Age: 64
Birthplace: Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
Doug Jones (born May 24, 1960) is an American actor and former contortionist known for roles in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres, often wearing heavy makeup to play nonhuman characters. He has appeared in films such as Hocus Pocus, He appeared as Abe Sapien in the supernatural superhero film Hellboy and its sequel Hellboy II: The Golden Army, He played the villain the Pale Man and the Faun in Pan's Labyrinth, and portrayed the titular Silver Surfer in the superhero movie Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, as well as the TV series Falling Skies and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Jones was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, and attended Bishop Chatard High School. In 1982, he graduated from Ball State University, where he parlayed his background as a mime into portraying the school mascot "Charlie Cardinal". He describes himself as a "dyed-in-wool Christian from the Midwest", to the point that he was initially apprehensive about his role in Hellboy, as the titular character is a demon.
Jones has worked as a contortionist. "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".
Although known mostly for his work under prosthetic makeup, such as the zombie Billy Butcherson in the Disney 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. He performed as 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."
In 2005, he renewed his association with Mexican director Guillermo del Toro, starring as the Faun in del Toro's multiple-Oscar-winning Spanish-language fantasy/horror project El Laberinto del Fauno (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, though ultimately his voice was dubbed anyway.
The 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, Jones 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 Guillermo del Toro, for which he played both the voice and body performance. He also 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.
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 worked under prosthetics designed and created by the Oscar-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 he asked Elmosnino to mimic it 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-written 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 will be made into a feature film.
Jones appeared in the independent film, The Candy Shop, a "modern fairy tale" shedding light upon child sex trafficking created by the Georgia film studio, Whitestone Pictures.
Jones appeared as 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.
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 | |
1993 | 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 | |
1997 | Warriors of Virtue | Yee | Voiced by Doug Parker |
1998 | Bug Buster | Mother Bug | |
1998 | Denial | Ghost | Direct-to-video |
1999 | Mystery Men | Pencilhead | |
1999 | Three Kings | Dead Iraqi Soldier | |
2000 | Stalled | Len | |
2000 | The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle | FBI Agent - Carrot | |
2000 | Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman | Dave | Direct-to-video |
2001 | Steven Spielberg's Movie | Donald Columbus | Short film |
2001 | Monkeybone | Yeti | |
2002 | Adaptation. | Augustus Margary | |
2002 | Men in Black II | Joey | |
2002 | Side Effects | Seth | Short film |
2002 | The Time Machine | Spy Morlock | |
2003 | Stuck on You | Space Alien #2 | |
2004 | Three Lives | Mysterious Caller / Mortician | Short film |
2004 | Hellboy | Abe Sapien | Voiced by David Hyde Pierce |
2005 | The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari | Cesare | |
2005 | Doom | Carmack Imp / Sewer Imp | |
2005 | A Series of Small Things | The Homeless Man | Short film |
2006 | The Benchwarmers | Number 7 Robot | |
2006 | Lady in the Water | Tartutic #4 | |
2006 | Pan's Labyrinth | The Faun / The Pale Man | Voiced by Pablo Adán |
2006 | Hellboy: Sword of Storms | Abe Sapien (voice) | Direct-to-video |
2006 | Nora Breaks Free | Yoga Instructor | Short film |
