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Doug Jones
Jones in 2024
Born	(1960-05-24) May 24, 1960 (age 64) Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
Alma mater	Ball State University
Occupations	Actor contortionist mime artist
Years active	1984–present
Spouse	Laurie Pontoni ​(m. 1984)​

Doug Jones (born May 24, 1960) is an American actor, contortionist, and mime artist. He is best known for portraying non-human creatures, usually via heavy make-up and visual effects. He has 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).

Jones has also had roles in other films including Hocus Pocus (1993) and its sequel (2022), 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 appeared in the science fiction series Falling Skies (2013–15) and del Toro's horror series The Strain (2014–16). From 2017 to 2024, he portrayed Saru in the science fiction series Star Trek: Discovery. From 2019 to 2024, he portrayed Baron Afanas in vampire comedy show What We Do in the Shadows, appearing both with and without creature makeup.

Early life

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

Career

Jones started his career in the television and movie industry as a 1980s advertising character, "Mac Tonight". 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." In 1994, he appeared in an episode of Unsolved Mysteries as Gordon Page, Jr., a young man with autism who disappeared from a treatment center in 1991.

Although known mostly for his work under prosthetic makeup, such as the zombie William "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.

Jones played Abe Sapien in Hellboy; the voice was performed by an uncredited David Hyde Pierce in the first film, but Jones's voice was used in the sequel. 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."

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, although ultimately his voice was redubbed by Pablo Adan. 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's 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.

In 2007, Jones was disappointed to learn that his voice part of the Silver Surfer had been dubbed by another actor (Fishburne) when the film was released. Upon inquiry, he determined that studio pressure had been imposed in order to add more "names" to the movie. As Jones gained greater clout in the industry, he eventually was able to add a clause to his contracts ensuring that no English dialogue of his characters would be dubbed. Roles that include other languages may be dubbed, however. This came into play in Pan's Labyrinth – Jones learned enough Spanish to voice his characters. Still, the decision was made to use a native speaker in order to access the language's nuances adequately.

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

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. 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 (without complaining) 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's speech patterns so much that he asked Elmosnino to mimic them when he performed the creature's lines. The film was released in France on January 20, 2010.

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.

Jones plays Dr. Henry Vataber in the web series Universal Dead. In late June 2010, it was announced that Universal Dead would be made into a feature film. 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.

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 2015 film adaptation of the popular Marble Hornets YouTube series.

Jones was cast as Commander Saru, a non-human Kelpien in Star Trek: Discovery, which premiered September 24, 2017. That same year, Jones reunited with Guillermo del Toro, this time in a romantic lead role, the Amphibian Man (the "asset") in the Academy Award-winning The Shape of Water.

In 2014, Aurelio Voltaire released the song "The Devil and Mr. Jones" on his album Raised by Bats which is a tribute to the life and career of Doug Jones.

In 2022, Jones reprised his role as Billy Butcherson in Hocus Pocus 2.

Personal life

Jones 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.

In 1984, Jones married his college sweetheart, Laurie Pontoni. They relocated to Los Angeles in 1985 to further his acting career.

Filmography

Film

Television

Web series

Video games

Music videos

Awards and nominations

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, Edward. "Hellboy's fish-guy gets filleted." Archived August 20, 2008, at the Wayback Machine 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 May 14, 2022. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
8. Topel, Fred. "Fantastic Four 2: Doug Jones: Doug Jones talks sequels, Fantastic Four and Hellboy", Crave, June 15, 2007.
9. "Doug Jones En Espanol" Archived March 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, canmag.com; accessed March 8 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. ^ "Doug Jones: Shapeshifter (Episode 153)". Imaginary Worlds. December 2020. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
13. "Sockbaby". Sockbabt. Archived from the original on June 20, 2008. Retrieved June 13, 2008.
14. Ebert, Roger (2012). Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2013: 25th Anniversary Edition. Andrews McMeel Publishing. p. 191. ISBN 9781449423445.
15. Hewitt, Chris (January 20, 2009). "Doug Jones to star in Gainsbourg Biopic". Empire. Archived from the original on October 15, 2012. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
16. Information on Gainsbourg: Vie Heroique Archived February 16, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, The Doug Jones Experience; accessed 22 March 2018.
17. "Doug Jones incarne la Gueule de 'Gainsbourg'" Archived January 9, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, cinemotions.com; accessed March 22, 2018.
18. Mime Very Own Book Archived February 13, 2010, at the Wayback Machine at Medallion Press.
19. "Watch Universal Dead | Prime Video". www.amazon.com. Archived from the original on July 25, 2010.
20. "Universal Dead full length feature?" Archived August 18, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Indie Intertube; June 28, 2010
21. ""The Candy Shop Film Announcement"". Archived from the original on July 18, 2011.
22. "Web Series 'Marble Hornets' Getting Its Own Movie". Spill. Archived from the original on November 27, 2013. Retrieved December 21, 2013.
23. 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.
24. Pulver, Andrew (March 5, 2018). "The Shape of Water has won the Oscar for best picture at the 90th Academy Awards". The Guardian. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
25. August 29, Joey Nolfi; EDT, 2022 at 11:00 AM. "Billy Butcherson returns from the grave in 'Hocus Pocus 2' first look". EW.com.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
26. "'Hocus Pocus 2' star Doug Jones says when he first arrived on set, 'it was as though Elvis had risen from the dead'". www.yahoo.com. October 2022.
27. Moro, Eric. "Doug Jones - Interview - Fish Out Of Water". The Doug Jones Experience. Archived from the original on May 21, 2016. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
28. Marotta, Jenna (2017). "'The Shape of Water' Star Doug Jones". IndieWire. November 24, 2017. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
29. Always Watching: A Marble Hornets Story Official Trailer. YouTube. March 31, 2015. Archived from the original on October 26, 2016. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
30. 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.
31. "'Nosferatu' remake premieres in Novi". C&G Newspaper. November 17, 2023. Retrieved July 26, 2024.
32. Squires, John (October 2, 2024). "'Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror' Starring Doug Jones as Count Orlok Releasing This Month". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved October 4, 2024.
33. Complex, Valerie (April 1, 2024). "'The Weight Of Darkness': Angus Macfadyen, Jaime King, Doug Jones, Corbin Bernsen & Angus Benfield Sign On For Indie Thriller". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
34. "Star Trek Discovery Beams Up Three Cast Members". Star Trek. Archived from the original on February 25, 2018. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
35. "'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.
36. "Cast". Mildly Fearsome Films. Archived from the original on September 26, 2017. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
37. "Doug Jones on Instagram". Instagram. Archived from the original on December 26, 2021.
38. "All Star". Smash Mouth/YouTube. December 2009. Archived from the original on August 29, 2018. Retrieved April 13, 2019.

External links

• Doug Jones at IMDb
• 2013 interview at Superhero Speak
• Doug Jones: Shapeshifter 2020 interview at Imaginary Worlds

• 1960 births
• Living people
• Contortionists
• American Christians
• American male film actors
• American male television actors
• American male voice actors
• American mimes
• Ball State University alumni
• Male actors from Indianapolis
• Bishop Chatard High School alumni