J.D. Mata on Musicianship, Directing, Filmmaking, and Catholicism

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project

Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2024/06/24

A seasoned Musician (Vocals, Guitar and Piano) Filmmaker, and Actor, J.D. Mata has composed 100’s of songs, performed 100’s of shows and venues throughout. He has been a regular at the legendary “Whisky a Go Go,” where he has wooed audiences with his original shamanistic musical performances. He has written and directed numerous feature films, webseries, and music videos. Also, JD has appeared on various national TV commercials and shows. Memorable appearances are TRUE BLOOD (HBO) as Tio Luca, THE UPS Store National television commercial, and the lead in the Lil Wayne music video, HOW TO LOVE  with over 129 million views. J.D. was also the lead, as a MOHAWK MEDICINE MAN in the spiritual based film KATERI, which won the prestigious “Capex Dei”  award at the Vatican in Rome. J.D. co-starred, performed and wrote the music for the original world premier play, AN ENEMY of the PUEBLO – by one of today’s preeminent Chicana writers, Josefina Lopez! This is J.D.’s third Fringe, last year he wrote, directed and starred in the Fringe Encore Performance  award winning, “A Night at the Chicano Rock Opera.” He is currently in season 2 of his NEW YouTube series, ROCK god! J.D is a native of McAllen, Texas and resides in North Hollywood, California.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Were there any significant classical influences on you?

JD Mata: In terms of music, the earliest thing I can remember is diverse stuff. My earliest remembrance is listening to the Commodores and listening to the 70s stuff. I was a huge Barry Manilow fan. That is what I was exposed to in terms of TV. I remember seeing Barry Manilow in concert in the 70s. Oh my God! I was in love with his music, sound, and look. I was always a big power ballad freak – the ballads. Barry Manilow, Eric Harman, “All by myself.”

I have always been a hopeless romantic. I have been in love for as long as I can remember. Something about the ballads that touched me: so, that was, initially, my influence. I remember hearing “Yesterday” by Paul McCartney. I had yet to discover The Beatles. That song was my dad’s favourite song. “Three Times a Lady,” that influenced me. I was influenced by it. My dad was a musician. He taught me my first chords on a guitar. The music that he would sing. My dad sang beautifully—some of the traditional Spanish ballads and rancheras. The waltzes are in Spanish, and those conventional Spanish songs are, too. I was informed and influenced by those as well. I have an album called “A Souled Out Performance.”

I call it Radical Latino Fusion, a Spanish waltz with a powerful melody. It’s a mishmash or an array of everything I’ve been influenced by, but to answer your question: Mainly, the power ballads from the 70s and, as I got older, Tejano music. I am one of the pioneers of Tejano music. Tejano music is German polka with Spanish lyrics and keyboards and horns. There was a massive influx of Germans into Southern Mexico. They brought the accordions and polkas. Back in the 20s, the 30s, and the 40s, that’s a South Texas border town, McAllen, Texas. 5 miles from the border. The Germans brought the polkas. Of course, the Natives also learned the polkas and then would put Spanish lyrics to it. Tejano music evolved from that. That’s what Tejano music is: a polka or a cumbia (an offshoot of the polka) with Spanish lyrics. 

I started with a Tejano band as a freshman in high school. I formed my band. It is not like you would have a cover band because there wasn’t a Tejano band. So, we wrote our music. It is bizarro because the power ballads informed me, but then I got into Tejano music. But there wasn’t anything Tejano per se. My dad taught me the first few chords when I got my first guitar. Within the first few days, I wrote my first song. I must have written about 40 or 50 Tejano songs with my Tejano band. That was how I influenced myself (I know this sounds bizarre). I would listen to the stuff we would do. Many musicians are like this. I do not really listen to a lot of music, but I do listen to classical music now. I love classical music. I have written a couple of classical pieces on the piano. I wish I had started with that because if you can play classical music, you can play anything. It is complex. It is gorgeous. It has all of the elements you need in music theory. I wrote a fugue, which is fascinating to me. 

You have your melody, then change the keys regarding the counterpoint. I am rambling a bit. 