2007 | Carnies | Ratcatcher | |
2007 | Hellboy: Blood and Iron | Abe Sapien (voice) | Direct-to-video |
2007 | Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer | Norrin Radd/The Silver Surfer | Voiced by Laurence Fishburne |
2007 | The Wager | Peter Barrett | |
2008 | Quarantine | Thin Infected Man | |
2008 | Sockbaby | Himself | Short film |
2008 | Hellboy II: The Golden Army | Abe Sapien / Angel of Death / The Chamberlain | |
2008 | The Job | Office Manager | Short film |
2009 | My Name is Jerry | Jerry | |
2009 | Pie & Coffee | Homeless Man | Short film |
2009 | Super Capers | Special Agent Smith #1 | |
2009 | The Butterfly Circus | Otto | Short film |
2010 | The Cure | Samuel Bainer | Short film |
2010 | Gainsbourg (Vie héroïque) | La Gueule | |
2010 | Legion | Ice Cream Man | |
2010 | Cyrus | Dr. Arthur | |
2010 | Sudden Death! | Jonathan Wright | Short film |
2010 | Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey | Zero / Razer (voices) | |
2010 | The Candy Shop | Candy Shop Owner | Short Film |
2010 | Absentia | Walter Lambert | |
2010 | Greyscale | Jamison | |
2010 | Rock Jocks | Smoking Jesus | |
2011 | End of the Road | Randolph | |
2011 | The Tomorrow Machine | Ben | Short film |
2012 | It's Alive | Monster | Short film |
2012 | White Room: 20B3 | Fyn-Ke'al | Short film |
2012 | The Watch | Hero Alien | |
2012 | Saint Alex | Mr. Vanderplook | Short film |
2012 | John Dies at the End | Robert North | |
2013 | Raze | Joseph | |
2013 | Hookah | Allen | Short film |
2013 | First Impressions | Suited Man | Short film |
2013 | Dust of War | Jebediah Strumm | |
2013 | Innocent Blood | Carl Grierr | |
2013 | Cruel Will | Adrian | |
2014 | Love in the Time of Monsters | Dr. Lincoln | |
2014 | Everlast | Suited Man | Short film |
2015 | Always Watching: A Marble Hornets Story | The Operator | |
2015 | Crimson Peak | Edith's Mother / Lady Sharpe | |
2016 | Ouija 2 | Filming | |
2016 | The Bye Bye Man | The Bye Bye Man | Filming |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1991 | In Living Color | Episode: "#2.24" | |
1993 | Tales from the Crypt | Contortionist | Episode: "Food For Thought" |
1993 | 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" |
1997 | The Weird Al Show | Contortionist #2 | 4 episodes |
1998 | The Outer Limits | Elder Alien / Alien #1 / Alien / Alien Doctor | 3 episodes |
1998 | Kenan & Kel | Head Waiter | Episode: "Attack of the Bug Man" |
1999 | Buffy the Vampire Slayer | Lead Gentleman | Episode: "Hush" |
2000 | G vs E | Herb | Episode: "Evilator" |
2000 | 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" |
2004 | 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 | Nick Swardson's Pretend Time | Gay Robot | 6 episodes |
2012-2013 | The Neighbors | Dominique Wilkins | 6 episodes |
2013-2015 | Falling Skies | Cochise | 27 episodes |
2013 | Comedy Bang! Bang! | Future Man | Episode: "Gillian Jacobs Wears a Red Dress with Sail Boats" |
2013 | Sons of Anarchy | Corrections Officer Crane | Episode: "The Mad King" |
2014 | Teen Wolf | William Barrow | Episode: "Galvanize" |
2014-2015 | The Strain | The Ancient / The Master | 3 episodes |
2015 | Arrow | Jake Simmons/Deathbolt | Episode: "Broken Arrow" |
2015 | The Flash | Jake Simmons/Deathbolt | Episode: "Rogue Air" |
2015 | Z Nation | Dan Scully | Episode: "Roswell" |
2015 | The Ultimate Legacy | Hawthorne | Television film |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2009 | Angel of Death | Dr. Rankin | 10 episodes |
2011 | Fallout: Nuka Break | Mayor Conners | 3 episodes |
2011 | Dragon Age: Redemption | Saarebas | 3 episodes |
2011 | The Guild | Gerald | 2 episodes |
2010 | Universal Dead | Dr. Vataber | 3 episodes |
2012 | League of STEAM | Theodore Marshall | Episode: "Dining with the Devil" |
2012-2013 | Research. | Denny | 8 episodes |
2013 | The Blockbuster Buster | Himself | Episode: "Rocky and Bullwinkle" |
2013 | Adopted | Lloyd Adams | Episode: "Family Dinner" |
2015 | Hell's Kitty | Father Damien | 2 episodes |
Year | Title | Role |
---|---|---|
2008 | Hellboy: The Science of Evil | Abe Sapien (voice) |