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 is perhaps best known for his collaborations with filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, starring in Mimic, as Abe Sapien in Hellboy and Hellboy II: The Golden Army, the Faun and the Pale Man in Pan's Labyrinth, Crimson Peak and The Shape of Water. He has appeared in films such as Tank Girl, Hocus Pocus and The Bye Bye Man. He also portrayed the titular Silver Surfer in the superhero film Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, as well as appearing in the TV series Falling Skies, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and del Toro's The Strain. He is currently a series regular in Star Trek: Discovery, as Lt. Saru.
Personal life
Jones was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, 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". 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.
Career
Jones has 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".
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-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, 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 del Toro, for which he provided 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 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 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.
Jones was cast as Lt. Saru in Star Trek: Discovery in November 2016.
Filmography
Film
Television
Web series
Video games
References
External links
- Official website
- Doug Jones at the Internet Movie Database
- 2013 interview at SuperheroSpeak
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