Jacobsen: Hidden, there is another point or question. Do Tejano and other traditional forms of music, or blends of “traditional” music, emphasize different parts of musical theory more than others, whereas what is termed “classical music” or classical European music emphasizes a broader base of that theory of music?

Mata: Tejano music is in its raw form; the essence is the 1, 4, 5. Let’s say we’re in the key of C: C, F, and G. C being the 1, F being the 4, and G being the 5. Most songs are based on the 1, 4, 5 formula. Then of that, you have all these inversions., You have a different version of playing it. You wouldn’t play a C like a centred C. You could play the fret as a power chord. Then, they play it as an open-form C. There are all these different inversions of C. As you transition to the 4, you have all these little base riffs that you can play, even jazz inversion. These cats, these kids that grew up playing jazz, now play Tejano. They dress up and add flavour to the transition and the chord. As you are playing the C, you are playing all these variants – what classical is, too. You are playing or singing the melody. You are playing the basic chord. You could have the bass player play a counterpoint to the melody. It is dressing it up in terms of the bass. Tejano has a considerable jazz and classical influence, as well. 

Jacobsen: When did this start? What approximate age were you getting this introduction to chords from your Father and writing your first music within the first couple of days?

Mata: I was, probably, 7 or 8. That was when I had the capability in terms of talent. I could physically, in terms of the textual aspect, do it. My fingers were long enough. My dad taught me the first couple of chords at 7. He taught me C. He taught me F. He taught me G. He taught me E and A. One of the things I remember from my Father is that he taught me to her the changes, to hear when the transition from the 1 to the 4, and then to the 1 to 5. He taught me the technical aspects of listening to music and switching to the proper chords. I was about 7 or 8. My first chord was E: E, A, then B7. Then I wrote a song called “Desperados.” I remember writing it on a tablet. “We’re the desperados.” It came naturally to me. Writing came naturally to me. One of my big regrets is that it is what it is. I did practice my instrument because I was writing, composing, and creating stuff. That came easy to me. My focus is to write my music. 

I wish I had put the same effort into writing songs for my instrument. I could have been a virtuoso in my instrumentation, guitar, and piano. Before our session, I was late because I was practicing. I practice every day. Piano, guitar, and voice; also, in terms of film, I have to be ready when I get an opportunity. Opportunities have come up. I wish I would have honed the skill and getting the right instructors. My parents worked. My Father taught me the basics. He was a phenomenal musician. I only had teachers to teach me the basics. I was competent, but mainly with rhythm guitar.

My focus was always, though, on the songwriting aspect of it, the stories and stuff. Later in life, I realized. “Man, I should get my instrument skills up to par. My saving grace is that Herbie Hancock says, “You have to play like yourself.” I have mastered the art of myself, learning how to play like myself and maximizing my potential in terms of what I can do now. I was about 7, 8, 9 years old. That was when I wrote my first song. Again, a long answer to a simple question. Thank you, Scott.

Jacobsen: There is something in the central nervous system, in the brain, called the Penfield Map. Suppose you were to check which parts of the extended nervous system, peripheral nervous system, that pick up information – fingertips, lips, genitalia – are more sensitive and pick up sensory information. Those parts in the Penfield Map are enlarged compared to other body parts because they bring in more information. An overlay of the Penfield Map runs along here [shows]. It shows the lips being huge and the fingertips being tremendous. Other parts are being shrunk in proportion to how big it is. There may be evidence for this. The instrument that an individual primarily plays would, over a long period, get mapped onto the Penfield Map as if it is an extension of the body, so individuals who play quite involved instruments like the piano. That then gets mapped onto the Penfield Map or an extension of it. So, that is when they are playing an instrument and are virtuosos. It is the instrument acting as an extension of itself. They are in unison at a neurological level, whether talking about gross anatomy or microstructure. This habit you build daily, whether voice or instrument, is essential. I would bet. If we did a brain scan, you might have something akin to the instrument being a part of yourself. 

