking the city that's meant so much to me.

"Ever since I was a kid, New York stood for the place that you went to make your dreams come true.

"And as a young kid, I wanted to be an artist, and New York was the place that you came to be an artist. And the Empire State Building was always that symbol for me."

Topics: Jared Leto, Celebrity, US News

Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

@MrJoeHarker