Ink

Before a phone interview with Gary Sinise, I kept thinking: “Don’t call him Lt. Dan. Don’t call him Lt. Dan.”

Turns out, the guy doesn’t mind being linked to his “Forrest Gump” character.

“I love that character,” Sinise said in the interview. “Ultimately, he’s somebody who overcomes his disability and moves on with his life.”

The actor and director has also become famous for his role as Detective Mac Taylor on “CSI:NY.” And he’s well-known in the military community as a rocker. His cover band, the Lt. Dan Band, plays 30 or 40 shows a year, mostly for troops overseas.

Sinise and his Lt. Dan Band invade the Uptown Theater, 3700 Broadway, at 7 p.m. Sunday. The show benefits Operation International Children, which sends school supplies to children living in countries occupied by U.S. troops. Tickets to the all-ages show cost $30.

Sinise, who also works with Disabled American Veterans, said his band plays a mix, from WWII-era swing music to classic rock, especially the “CSI:NY” theme and The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”

Sinise told us he loves acting, but rocking out for a good cause is “a dream come true.”

“I remember before I was an actor, I always played in bands,” he said. “You always have this fantasy you’re going to be a big rocker up in front of those crowds. Now, we’ve done that.”

Ink: You’re an actor in TV and movies, you direct. …What drives you to spend so much time with the military community?

Gary Sinise: I want them to know that I’m out there supporting them and trying to help them. It boosts their morale — that’s my mission. These are difficult times for our military, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to change anytime soon.

How is morale among the troops, based on what you’ve seen?

Generally, morale has been very good. … They’d rather be home. But this is what they do. They’re going to do it as well as they can. They’re surviving it as well as they can. I wouldn’t be telling you the truth if I didn’t say that our military is strained. We’re asking an awful lot of them. That’s why I continue to do this. I know they continue to need it.

We asked our readers to submit questions for you via Twitter. This one’s from @average_jane: What was it like playing Harry Truman (for the 1995 TV biopic)?

I loved being in Kansas City. We shot there in Independence. I got to shoot scenes in the Oval Office at the Truman Library. It was a tough, tough shoot. We spent 35 days trying to do 35 years of his life. And I spent 25 days in full-on old-age makeup.

It was a very good story of a guy who came from very humble beginnings and ended up in the White House, almost reluctantly. He had to make some very difficult decisions that changed the face of the world.

We’ve got two questions from @c_giffin. The first: “Ask him how it felt to throat punch Liev Schrieber in ‘Ransom.’ That was badass.”

We had to come up with something. He’s so much bigger than I am, so I just asked our stunt guys: “I need one quick, disabling move that would take him out.” We came up with this throat snap where I just chop him right there in the Adam’s apple.

The same guy wants to know why you agreed to do “Reindeer Games.”

I had a very good relationship with the director, John Frankenheimer. I worked with him on a movie adaptation of “George Wallace,” which is probably one of the best things I ever worked on. So I wanted to work with John as often as possible. He had this script he was doing, “Reindeer Games,” and he had Ben Affleck, Charlize Theron, Clarence Williams in it. He needed a bad guy. … It didn’t turn out too well, but you can never know.

OK, last one: My friend Brandon wants to know if you remember being in an episode of “Tales From the Crypt” called “We All Scream for Ice Cream.”

I was in that? Was I? I don’t remember. I’ve got no memory of that, but if he could find that … that’d be interesting. I don’t remember being in anything like that.

Oops. Dammit, Brandon.