My father taught me to paint when I was young with watercolors and so I learned at a very young age the essential elements of the value of light and composition.

in 2011 he completed Jesus Was a Commie an avant garde-dialectical conversation about the world and the prominent issues of modern society. The film was awarded a prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Modine co-directed the short film with Terence Ziegler the editor of I Think I Thought.

His film roles include Private Joker in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket the title character in Alan Parker's Birdy high school wrestler Louden Swain in Vision Quest and oversexed Sullivan Groff in Weeds.