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 is well known for his collaborations with acclaimed filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, most notably as Abe Sapien in Hellboy (2004) and its 2008 sequel, the Faun and the Pale Man in Pan's Labyrinth (2006), and the Amphibian Man in The Shape of Water (2017).
Jones' other film credits include Hocus Pocus (1993) and its 2022 sequel, Hocus Pocus 2; Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007); Absentia (2011); Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016); and The Bye Bye Man (2017). His longest-running television role was as Saru in Star Trek: Discovery (2017–2024). He also appeared in Falling Skies (2013–2015), del Toro's The Strain (2014–2016), and What We Do in the Shadows (2019–2024).
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Early life and education
Doug Jones was born on May 24, 1960, in Indianapolis, the youngest of four brothers.
He 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.
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.