Mata: 100%, I articulated that to myself. Using your exact words, my guitar is an extension of myself. The piano has to be an extension of me. I put myself under high pressure in front of people or at auditions. It has to be so natural. It has to be as if I am brushing my teeth as if it is a part of me – a limb. I can pull it off in those high-pressure situations without a spectacular disaster. I completely agree and understand. 

Jacobsen: It may explain when you watch someone good at an instrument, whatever it is. They have certain eccentricities or aspects of their behaviour, where someone who doesn’t know what it is like to watch someone be with an instrument or be a voice when they haven’t been part of a choir (me) or practiced an instrument and playing since age 7. It doesn’t seem that eccentric when you have that experience. They’re, in a way, playing themselves. To that paraphrase or quote you mentioned earlier, those behaviours bring out those eccentricities because they express themselves naturally. There was a Canadian pianist, Glenn Gould, who used to hum. They kept those on the records. It was one of those eccentricities. It probably came from being absorbed into the instrument.

Mata: Oh my God, yes! It is not only, for me, a responsibility to my… I was summoned. Ever since the pandemic, it’s been rough for me as an artist, e.g., financially. Several people who know me and know I am an artist say, “You need to get a job. You need to get a real job.” Usually, I say, “Thank you for the suggestions.” For me, I didn’t choose it. I am not trying to be dramatic. For me, I was summoned to do this. I didn’t pick it. I didn’t choose it. My DNA and my archetypes summoned me. I come from a family of artists. They’re all artists. My great-grandfather they were a travelling circus. I was summonsed by them, by the DNA in my blood, to do this. I am doing it now in terms of my music and filmmaking. I was chosen to do it at the elite level in Los Angeles. So, it is a huge responsibility. 

Once I had that insight – “Wow,” I was picked, in terms of my blood, “Oh, fuck.” So, I have got to come through. 

Jacobsen: [Laughing].

Mata: So, yes, the humming becomes part of your instrument. I played and sang when I was playing, particularly since I have never been married and do not have children. I play from my album every day. Every day, I practice “A Souled Out Performance.” I called it that because this is part of the answer, and another issue was being a choir director for the last 43 years. I have since taken a leave of absence from choir directing. That is a whole other issue. I used to practice at the church auditorium, school, and church. I had access. I used to go there at 2 or 3 in the morning because I lived in this studio apartment. I am a night owl. I practice late at night on the piano. That is where I was writing these songs. It’s a vast auditorium that seats about 370 people. One night! After all these years, I looked up. I thought I saw the place filled – every seat – with spirits. I thought, “Holy shit!” I am huge in the spirit world. 

It’s like, “Oh, wow!” So, I thought, “It’s sold out.” All these souls “Souled out in the spirit world.” That is where I got the title “A Souled Out Performance.” There are about 30 or 33 songs on that album. They are all the Radical Latino Fusion. Every day, I practice the songs. I have never been married and don’t have children. These songs are my babies, my kids. Growing up, if you’re a parent, there are certain things you do every day. You feed your kid. You make sure your kid has clothes. It is routine. It is like playing scales every day on the piano. For me, these songs are my kids. I have to feed them every day. I have to make sure that they have water, that they have food, that they have life. Those are my children. So, I practice those songs every day because I gave those kids birth. 

I want them to grow up to be responsible adults. When I put them out to the world, it’s funny. When I play them at shows, I will play these songs because I do a bunch of gigs. I’ll do like “Red, Red Wine.” I’ll sneak in my original. People are still moving as if it’s a huge hit. I look at the kids. Children will always tell the truth. Part of why they give such a great response is that I have nurtured my children. I have fed them. I have taken care of them. All of that is part of the sacrifice for your kids. I am starving for my kids, in terms of somebody saying to me, “Go get a job.” I go, “This is what I do. I can’t let my kids starve. I have to practice. I have to play.” All those elements go into part of the psyche, the brain, the musician, the performer, and the archetypes, DNA. In that dimension and this dimension, feeling you are part of the instrument is feeling the song as a part of you. I wonder if I answered the question. 

