John Doe might typically be the name given to a person who is unknown. But that’s definitely not the case for this John Doe (born: John Duchac). John started his career with the seminal LA punk band “X” , and has appeared in over 50 films as well as several television series. Doe has also contributed music to several movie soundtracks. Moviemikes.com correspondent Adam Lawton recently had the chance to speak with John about his career.
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Adam Lawton: What made you want to go from playing music and get into acting?
John Doe: There was a woman named Maggie Abbott who worked in an agency who represented my band “X”. She had helped other musicians such as David Bowie and a few others get into movies. So she asked about doing the same for me. I also was friends with Allison Anders, who I worked with on Border Radio, and it has kind of kept going from there. Acting is a whole different element of expression, and you have to be prepared for it. For me, it’s actually quite a bit harder for me than playing music.
AL: Do you prefer acting now over playing music?
JD: Music is what I done more for the last couple of years, so I haven’t done too much acting. I have been touring and recording a lot. For someone over 50 there aren’t a lot of roles out there. You can play a cop or someone’s dad. The roles are really limited. I am also not a big fan of auditioning, it’s kind of a drag.
AL: What has been your most recent on screen role?
JD: I did an independent movie called “Hated”, which I don’t know if that’s going to be the final name of it about a band from NY set around 2000. I got to play an evil manager, but I am not sure when the film is actually coming out.
AL: One of your first roles was in Oliver Stone’s “Salvador”, can you tell us about that experience?
JD: I didn’t really understand why I got the job. I thought to myself that wow this is amazing, and I knew I was very lucky at the time. Oliver Stone hadn’t really distinguished himself yet, and I think he may have been a little over his head. He just had so much going on with the rest of the cast, which included James Woods and Jim Belushi, and combine that with the film being shot in 
Mexico (laughs). Oliver was very kind and generous to everyone.
AL: Do you have any other upcoming projects?
JD: Right now I am in the middle of a west coast tour with my band “X” which wraps up just before the new year. I also will be starting to record a new solo album right around the same time that the “X” tour is ending and should be released hopefully in July of 2011. I also am putting the finishing touches on a live album I did with Jill Sobule. The cool thing about that album is all the money that was collected from ticket sales was used to make the album, so it was a fan financed record.
Click here to purchase John’s music or films