Doug Jones (actor)

Doug Jones (born May 24, 1960)[1] is an American actor, contortionist and mime. He is best known for portraying non-human creatures, usually via heavy make-up and visual effects. He most notably collaborated with acclaimed filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, appearing in the films Mimic (1997), Hellboy (2004), Pan's Labyrinth (2006), Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), Crimson Peak (2015), and The Shape of Water (2017).[2]

Doug Jones
Jones at Judson University, October 2015
Born	(1960-05-24) May 24, 1960 Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Actor contortionist mime
Years active	1984–present
Height	6 ft 4 in (192 cm)
Spouse(s)	Laurie Pontoni ( m. 1984)
Website	www.actordougjones.com

Jones' other roles include Hocus Pocus (1993), Tank Girl (1995), The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (2005), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), Absentia (2011), Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016), and The Bye Bye Man (2017). He has also appeared in the science fiction series Falling Skies (2013–15) and del Toro's horror series The Strain (2014–16). Since 2017, he has portrayed Commander Saru in the science fiction series Star Trek: Discovery.[3]

Early life

Jones was born in Indianapolis, the youngest of four brothers, and attended Bishop Chatard High School. He graduated from Ball State University,[1] where he parlayed his background as a mime into portraying the school mascot "Charlie Cardinal".[4]

Career

Jones started his career in the television and movie industry as a 1980s ad character, "Mac Tonight".[5] He worked as a contortionist, saying, "You'd be surprised how many times that comes into play in commercials. They'll want somebody to hold a box of Tide funny or something. I once squished into a box for a commercial for relaxed fit jeans".[6]

Although known mostly for his work under prosthetic makeup, such as the zombie Billy Butcherson in the Walt Disney Pictures Halloween film Hocus Pocus, or the lead spy Morlock in the 2002 remake of the 1960 film The Time Machine, he has also performed without prosthetics in such films as Adaptation, Mystery Men, and Batman Returns, and indie projects such as Stefan Haves' Stalled, AntiKaiser Productions' Three Lives, Phil Donlon's A Series of Small Things, and as Cesare in David Fisher's 2005 remake of the 1920 silent classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.[7]

He played Abe Sapien in Hellboy, although the voice was performed by an uncredited David Hyde Pierce. Explaining the challenge of working so often in rubber suits and prosthetics, he notes, "I have to make that a part of my being and my physicality and again, acting is a full body experience and that's a part of it when you're doing a costumed character."[8]

In 2005, he worked again with Mexican director Guillermo del Toro, starring as the Faun in del Toro's multiple-Academy Award-winning Spanish-language fantasy/horror project Pan's Labyrinth. He also has a secondary role in the film as the Pale Man, a gruesome creature with a penchant for eating children. Working once more under heavy prosthetics in both roles, he was also required to learn large amounts of dialogue in Spanish,[9] although ultimately his voice was redubbed anyway, by Pablo Adan.[10] That same year also brought success for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, the film receiving three awards at the Screamfest Horror Festival in Los Angeles, including the Audience Choice Award. In 2006, Jones appeared in the feature films The Benchwarmers and Lady in the Water, and reprised his role as Abe Sapien by voicing the character in the new Hellboy Animated television project, recording two 75-minute animated films.

In February 2007, Jones' likeness was used for Nvidia's "Human Head" tech demo. In June 2007, he appeared in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer as the Silver Surfer (though Laurence Fishburne provided the character's voice). He reprised his role as Abe Sapien in Hellboy II: The Golden Army, once more under the direction of del Toro, for which he provided both the voice and body performance. He played two other roles in the film: the Angel of Death and the Chamberlain, both under heavy prosthetics. In 2009, del Toro announced on BBC Radio that Jones would be playing the monster in his upcoming version of Frankenstein.[11]

Jones starred as himself in Sockbaby 4, the fourth installment of the Internet martial arts comedy series Sockbaby.[12]

Jones appeared in the French-language film Gainsbourg (Vie héroïque), written and directed by French comic book author Joann Sfar and produced by Universal Europe. Jones played La Gueule ("The Mug"), the grotesque fantasy muse and malicious doppelganger who teases, guides, and accompanies Serge Gainsbourg throughout his life.[13] He was fitted with prosthetics designed and created by the Academy Award-winning Spanish FX shop DDT Efectos Especiales, with whom he had already worked on Pan's Labyrinth; the FX technicians requested specifically that Jones be given the role of the Mug creature, due to his ability to perform with heavy prosthetics and elaborate special effects. As in Pan's Labyrinth, Jones performed his lines phonetically, this time speaking in French; his voice was redubbed by Éric Elmosnino, who also played Gainsbourg. Director Joann Sfar liked Jones' speech patterns so much that she asked Elmosnino to mimic it when he performed the creature's lines. The film was released in France on January 20, 2010.[14][15][16]

