Photo: Ray Henders / Public domain (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
John Lurie is one of those downtown New York originals who never fit neatly into any box, and that's exactly what makes him so fascinating. He co-founded the Lounge Lizards in the late 1970s and helped define a whole strain of avant-garde jazz that felt more like a conversation between bebop and art-school mischief than anything you could program at a normal venue. Then he turned around and acted in Jim Jarmusch's Stranger than Paradise and Down by Law with complete deadpan cool — not because he was trying to be an actor, but because Jarmusch just got him. Fishing with John is its own thing entirely: deliberately absurd, weirdly meditative, genuinely funny. And since Lyme disease sidelined his saxophone career in the 1990s, he pivoted hard into painting, and his watercolors are unsettling in the best possible way. The man just keeps reinventing, and I respect the hell out of that.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- John Lurie
- Name (Japanese)
- ジョン・ルーリー
- Reading
- じょん・るーりー
- Born
- December 14, 1952 (age 73)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Sagittarius / Dragon
- Origin
- Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
- Occupation
- actor / painter / saxophonist / director / composer
4. Personality
Motto
Private
5. Works & records
| Category | Title | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notable work | Fishing with John | — |
6. Links
Frequently asked questions
When was John Lurie born?
Born December 14, 1952 (age 73).
Where is John Lurie from?
John Lurie is from Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States.
What does John Lurie do?
John Lurie works as actor, painter, saxophonist, director, composer.
What is John Lurie known for?
Notable works include Fishing with John.
Actor — see all → · Painter — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.