Jacobsen: I have interviewed part of a series you run, interviewing Rick Rosner and Lance Richlin. Rick is a liberal comedy writer. Lance is a conservative painter. Both are not entirely entrenched in their views, often not listening to the entirety of the other individual’s point of view. I think that is the crux in this original series called Lance Versus Rick, now called Naked at Night on PodTV, available on all wonderful internet everywhere. So, how did you get involved in Lance Versus Rick’s project? So people know you are the disembodied voice of questioning. 

Mata: I met Rick at the gym. I met him probably in 2007 or 2008. I was intrigued with him. He would do his sets, and then he’d be reading a book. He was the only guy in the gym with a book. We got to talking. I connected with him. At the time, he was still a writer for Kimmel. I had an instant connection with him. Around that time, I was creating this web series, Wisdom and All His Wisdom. I had yet to find the lead actor. I thought, “Rick would be perfect.” Even though I never saw him act. I knew he would be great. I might have seen him in a Domino’s commercial.

Jacobsen: That’s right! [Laughing] He was in that.

Mata: He said, “Yeah, yeah.” Rick, anything to do with the arts. We’ll do it, whether Indie or others. You can find it on YouTube. We did five or ten episodes. So then, that ran over about a year. Then, we would always see each other. He would have stuff where he would bring me on board. He had already seen my filmmaking skills and operating camera, sound, and lighting. Then, cut to the future, he had this idea for Lance Verssu Rick. He called me. I am an editor, too. So, he said, “Would you be interested in producing this show for us and doing all of the technical aspects for it, in terms of the shooting, the lighting, and the audio aspect of it?” I would edit it for him.

I am a political science minor. I have always been interested in politics. I have been a newshound all my life. As I shared before, I have no dog in this fight. For me, I love it. As an artist, I have chosen not to make my politics known. If people want to ask me, They can ask me. What I do, my message is my art, which is the perfect pitch for Rick’s show. He needs someone in the middle. 

I would talk to him. I had insights into both the left and the right. So, part of my job description was also coming up with topics. So, I took a deep dive into the issues as well. Now, I present to them the topics. Also, I could add because I grasp the topics. If Lance had an argument he was making with Rick, if he was missing parts of it, then I would chime in. It would piss Rick off. If Rick would miss something in terms of an issue, then I would say, “What about this?” It is a great way to get them to fight with each other. 

Jacobsen: Basically, you are performing the role of Yahweh in films, proverbially the finger coming in and poking the protagonists of the literature.

Mata: Yes [Laughing], exactly.

Jacobsen: [Laughing] How did the Catholic choir directing come into the music timeline for you, too? How did getting involved in conducting or being a choir director in a Catholic or musical setting start?

Mata: So, I am Catholic. I grew up Catholic. My parents would take my brother. I am the younger. I have an older brother and an older sister. We go to church every Sunday, which I love. I loved going to church. I was now part of the CCD on Saturdays, Catechism, Religious Education, and something by a different name. I love it. The Catholic doctrine, for me, isso solid, the people who run it. People are flawed, but it is what it is. That is a whole other Oprah. All my experiences growing up as a kid with the Catholic Church were great. The priests were incredible.

I loved going to Mass—the whole ritual of it. There’s something about ritual. Practicing every day is church for me. Running, I work out. It is a ritual. Something about the ritual aspect of the Catholic Church fascinates me. I love and adore it. It was right up my alley. I remember when my dad started teaching me guitar. I told many kids at CCD on Saturdays because I didn’t go to Catholic school, which may have been my saving grace. If you didn’t go to Catholic school, you went to CCD. I remember telling the kids that I was playing guitar. On one of those Saturdays, I had been playing guitar for six months. The nun’s name, Sister Mary Jane, was hers. 

Jacobsen: [Laughing].