In January 2010, Jones signed a book deal with Medallion Press to model a nonfiction comedic coffee table book called Mime Very Own Book, co-authored by Adam Mock and Scott Allen Perry, and photographed by Eric Curtis. The book was due for publication in December 2011.[17]

Jones plays Dr. Henry Vataber in the web series Universal Dead.[18] In late June 2010, it was announced that Universal Dead would be made into a feature film.[19] He appeared in the independent film The Candy Shop, a "modern fairy tale" shedding light upon child sex trafficking, created by the American film studio Whitestone Pictures.[20]

Jones played the "Operator", a fictional entity based on the Internet myth known as the "Slender Man", in Always Watching: A Marble Hornets Story a 2014 film adaptation of the popular Marble Hornets YouTube series.[21]

Jones was cast as Commander Saru in Star Trek: Discovery, which premiered September 24, 2017. That same year, Jones reunited with Guillermo del Toro in 2017, this time in a romantic lead role, playing the Amphibian Man in The Shape of Water.[22]

Personal life

He describes himself as a "dyed-in-the-wool Christian from the Midwest", to the point that he was initially apprehensive about his role in Hellboy, due to the titular character's demonic nature.[23]

In 1984, he married his college sweetheart, Laurie Pontoni. In 1985, they relocated to Los Angeles, so that Jones could pursue his acting career full time.[24]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	The Newlydeads	Tim
1990	Night Angel	Ken
1991	Carnal Crimes	Lang	Direct-to-video
1992	Batman Returns	Thin Clown
1993	Hocus Pocus	Billy Butcherson
	Magic Kid	Clown in Office	Direct-to-video
1995	Tank Girl	Additional Ripper
1996	The Adventures of Galgameth	Big Galgy
1997	Mimic	Long John #2
	Warriors of Virtue	Yee	Voiced by Doug Parker
1998	Bug Buster	Mother Bug
	Denial	Ghost	Direct-to-video
1999	Mystery Men	Pencilhead
	Three Kings	Dead Iraqi Soldier
2000	Stalled	Len
	The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle	FBI Agent – Carrot
	Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman	Dave	Direct-to-video
2001	Steven Spielberg's Movie	Donald Columbus	Short film
	Monkeybone	Yeti
2002	Adaptation	Augustus Margary
	Men in Black II	Joey
	Side Effects	Seth	Short film
	The Time Machine	Spy Morlock
2003	Stuck on You	Space Alien #2
2004	Three Lives	Mysterious Caller / Mortician	Short film
	Hellboy	Abe Sapien	Voiced by David Hyde Pierce
2005	The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari	Cesare
	Doom	Carmack Imp / Sewer Imp
	A Series of Small Things	The Homeless Man	Short film
2006	The Benchwarmers	Number 7 Robot
	Lady in the Water	Tartutic #4
	Pan's Labyrinth	The Faun / The Pale Man	Voiced by Pablo Adán
	Hellboy: Sword of Storms	Abe Sapien (voice)	Direct-to-video
	Nora Breaks Free	Yoga Instructor	Short film
2007	Carnies	Ratcatcher
	Hellboy: Blood and Iron	Abe Sapien (voice)	Direct-to-video
	Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer	Norrin Radd / Silver Surfer	Voiced by Laurence Fishburne
	The Wager	Peter Barrett
2008	Quarantine	Thin Infected Man
	Sockbaby	Himself	Short film
	Hellboy II: The Golden Army	Abe Sapien / Angel of Death / The Chamberlain
	The Job	Office Manager	Short film
2009	My Name is Jerry	Jerry
	Pie & Coffee	Homeless Man	Short film
	Super Capers	Special Agent Smith #1
	The Butterfly Circus	Otto	Short film
2010	The Cure	Samuel Bainer	Short film
	Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life	La Gueule
	Legion	Ice Cream Man
	Cyrus	Dr. Arthur
	Sudden Death!	Jonathan Wright	Short film
	Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey	Zero / Razer (voice)
	The Candy Shop	Candy Shop Owner	Short film
	Absentia	Walter Lambert
	Greyscale	Jamison
	Rock Jocks	Smoking Jesus
2011	End of the Road (1,2,3...Scream)	Randolph
	The Tomorrow Machine	Ben	Short film
2012	It's Alive	Monster	Short film
	White Room: 20B3	Fyn-Ke'al	Short film
	Men In Suits	Himself	Documentary
	The Watch	Hero Alien
	Saint Alex	Mr. Vanderplook	Short film
	John Dies at the End	Robert North
2013	Raze	Joseph
	Hookah	Allen	Short film
	First Impressions	Suited Man	Short film
	Dust of War	Jebediah Strumm
	Innocent Blood	Carl Grierr
	Cruel Will	Adrian
2014	Love in the Time of Monsters	Dr. Lincoln
	Everlast	Suited Man	Short film
2015	Always Watching: A Marble Hornets Story[25]	The Operator
	Crimson Peak	Ghosts of Edith's Mother / Lady Beatrice Sharpe
2016	Ouija: Origin of Evil	Ghoul Marcus
	Kiss the Devil in the Dark	Terrance / Dagon	Short film
	Han Solo: A Smuggler's Trade	Gyorsho	Short film
2017	The Bye Bye Man	The Bye Bye Man
	The Terror of Hallow's Eve	Scarecrow / The Trickster
	The Danger Element	Doctor Elymas
	The Shape of Water	Amphibian Man[26]
	Island in the Sun	Ranger	Short film
2018	Gehenna: Where Death Lives	Creepy Old Man
2019	Beneath the Leaves	James Whitley

