Honolulu, are you ready to get up close and personal with Jared Leto?

The striking actor and charismatic front man for Thirty Seconds to Mars, who is more prone to play before tens of thousands of screaming fans at arenas and rock festivals the world over, will lead the charge to the more intimate Waterfront stage at Aloha Tower Marketplace for a Thursday night concert.

Along with brother Shannon Leto on drums and guitarist Tomo Milicevic, Jared Leto has cut a fine figure on the mainstream rock music landscape, with Thirty Seconds to Mars known just as much for its visual impact on music videos as for its stylized progressive sound.

The band has been faithfully touring behind its latest album, "This Is War," since its release two years ago, and when we caught up with Shannon Leto by phone Thursday, he was low-key and comfy in his hotel room in Osaka, where the band staged the second of its three Japanese concerts.

He said the group is looking forward to a couple of days of downtime in the islands before Thursday’s show, as well as to playing a smaller venue.

"Doing these kind of shows is really different for us and tend to be a little more extemporaneous than the arena ones," he said. "But they’re just as satisfying and fun to do, and allows us to share the experience in a much closer proximity with the audience. It’ll be fun and maybe a bit chaotic, but we’re looking forward to it."

The band was originally a family project for the Leto brothers. Their divorced mother, Constance, supported her sons’ artistic pursuits from an early age, spurred by the constant interaction with artists of all kinds during their moves around the country.

Jared Leto moved to Los Angeles in the early ’90s to pursue his music career, intending to take acting roles as a backup.

Before Thirty Seconds to Mars broke through to the mainstream, he racked up an impressive list of acting credits that included playing heartthrob Jordan Catalano in the classic teen-angst series "My So-Called Life" and lead roles in such movies as "Prefontaine" and "Requiem for a Dream."

Thirty Seconds to Mars hit its stride with its 2005 sophomore album, "A Beautiful Lie," and the first of the band’s extended and lavishly produced videos directed by Leto’s whimsically named alter ego Bartholomew Cubbins (taken from a Dr. Seuss character).

Leto, 39, directed hundreds of extras in China for the "From Yesterday" video, reportedly becoming the first foreign band to shoot a project in that country. The group’s videos amount to ambitious short films, as exemplified by the two made from songs from the "This Is War" album, "Kings and Queens" and the sexually provocative "Hurricane," originally written by Leto with Kanye West during one of the latter’s regular Hawaii jaunts.

"For us the visual aspect is just as important as the musical," said Shannon Leto.

"It’s that creative experience we present to people that’s a direct result from our childhood. We take our inspiration from bands like Pink Floyd, who did more than just stand up onstage and play. As kids there were always paints and canvases, and our mother made sure to inject the visual arts in what we did as children."

Leto, who is a year and a half older than his sibling, gravitated to music. "For whatever reason, there was definitely a connection. I grew up loving Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and the Who, and I remember listening to my mom’s albums — Cat Stevens, Fleetwood Mac, early Michael Jackson and Duran Duran. I practically liked everything I heard," he said.

Leto sees a connection from the nurtured creativity he and his brother experienced to Thirty Seconds to Mars. "We just did what we wanted to do, and now we continue to incorporate what happens in our lives into the music. The books we read, the conversations we have, the experiences we’ve had, it’s taking all this and playing it through the band.

"As for the videos, why not do it the right way? We have to work just a little harder — it might take more than just shooting in a studio in Los Angeles — but the reward is that much greater."

Thirty seconds to Mars has made its name on a global scale. The band is up for best alternative, biggest fans and best world stage awards Nov. 6 at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

"We’ve decided to devote a lot our time to tour constantly," Leto said. "We’re doing 300 shows during this current touring cycle for ‘This Is War,’ and whatever off-time we’ve had we’ve dedicated to video shoots rather than working on a new album. And we’re still focusing on touring to the end of the year with many dates ahead of us.

"We’re planning to be in Belfast for the awards show. What’s so great about the nominations is not about us possibly winning, but just to be nominated with other artists like Lady Gaga, Arcade Fire and My Chemical Romance is cool," he said.

"We live in this bubble of touring, touring, nonstop, and when those things happen like the awards, it reminds us that, oh yeah, we’re part of a bigger picture."

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