Profile Text
Duval in 2009, photo by Prphotos
Birth Name: James Edward Duval
Place of Birth: Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Date of Birth: September 10, 1972
Ethnicity: * father – French, Irish, Native American * mother – French-Vietnamese
James Duval is an American actor and musician. He is known for his roles in the independent films Donnie Darko , Totally F***ed Up , The Doom Generation , Nowhere , The Clown at Midnight , SLC Punk! , May , and Noirland , as well as the blockbuster Independence Day . He has also been credited as Jimmy Duval.
He has said :
My mother is French-Vietnamese from Saigon, and my father is American-Indian and Irish. And when I was going to elementary school in Redondo Beach, California, in the mid-’70s… looking the way I looked…You know, everyone else was blond and I was considered a “dog eater,” or a nip, or a c—k. And if I wasn’t that I was “Tonto” or “Bruce Lee.” Coming from that, I always felt strange and disconnected. Even in junior high, when I was living more towards downtown L.A. and meeting African-American, Latino, Hispanic, and Asian kids, I still knew that I would never be full-blooded anything; my parents aren’t full-blooded anything.
My mother is French-Vietnamese from Saigon, and my father is American-Indian and Irish. And when I was going to elementary school in Redondo Beach, California, in the mid-’70s… looking the way I looked…You know, everyone else was blond and I was considered a “dog eater,” or a nip, or a c—k. And if I wasn’t that I was “Tonto” or “Bruce Lee.” Coming from that, I always felt strange and disconnected. Even in junior high, when I was living more towards downtown L.A. and meeting African-American, Latino, Hispanic, and Asian kids, I still knew that I would never be full-blooded anything; my parents aren’t full-blooded anything.