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	In Living Color	Unknown	Episode: "#2.24"
1993	Tales from the Crypt	Contortionist	Episode: "Food for Thought"
	Silk Stalkings	Artie	Episode: "Love Never Dies"
1994	The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles	Slapstick Actor	Episode: "Indiana Jones and Hollywood Follies"
1996	Bone Chillers	Mummy	Episode: "Mummy Dearest"
1997	Unhappily Ever After	Fake Kramer	Episode: "Sternberg"
	The Weird Al Show	Contortionist #2	4 episodes
1998	The Outer Limits	Elder Alien / Alien #1 / Alien / Alien Doctor	3 episodes
	Kenan & Kel	Head Waiter	Episode: "Attack of the Bug Man"
1999	G vs E	Herb	Episode: "Evilator"
	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Lead Gentleman	Episode: "Hush"
2000	Party of Five	Minister	Episode: "Blast from the Past"
	The Darkling	Shadow Master	Television film
2001	Unsolved Mysteries	Gordon Page, Jr.	Episode: "#488"
2002	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Grinder	Episode: "Revenge is Best Served Cold"
2003	The Guardian	Micah Oakley	Episode: "Believe"
2004	Rock Me Baby	Auggie the Octopus	Episode: "I Love You, You Don't Love Me"
	Significant Others	Waiter	Episode: "A Date, Fate and Jail Bait"
2005, 2008	Criminal Minds	Domino Thacker / Beanie	2 episodes
2007	The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning	Patron	Television film
2008	Fear Itself	Grady Edlund	Episode: "Skin & Bones"
2010	Battle Jitni: The Danger Element	Doctor Elymas	Television film
	Nick Swardson's Pretend Time	Gay Robot	6 episodes
2012–2013	The Neighbors	Dominique Wilkins	6 episodes
2013–2015	Falling Skies	Cochise	28 episodes
2013	Comedy Bang! Bang!	Future Man	Episode: "Gillian Jacobs Wears a Red Dress with Sail Boats"
	Sons of Anarchy	Corrections Officer Crane	Episode: "The Mad King"
2014	Teen Wolf	William Barrow	Episode: "Galvanize"
2014–2016	The Strain	The Ancient / The Master	6 episodes
2015	Arrow	Jake Simmons / Deathbolt	Episode: "Broken Arrow"
	The Flash		Episode: "Rogue Air"
	Z Nation	Dan Scully	Episode: "Roswell"
	The Ultimate Legacy	Hawthorne	Television film
2017	Nazareth	President Glade	Television film
2017–present	Star Trek: Discovery	Commander Saru[27]	29 episodes Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor in Streaming Presentation (2019) Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor on Television (2018)[28]
2017–2018	After Trek	Himself	3 episodes
2018	Star Trek: Short Treks	Saru	Episode: "The Brightest Star"
2019	The Ready Room	Himself	Episode: "Episode 5"
	Better Things	Himself / Monster	2 episodes
	What We Do in the Shadows	Baron Afanas	5 episodes
	I Am	Principal	Episode: "Pilot"
2020	Space Command	Dor Neven	3 episodes
	DuckTales	TBA

Web series

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009	Angel of Death	Dr. Rankin	10 episodes
2010	Universal Dead	Dr. Vataber	3 episodes
2011	Fallout: Nuka Break	Mayor Conners	3 episodes
	Dragon Age: Redemption	Saarebas	3 episodes
	The Guild	Gerald	2 episodes
2012	League of STEAM	Theodore Marshall	Episode: "Dining with the Devil"
2012–2013	Research.[29]	Denny	8 episodes
2013	The Blockbuster Buster	Himself	Episode: "Rocky and Bullwinkle"
2013, 2018	Adopted	Lloyd Adams	4 episodes
2015	Hell's Kitty	Father Damien	2 episodes
	Murder?	Narrator / Eric	2 episodes
2016	Screen Junkies Movie Fights	Himself	1 episode
	Han Solo: A Smuggler's Trade – A Star Wars Fan Film	Gyorsho	1 episode
2017–2018	Automata	Carl Swangee (voice)	5 episodes