Mata: These were like liberal nuns. They only wore part of the habit. They wore the dresses without it. She was cool. She came in one day. She pointed at me, “Come with me.” I’m like, “Me?” She says, “We need to talk to you.” I’m like, “What did I do? I was the valedictorian of that class. Why am I being taken to the principal’s office, if you will?” She says, “You will be in our choir, the 9 a.m. Mass. We have rehearsals at 8 a.m. This is where we are going to meet. This is the parent permission slip. Let your mom know.” I was like, “Ah.” Again! I was summoned! I was summoned. I go home. I tell her, “I cannot do it.” I’m just learning to play the guitar. I was starting to… “I don’t want to do it.” She says, “You don’t have to do it.” I go, “Great!” I give her the paper. She goes, “What is this?” And I remember this like it was yesterday. I go, “Here’s the permission slip and her phone number; you can just call her and let her know. I am not going to go.” She goes, “Oh, no, if you don’t want to go, you have to call her.” Here I am, I am 58. I have been a choir director ever since.

Again, I was summoned to it. I was picked. They say, “God doesn’t pick the best people to do his work.” Man, that is so true, because me as a choir director – eh. That is how it started. I ended up loving it. I adored it. I was 7, 8, or 9. So then, that choir went into another choir. Eventually, when I was a freshman in college, I became the choir director of that church: Our Lady of Perpetual Help. It was a small choir with three or four singers. We weren’t getting paid. I did that for many years. Throughout high school, and then when I was a freshman in college, there was Our Lady of Sorrows, which was one of the biggest churches in South Texas. They were looking for a new choir director. One of the choir members, Vicky, was her name; she and I were friends. She said, “We need a choir director. You can do it.” I said, “I have never conducted a choir, per se.” She said, “You can do it.” I remember going.

I was in college at the time, and it was one of the things that you learn in college. You know how to get information: Start, finish, and get information. I remember going to the library. I picked up a bunch of books on conducting. In terms of auditioning and getting the gig, it was my crash course in conducting. So, I was a choir director for about four years. Then I remember after I graduated. The pastor said to me, “We have helped you graduate.” They paid me well. I paid my way through college. “We paid your way through college, so you owe us a year of service at the Catholic.” I taught at a Catholic school for a year. I was a Social Studies teacher and a music teacher. When I moved to Los Angeles in 1999, one of the first jobs I took was choir director at St. Charles. I was there from 21 to 2023. This is going to sound ridiculous.

I am one of the world’s top 100 choir directors. I am not saying that I am the most skilled conductor, but I facilitate singing at church and song selection. I always said, “As a choir director, it is a huge responsibility because you have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” You have the Father, which is the liturgy of the Word. You have the Son, which is communion. You have the Holy Spirit in Mass. The whole spirit of service is singing. If you walk into Catholic churches a lot, no one is singing. Nondenominational people are singing. 

There is this false premise. There are a lot of choir directors in the Catholic Church who want to sound great. It is not a performance. Our job is to facilitate singing. I have the tools. I know exactly what I must do to motivate and encourage people to sing and fill the church with the Holy Spirit. Many pastors, even the pastors, don’t see it. In that regard, I see myself as one of the top 100 choir directors in the world. I consider myself one of the most fascinating Latinos in the world because I am a choir director, filmmaker, musician, and dancer. I do all of these things. One of the most interesting Mexican-Americans in the world. That is the story behind being a choir director. 

Jacobsen: So, you not only grew up as someone at the geographic border. You have developed as someone intellectual and skilled border. The crossroads of all these different things. You have this musical talent, skill development, and maintenance every day as a sort of styling and a form of worship. You have a Catholic upbringing, teaching, and choir conducting. At the same time, in the filming with Rick and Lance, You have a broader palette of filming. When did you get involved in the earlier stages of doing, more or less, independent film work, editorial work, and the technology behind it? I heard some individuals, particularly from the United States, comment on the fact that for individuals coming into this field – this weird field – of film with production and lighting, voice acting, voice coaches, and method acting. With all this different stuff, there is an aspect that more or less people come in. They will start by getting coffee for someone. Still, amid their career development, they do almost every single part. Someone directing will figure out how to do nearly every other aspect of the film – similarly to how you describe yourself and your professional development. You must know all these skills to make something work from a top-down level. How did the film part of your life come to the fore? How did you develop all those skills together so you had the complete package to pursue that dream? The thing in which you were “summoned.” 

