The Doe Boy

Background:

“I try to live instinctively. And I guess I’ve always enjoyed living in a fantasy world, daydreaming. I really do think that dreaming and fantasies are very important to the human psyche and the soul. That’s why I want to act.” James Duval

An American film actor most known for his work in the independent films, James Duval gained notice as a result of his affiliation with indie filmmaker Gregg Araki in the director’s trilogy: the gay teen flick "Totally F***ed Up (1993), the road movie The Doom Generation (1995) and the “anti-‘Beverly Hills, 90210’” teen comedy/drama Nowhere (1997), from which he received rave reviews. In the mid-1990s, he was introduced to the mainstream audience thanks to his role as the responsible kid in the sci-fi blockbuster Independence Day (1996). The dark and good-looking actor further achieved reputation in the independent circuits with his later roles, including as Frank in the cult film Donnie Darko (2001) and starring as Hunter Kirk in the drama The Doe Boy (2001). The latter even brought him an American Indian Film Festival Award and a Wine Country Film Festival Award. Other films in which he has acted in include SLC Punk (1998), The Weekend (1999, shared a Seattle International Film Festival Award), Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000), May (2002), Window Theory (2004), Standing Still (2005), Mad Cowgirl (2006), Toxic (2007) and The Pacific and Eddy (2007). His upcoming projects include The Art of Travel (2007) and 2 Dudes & a Dream (2007).

In addition to acting, Duval is also a musician. He is now playing guitar for Antoneus Maximus & The Nuthouze Band. On a more personal note, Duval was once romantically linked to Sarah Lassez. She was featured in 1997’s Nowhere.


Blending Culture

Childhood and Family:

In Detroit, Michigan, James Duval was born on September 10, 1972. He was raised in California by his Native American, French and Irish descendant father and his mother who is of French and Vietnamese lineage. He spent 1986 to 1989 studying at Gladstone High School in Covina California. He also was educated at Mira Coasta High School in Manhattan Beach and Fair Valley in Covina. He was trained as a concert pianist while growing up, and joined in with a band in his late teens. He later quit and tried his luck in acting.


Nowhere

Career:

A classical trained pianist, James Duval was involved in a band before breaking into film in the early 1990s. While hanging out at a L.A ice cream parlor, he caught the eye of the then underground director Gregg Araki, who was in process of casting the first film of his teen angst trilogy, Totally F***ed Up (1993). Duval won the starring role of Andy, and kicked off his film career in the cult drama. No stranger to the big screen, he re-emerged in the following year as a biker, Smack, in another eccentric teen movie, Mod Fuck Explosion, directed and written by Jon Moritsugu, before reuniting with Araki for the apocalyptic road comedy The Doom Generation (1995), playing the naive suburbanite virgin Jordan White, opposite Rose McGowan as his teen-aged girlfriend and Johnathon Schaech as a mysterious driver. The next year, the up-and-coming actor enjoyed great success with the box office hit Independence Day, where director Roland Emmerich cast him in the memorable role of Miguel, the liable son of a drunken cropduster pilot father (played by Randy Quaid). The role brought him a Saturn nomination for Best Performance by a Younger Actor. The success of the film allowed Duval, who at the time also worked as a waiter, to fully focus on his acting career.

In 1997, Duval once again teamed up with Araki for the last trilogy Nowhere, where he won critical praise for portraying Dark Smith, and also appeared in a supporting role in the disappointing movie River Made to Drown In, about AIDS and homosexuality. He continued to amass credits by playing various roles in such films as Lunch Time Special (1998, costarred with Scott Caan), How to Make the Cruilest Month (1998), SLC Punk (1998, opposite Matthew Lillard) and Doug Liman’s Go (1999, starred Katie Holmes, Scott Wolf, and Sarah Polley). In The Weekend (1999), helmed by Brian Skeet and costarring Gena Rowlands, Jared Harris, Brooke Shields and Deborak Kara Unger, he jointly nabbed a New American Cinema for Citation of Excellence for Ensemble at the Seattle International Film Festival.

Entering the new millennium, Duval returned to mainstream film with his supporting role of Freb in Dominic Sena’s Gone in Sixty Seconds, an action picture that starred Nicolas Cage as a retired master car thief forced to return to the industry in order to save his brother’s life. The same year, he also could be seen in the small screen in Araki’s pilot for MTV This Is How The World Ends, as Blue. After Amerikana (2001), the actor became popular for his role as Frank in the Richard Kelly cult film Donnie Darko (2001), which starred Jake Gyllenhaal in the title role, and achieved rave reviews after portraying Hunter Kirk in the drama The Doe Boy (2001), from which he netted an American Indian Film Festival and a Wine Country Film Festival for Best Actor. Both films debuted at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival.

Next, Duval teamed up with Jeremy Sisto and Angela Bettis in the independent film May (2002), appeared as Drew in a drama written and directed by Lee Madsen, Pledge of Allegiance (2003), had a supporting role in the Canadian romance Window Theory (2004), was featured along side Michael Madsen in the crime film Chasing Ghost (2005), starred as Stoner Steve in the indie comedy Standing Still (2005) and shared the screen with Sarah Lassez in the indie-drama Mad Cowgirl (2006).

Recently appearing with Susan Ward in the drama/thriller Toxic (2007) and costarring opposite Ryan Donowho and Dominique Swain in the drama The Pacific and Eddy (2007), Duval is set to play Cyrus in the action/crime Kush (2007) and Taylor ‘One Ball’ on the adventure The Art of Travel (2007). He also has a featured part in the upcoming comedy 2 Dudes & a Dream (2007).


Awards:

- American Indian Film Festival: Best Actor, The Doe Boy, 2002
- Wine Country Film Festival: Best Actor, The Doe Boy, 2001
- Seattle International Film Festival: New American Cinema, Citation of Excellence for Ensemble, The Weekend, 2000