Video games

Year	Title	Voice role	Notes
2007	Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer	Silver Surfer
2008	Hellboy: The Science of Evil	Abe Sapien

Music videos

Year	Title	Artist	Role
1998	"I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)"	Marilyn Manson	Townsperson[30]
1999	"All Star"	Smash Mouth	Pencil Head[31]

References

1. "Biography". Doug Jones' official website. Archived from the original on October 23, 2016. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
2. Bell, David Christopher (November 14, 2013). "7 Iconic Costume Actors You Didn’t Notice In Non-Costumed Roles" Archived November 14, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. Film School Rejects.
3. Krishna, Swapna (March 19, 2018). "7 reasons Doug Jones is the best part of Star Trek: Discovery". Syfy. Archived from the original on May 19, 2018. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
4. "Charlie Cardinal Interview" Archived August 30, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. The Doug Jones Experience. Reprinted from Ball State University's Alumnus Magazine. August 2004
5. Barkan, Jonathan (March 9, 2017). "Doug Jones Was the McDonald's Mac Tonight Guy!". Dread Central. Archived from the original on January 6, 2018. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
6. Johnson-Ott, Ed. "Hellboy's fish-guy gets filleted." Archived August 12, 2004, at Archive.today Nuvo.net. April 14, 2004.
7. Genzlinger, Neil (October 25, 2006). "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari - Movies - Review". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 10, 2015. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
8. Topel, Fred. "Fantastic Four 2: Doug Jones: Doug Jones talks sequels, Fantastic Four and Hellboy", CraveOnline.com, June 15, 2007.
9. "Doug Jones En Espanol" Archived March 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, canmag.com; accessed 8 March 2018.
10. "The Faun". Behind the Voice Actors. Archived from the original on March 14, 2018. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
11. "Guillermo Del Toro Casts Doug Jones in Frankenstein". June 14, 2009. Archived from the original on June 16, 2009. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
12. "Sockbaby". sockbaby.com. Archived from the original on June 20, 2008. Retrieved June 13, 2008.
13. Ebert, Roger (2012). Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2013: 25th Anniversary Edition. Andrews McMeel Publishing. p. 191. ISBN 9781449423445.
14. Hewitt, Chris (January 20, 2009). "Doug Jones to star in Gainsbourg Biopic". Empire. Archived from the original on October 15, 2012. Retrieved November 26, 2009.
15. Information on Gainsbourg: Vie Heroique Archived February 16, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, thedougjonesexperience.com; accessed 22 March 2018.
16. "Doug Jones incarne la Gueule de 'Gainsbourg'" Archived January 9, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, cinemotions.com; accessed March 22, 2018.
17. Mime Very Own Book Archived February 13, 2010, at the Wayback Machine at Medallion Press.
18. Cast page at Universal Dead website Archived July 25, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
19. "Universal Dead full length feature?" Archived August 18, 2011, at the Wayback Machine IndieIntertube; June 28, 2010
20. "The Candy Shop Film Announcement" Archived July 18, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
21. "Web Series 'Marble Hornets' Getting Its Own Movie". Spill. Archived from the original on November 27, 2013. Retrieved December 21, 2013.
22. Jones, Nate. "How Doug Jones Became Guillermo del Toro's Favorite Monster". Vulture. Archived from the original on June 24, 2018. Retrieved June 24, 2018.
23. Moro, Eric. "Doug Jones - Interview - Fish Out Of Water". thedougjonesexperience.com. Archived from the original on May 21, 2016. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
24. Marotta, Jenna (2017). "‘The Shape of Water’ Star Doug Jones". IndieWire. November 24, 2017. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
25. Always Watching: A Marble Hornets Story Official Trailer. YouTube. March 31, 2015. Archived from the original on October 26, 2016. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
26. Escultor da criatura do filme revela nome do monstro. Omelete. March 21, 2018. Archived from the original on March 21, 2018. Retrieved March 21, 2018.
27. "Star Trek Discovery Beams Up Three Cast Members". startrek.com. Archived from the original on February 25, 2018. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
28. "'Star Trek: Discovery' Nominated For 5 Saturn Awards". TrekMovie.com. March 15, 2018. Archived from the original on March 16, 2018. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
29. "Cast". mildlyfearsomefilms.com. Archived from the original on September 26, 2017. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
30. "Doug Jones on Instagram"". Instagram.
31. "All Star". Smash Mouth/YouTube. December 2009. Archived from the original on August 29, 2018. Retrieved April 13, 2019.

External links

• Official website
• Doug Jones on IMDb
• 2013 interview at SuperheroSpeak.com