Mata: Great question, again. I moved to Los Angeles on October 7, 1999. Before that, I had always wanted to be – that was my secret – an actor. I didn’t know at the time that I wanted to make films. What I did know, as I said, is that I have always been creating stories in my head. Everything to me was very… I saw things in terms of a story and pictures. As a kid, I would see my brother play baseball. I always saw myself as a baseball player. I would create a story of myself as a baseball player. I saw Barry Manilow. I started making the storyline of me as the piano player. My superpower was that I would execute those dreams. That’s always been like that. It has come naturally to perform these stories that I would create. It has always been my secret that I want to be an actor. I never told anybody. Even though I got picked as the lead in my school plays, I always terms of taking it to the next level – to the high level, to the elite level. South Texas is, back in the 1980s and the 1990s… it was wild. It was in my DNA. I always figured that’s what I needed to do. There is another dimension, a whole story, of how I moved from being a Tejano artist in South Texas to moving to Hollywood. With so many things and moving parts, I eventually decided to move to Los Angeles, which I did. 

Then I got here. I realized that I had no skills in terms of film acting. It was a fact. That’s a whole other beast. The reality is acting; I do very well. It didn’t come easy to me. It wasn’t natural to me. It’s the same thing with music and art. It didn’t come easy to me. I got good at it because I practiced. What became accessible to me was composing. I could do that. I have a song that I released. I wrote the song in one night. The next night, I released the music video. It comes easy to me. In the acting part, I took some acting classes. It was rough. This is not to say that I didn’t have opportunities. I met this gentleman who is considered the entertainment guru in Los Angeles. He hooked me up with the casting director of General Hospital in 2003. I had an audition to be in General Hospital. I wasn’t ready. I fucked it up. I got nervous. I wasn’t prepared to be in the big leagues yet as an actor, per se. I say this because I did have opportunities at the early stages to break in. I had anxiety. I had to deal with anxiety. All of this is to set off the fact that I wasn’t getting any parts in terms of significant roles, yet, in terms of the elite, as an actor. I wasn’t getting cast. You would hear a lot. You still listen to it a lot. There need to be more Mexican-Americans in film. I thought to myself, “I’m not getting the part. How am I going to get better?” Again, I had this idea for a movie. This was around when Robert Rodriguez had El Mariachi. He did his film. He wrote a book called A Rebel Without a Group. That planted a seed in me. I could make my movie. This is the advent. 

This is when the cameras. These new Panasonic cameras could shoot standard definition in 24p. You could buy a camera that looked good for a couple of thousand dollars. Then I thought, “What if I write my script? What if I make my movie?”Being resourceful and knowing how to get information, I learned that from college. I went to the library. I felt the section on Filmmaking for Dummies. I read that. I scoured it. I have since met the guy who wrote that.

Jacobsen: [Laughing].

Mata: That was my film school! So, I wrote a script. I hired a director-photographer.   I cast myself as the lead. I did hire a director of photography. I had a small group. Luckily, I had a few friends who believed in me, who I met here in Los Angeles, who bought me the camera and funded the movie. They’re like $2,000. We made the movie. There are many intricacies. It is very detailed in terms of that story. Suffice it to say, I made this movie a feature film called Pan Dulce. It won a couple of awards. It won an audience. What I found with filmmaking per se, the writing of it, the shooting of it, the shots, then I had to learn how to edit it myself because I realized that I had to learn how to edit; I hired an editor. Right before I had to edit the movie, she had to go on a vacation to Hawaii. What?

Jacobsen: [Laughing] Classic. 

Mata: I had to do it myself. It came easy to me. I worked hours and hours and hours. It didn’t even work. It was like from the get-go; it was the direction of photography. He taught me some stuff. He taught me about drawing. He said, “Wow, you are a natural at this.” So, I made another movie right after that, From Behind the Sunflower, another Indie film. I made a third film. In Pan Dulce, I had Jeff Conway from Greece, who passed away and became a good friend, who starred in Pan Dulce. The third movie, What Happened, I Did, was within two or three years – 2003, 2004, and 2005. I did a film called The Divorce Ceremony. I invented the divorce ceremony because there was Nothing about it. Now, they are everywhere. I made a movie with Apollonia, who was the start of Purple Rain with Prince. Tom, who had been my DP for the first two films and halfway through this film. He got this job at this big, major film. He had to leave as my director of photography. I had been observing all this time.

