The youngest of four brothers, Doug Jones was born on the 24th May, 1960, in Indianapolis, Indiana, and grew up in the city’s Northeastside. After attending Bishop Chatard High School, he headed off to Ball State University, where he graduated in 1982 with a Bachelor’s degree in Telecommunications, and a minor in Theatre.
He learned mime at school, joining a troupe called “Mime Over Matter” and doing the whole white-faced thing. “I was a mime for one summer at Kings Island theme park in Cincinnati, Ohio after graduating Ball State. Scaring children from Kentucky is basically what you do down there,†he said with a laugh. Doug has also 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.†He is nearing 100 TV commercials now, including the McDonald’s character he made famous around the world, Mac Tonight.
After a hitch in theatre in Indiana, he moved to Los Angeles in 1985, and has not been out of work since – he’s acted in over 25 films, many television series (Including the award-winning Buffy The Vampire Slayer, his episode ‘Hush’ garnering two Emmy nominations) over 90 commercials and music videos with the likes of Madonna, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Marilyn Manson.
Although known mostly for his iconic work under prosthetics, such as the floppy zombie ‘Billy’ in the Halloween classic Hocus Pocus, or the lead Spy Morlock in the 2001 remake The Time Machine, he has also performed as ‘himself’ in such highly-rated films as Adaptation with Nicholas Cage, Mystery Men with Ben Stiller, Batman Returns with Danny DeVito, and indie projects such as Stefan Haves’ Stalled, Phil Donlon’s A Series of Small Things, and as ‘Cesare’ in David Fisher’s daring 2005 remake of the 1919 silent classic The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari.
But it is his sensitive and elegant performance as ‘Abe Sapien’ in Hellboy, which stormed to the top of the U.S. box office in the spring of 2004, that has brought him an even higher profile and much praise from both audiences and critics.
In 2005 he renewed his association with Mexican director Guillermo del Toro when he starred in the title role of ‘Pan’ in del Toro’s Spanish language fantasy/horror project El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth). He also has a cameo 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 also was required to learn huge chunks of dialogue in archaic Spanish – which he did perfectly.
2005 continued to be a hectic year for Doug, with roles in Doom, The Benchwarmers and Lady in the Water, the latter being the brainchild of award-winning cult director/writer M. Night Shyamalan. The year also brought success for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, the film reaping three awards at the Screamfest Horror Festival in Los Angeles, including the coveted Audience Choice Award.
He also stepped out from behind the prosthetics for several roles, most notably to guest-star as freaked-out drug addict ‘Domino Thacker’ in the episode ‘Blood Hungry’ of the hugely popular TV series Criminal Minds, his jittery, unnerving performance being lauded by cast, crew and audiences alike. Doug has continued his collaboration with Guillermo del Toro into 2006, as he reprised his role as ‘Abe Sapien’ by voicing the character in the new Hellboy Animated television project, recording two 70- minute animated films.
On December 18th, 2006, he finished filming his role as the ‘Silver Surfer’ in the upcoming production Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, due out in cinemas June 15th, 2007.
On May 16th, 2007, Doug headed out to Budapest, Hungary, to reprise his role as ‘Abe Sapien’ in the sequel to Hellboy, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, playing all of ‘Abe’ this time, voice and performance, as well as performing two other roles, the ‘Angel of Death’ and ‘The Chamberlain,’ both under heavy prosthetics.
Doug is married and lives in California.
thedougjonesexperience.com
