Jared Leto Scales Empire State Building

Jared Leto on Thursday became the first person to legally climb the Empire State Building, though the iconic New York skyscraper has been illegally scaled in the past by this guy. (And also, Leto didn't technically climb the entire thing, starting at the 86th floor and ending at the base of the building's antenna.) Leto decided to undertake the daring feat, which he says has long been on his bucket list, to promote his upcoming tour with his band, Thirty Seconds to Mars. "I have to be honest, it was very, very hard. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be," he told Today, which was on hand for the big event.

It was also, he noted, "very sharp," with the sharp corners of the building leaving him with a bloody cut on his hand. Leto is an avid climber and enjoys doing so in national parks as well as urban landscapes; Free Solo star Alex Honnold is one of his buddies. His adventurous streak doesn't end there; the actor has also been known to bungee jump at his concerts and once scaled a Berlin hotel wall harness-free. (He was in full climbing gear, however, for the Empire State Building stunt.) The end of his 20-minute climb was special, he said: "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." (More Jared Leto stories.)