Throughout this journey, I had to do everything. I learned lighting by doing it. Everything from audio to sound, I knew in making these independent films. Scheduling, as well as stuff like craft service, is also essential. Every aspect, including editing, makeup, special effects, and necessity, is the mother of all inventions. You push through no matter what; you make it work. These are all skills that came quickly to me. So, I made 14 films, feature films, a slew of five web series, and many music videos. I get hired for a bunch of stuff.

Regarding the editing aspect, I did it well. It is tedious for me. I am going to a point in terms of the actual filmmaking. Along the way, you have to learn all these different things because of necessity. When Rick met me and asked me, he observed that I had, mainly when we did the web series, the skills to do all these things competently. I would’ve loved to go to film school. But you can only do some things. I did not know I was going to be a filmmaker. 

You have to do the next syndicated thing. If I want to make a movie, will I attend film school? I cannot afford film school. You go and get books. You learn from people. Tying in the Catholic Church to filmmaking, religious people are afraid of going to Hell. Spiritual people have been there. 

Jacobsen: [Laughing]. 

Mata: To be a filmmaker, you have to be very spiritual because it is fucking Hell. It is a symbolic war. It is brutal. Most films that get started do not finish. Your spirit has to be in it. It has to be a calling. For me, it is the way I see it. Going back, it is part of being summoned. Along the way, I became a better actor because I would always cast myself in my films. If you say, “Why aren’t there enough Latinos in cinema?” What are you going to do about it? Yes, it is hard. There is discrimination. There is no doubt in everything. What am I going to do to fix it? For me, the solution is to do the work, do it, and put myself in there. For example, I’ve been discovered by two geniuses. One, Rick Rosner is a genius. He saw in me something special. So, through him, I may not have delusions of grandeur. It is what I am supposed to be doing. Secondly, I got cast by a director. His name is Joe Pytka. He is arguably the most excellent director in terms of commercials. He is the guy who did all the Super Bowl commercials. He is the one who did the first Superbowl commercial with the Olympian throwing something. After that, he would do all the primary Super Bowl commercials. He did all the Michael Jackson music videos. I have a first degree of separation from The Beatles because he did “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love.” He directed those, which was when The Beatles did the anthology. 

They were able to get a recording of John Lennon. There were three remaining Beatles. They put the recording over it. In any event, he casts me personally for a commercial for the UPS store commercial. So, he saw something special in me as an actor, too. I thought, “Obviously, it is not that I have delusions of grandeur because he is a giant. He is 6’9”. He cast me. So, again, all those things have come together. It is my journey into how I came into contact with Rick. Also, in terms of “How was I able to have all these resources?” I always say this. Warner Brothers, Universal, I am your wet dream. You got me to do your big-budget movies because I’ve made magic with 2 or 3 thousand-dollar projects. I know I could create something unique if I am given even a $1,000,000 budget. So, regarding being an author or having all these various tools at my disposal. It is because, from all these years, from 2003 to the present, of doing the work, doing feature films, and not having the money. So, if you need more money to be a makeup artist, you must learn how to do it. 

Lighting and all the required skills, a reporter once said, “It is a little arrogant to put your name all over.” I didn’t have a choice! I couldn’t afford to bring in all this help. Also, I enjoy doing it. If I enjoy it, I am sorry that you perceive it as arrogant that you want me to do all these different things. That’s the bottom line. I enjoy it. The only way to get better at it is to do it. 

Jacobsen: What do you consider of Hispanic-American, Latin-American, Mexican-American background director, actor, or producer highlights along those lines in your career so far? I don’t know. Americans use the term Hispanic American. Others will say Latin American. Regardless of that background, have there been any parts of your career that you consider essential highlights, too? Like you’re saying, take responsibility for that lack, dismiss the discrimination, and, in the future, make your little mark – making things a little bit better for the following people coming through?

