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Ever since Brad Renfro first burst onto the scene in 1994, The Client, he's been described as "brooding" or "a rebel' or even "a Hollywood bad boy". Since Brad was "discovered" at a Knoxville, TN police/youth program and wasn't the typical all- American, apple pie kind a guy, he was labeled by many as "troubled". Even Peter Horton, the director of Brad's second film, The Cure, admits he had a mini-conflict about this boy who had been raised by his grandmother and was more familiar with the street than the schoolroom. "There was something about him that I immediately loved" recalls Horton. "But I was unsure about whether or not he could be a kid. Brad's had to be an adult since the time he was born. It meant survival". Horton soon found that this shell Brad had surrounded himself with, was just for protection against being hurt by the people. The usually reticent Brad once explained, " I've a lot of friends in my childhood, but very few that really cared about me, you know?"

The funny thing is that in a business like acting, where friendships are often as lasting as how well your last project did, Brad found real relationships. To this day, he is still tight with the Client's director Joel Schumacher. After Schumacher enrolled Brad in a Montessori school and proved he was there for the long run, the young actor was even talking about being adopted by the director and following his footsteps behind the camera. Things had changed casting directors had no hesitation suggesting Brad for a role in a mega-bucks film. Soon this "bad boy" was on Hollywood's A-list! He was making movies back-to-back: The Cure, Tom and Huck, Telling Lies In America, Apt Pupil and up coming Little Black Book. Obviously hiring Brad to star in a film was no longer considered "taking a chance". He had out lived and overcome that "bad boy" image with hard work and dedication to his craft.

Oh yes, there is something … or someone … else who has always believed in Brad and understood where that famous attitude came from. His grandmother, "Meema" "My grandmother pretty much tries to keep my head on, or my hat on straight, " Brad explains. "She knows me and that I like to have experience of locking the door and throwing away the key. She lets me lock the door, but she makes sure she hold the key and doesn't let me throw it away."