John Lurie

John Lurie (born December 14, 1952) is an American musician, painter, actor, director, and producer. He co-founded the Lounge Lizards jazz ensemble; has acted in 19 films, including Stranger than Paradise and Down by Law; has composed and performed music for 20 television and film works; and he produced, directed, and starred in the Fishing with John television series. In 1996 his soundtrack for Get Shorty was nominated for a Grammy Award, and his album The Legendary Marvin Pontiac: Greatest Hits has been praised by critics and fellow musicians. Since 2000, he has suffered from symptoms attributed to chronic Lyme disease and has focused his attention on painting. His art has been shown in galleries and museums around the world. His primitivist painting Bear Surprise became an internet meme in Russia in 2006. His television series, Painting with John, debuted on HBO in January 2021. It received 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. " Robert Lloyd of Los Angeles Times wrote, "Painting With John represents HBO at its most worthwhile.". Lurie's 1980s NYC memoir, The History of Bones, was published by Penguin Random House in August 2021. Early life Lurie was born in Minneapolis and raised with his brother Evan and sister Liz in New Orleans, Louisiana and Worcester, Massachusetts. His mother, an artist, was Welsh, and his father was half Russian Jewish and half Sicilian. In high school, he played basketball and harmonica and jammed with Mississippi Fred McDowell and Canned Heat in 1968. He briefly played the harmonica in a band from Boston, but soon switched to the guitar and eventually the saxophone.