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.
NationalityAmerican
Occupation
  • Actor
  • contortionist
  • mime
Years active1984–present
Height6 ft 4 in (192 cm)
Spouse(s)
Laurie Pontoni
(
m. 1984)
Websitewww.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]
gollark: That's not really valid in the context of the entire observable universe.
gollark: *Weight* is mass times acceleration from gravity. The acceleration from gravity is probably going to change wildly across the whole observable universe, but I guess you could sample it at various bits and average it. In any case, that average acceleration probably won't be at the Earth level of 10-ish m/s².
gollark: No it wouldn't.
gollark: Why not?
gollark: That's just an oddly tall rectangle.

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.
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