Mata: Yes, as a matter of fact, when I first moved here, I used to cut my hair short. Like yours! Which looks incredible, by the way [Laughing]. I went to Tahoe back in, maybe, 2009, 2008. I was snowboarding. I face-planted. My face was a freaking grapefruit. I had a big old cut. I broke this part. Anyway, I was like the elephant man. I was depressed. I couldn’t do anything. I thought I was going to be disfigured. For about the next six months, I went through a minor depression. I have been through major depression. That is a different story. I couldn’t audition. I couldn’t do anything. My hair grew long. It was long. I let it grow long. It was the first time I had hair that long. I was getting ready to cut it. My face healed up. I still have a bump here. My face healed up. I said, “I will go back and cut my hair.” My agent called me, saying, “Have you cut your hair?” I go, “Nope, I am about to cut it now.” I thought she wanted me to cut it. She goes, “Don’t! Could you not cut it? You need to do to the studio for True Blood.” This is back in 2009/2010. She goes, “There is a part for a medicine man who is the guy they cast; there have been some contract disputes. They are not going to use him. They need to use somebody right away. It would help if you went in there. Do not even say, “Hello.” You need to be the part. You are dead. You are a spiritual medicine man. They are going to audition you from the moment you walk in. They are panicking. On the way out there, I called my mom. “Mom, I am going to audition to play this medicine man,” which in Spanish is a brujo, a curandero. She goes, “That’s interesting. Your great uncle,” her uncle, “was a medicine man in Mexico.” Don Julian. “What?” “Yes.” Here, I am summoned again; it is already in my DNA. I am there. I am a medicine man in my bloodline. I walk in. 

There are 15 other guys with long hair. They were saying pleasantries and hellos. I am putting a spell on the casting directors. I am your guy. I put a spell on them as a shaman. I am a shaman. It is in my blood. Twenty minutes later, they come back: “We want JD.”  I used my Mexican-American culture, my heritage, my DNA. I was at the right place and time for the right things to happen. I got a lead role in True Blood. That is an example of using my culture to my advantage. That is catching lightning in a bottle. Those come few and far between. I have to wait for the next one. Joe Pytka, I played a music producer. I put eyeliner on. I was like, “I am a musician.” Obviously, he saw that I was authentic. That is the trick to being an actor. You have to be accurate. It is almost like you’re not acting. You are being a character. So, that’s the trick, I think. To make my mark, even more so as an actor or in a significant way, I must be discovered by the right person at the right time for the right things to happen. I cannot leave a day before the miracle happens. I have been here since 1999. I am not about to get a real job and go because this is what I am meant to do. 

Jacobsen: You mentioned mental health issues and struggles. Is that a joint facet of life for artists in the Los Angeles area? 

Mata: I am writing a movie called Glorious Salvo Rhapsody. It is about a musician who commits suicide and goes into another dimension and gets redemption. I created my own heaven, hell, purgatory. It deals with mental health. I always say or joke around. If you do not leave Los Angeles broken and fucked up, you didn’t do it right. That is hyperbole. But I think that if you have predispositions for depression or predispositions for schizophrenia or some psychological issue, if you do not have the genetic predisposition, then you will probably, because of the stress and this industry that we are in… I always did well academically, really well, because I studied my ass off. In this industry, you can work hard, but Nothing will happen because it is so hard to get that break. The stressors are so high, and the disappointment is so high. If you have a predisposition for a mental health issue, then that will probably trigger it. It may be why so many suffer from depression or have a psychotic breakdown. There is much pressure. Once you get there, I sit in the dressing room in the trailer before I make a commercial or a movie. “Fuck, now, I am in it. Millions of dollars at stake.” There is much pressure on that. If you do have the predisposition and if you do not deal with it, there is the threat of some mental crisis. 

Jacobsen: JD, any final statements?

Mata: I am grateful to be doing this interview with you. Your questions are fascinating. I love my life. The trick is simply being my authentic self. 

Jacobsen: JD, thank you very much for your time today.

Mata: All right, bro; thanks, Scott. Great questions.

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