Thomas Jane

Thomas Jane
Jane attending the 2007 Comic Con to promote The Mist
Born	Thomas Elliott III February 22, 1969 (1969-02-22) (age 40) Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1986–present
Spouse(s)	Patricia Arquette (2006-present) 1 child
Official website

Thomas Jane (born Thomas Elliott III;^[1] February 22, 1969) is an American actor, known for his roles in the 1999 film Deep Blue Sea, the 2004 film The Punisher and the 2007 Stephen King adaptation The Mist. He currently stars on the HBO comedy series Hung.

Early life

Jane was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Cynthia, an antiques dealer, and Michael Elliott, a biogenetic engineer.^[1][2] In 1987, he graduated from Thomas Sprigg Wootton High School in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Career

Jane made his film debut in the Telugu Indian film Padamati Sandhya Ragam (1986), directed by late Jandhyala. His early roles included Zeph in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992). He had supporting roles in several high profile films, including The Crow: City of Angels (1996) Boogie Nights (1997), The Thin Red Line (1998), Thursday (1998) and Magnolia (1999). After receiving critical acclaim as baseball player Mickey Mantle in 61*, Jane began receiving leading roles such as that of Andre Stander in the 2003 South African film, Stander for which he gained further critical acclaim.

Jane, director Jonathan Hensleigh and Avi Arad have said in many interviews that Jane was the first and only actor to be asked to play the title role in the 2004 movie The Punisher. Jane initially turned down the role twice, as well as a part in the first X-Men movie and a few other comic book movies, mainly because he does not see himself as a superhero actor and nor does he have any real interest or liking for superhero characters. Jane said that when they asked him the second time to play the Punisher that what really got him interested in playing the part was when Arad sent Tim Bradstreet's artwork of the Punisher. After finding out that the Punisher wasn't a superhero, but an anti-hero and a vigilante crime fighter, he accepted.^[3][4] He read as many Punisher comics as he could find and quickly became a fan. Jane trained for 6 or 7 months with Navy SEALs and gained more than twenty pounds of muscle for the part.^[5]

In addition to starring in the movie he contributed his voice to The Punisher and the Gun video games. He has also written and financed the sci-fi comic book entitled Bad Planet which was released by Image Comics. He is also a spokesperson for Steve Niles and in 2006 Tom modeled for the Dark Horse Comics character Cal McDonald in Criminal Macabre: A Cal McDonald Mystery. Tom and Steve have talked about turning Criminal Macabre: A Cal McDonald Mystery into a live action film with Tom as Cal.

In addition to his screen work, Jane has appeared several times on stage, and received strong critical reviews as Tom in Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, and as Chris in Arthur Miller's All My Sons. He has also portrayed a fictionalized version himself in the Fox television show Arrested Development in which the show's characters have not heard of him, and do not recognize him as the star actor that he is. In 2005, Marvel released The Punisher video game. The video games' storyline is compiled with different situations and enemies from the Punisher comics, and a character based upon Jigsaw also appeared in the 2005 Punisher video game but with an origin that ties directly into the 2004 Punisher film.

Jane did not return in the planned sequel to the The Punisher. Lions Gate Entertainment had green lit a direct sequel to be made due to the strong performance the film had on DVD. However, the project lingered in development for over 3 years. Jonathan Hensleigh completed a first draft of the script before pulling out around 2006. John Dahl was in talks to direct the film, but pulled out, saying he did not like the script, and that the studio was not willing to spend enough money on the project.^[6] In a statement on May 15, 2007 and in two audio interviews, Thomas Jane said that he pulled out of the project because of creative differences, and the budget of the film being cut.^[7][8]

Jane said in June 2007 that movie director Zack Snyder had expressed interest in casting him for the adaptation of Alan Moore's graphic novel Watchmen,^[10] but he turned down the role because he was too busy.^[11]

In October 2007, Jane began his directing debut in Albuquerque, New Mexico with a movie called Dark Country to which he is also the main character. Tom has said that the film will be a Hitchcockian thriller and will be filmed in Stereoscopy 3-D.^{[12][13][14][15]} Variety reports that Sony will release The Dark Country in mid 2009.^[16]

It was reported on February 8, 2008 that Thomas Jane had joined movie director John McTiernan in the action/thriller movie Run.^[17] Although Thomas Jane has yet to say that he has signed on to the film and due to McTiernan's civil suit the film has been put on hold. On May 27, 2008 it was reported that Thomas Jane and actor Ving Rhames have joined the cast in the action film Give ‘em Hell, Malone with writer Mark Hosack and director Russell Mulcahy.^[15][18][19] Filming took place on October 6 of 08.^[20]

On December 18, 2008, HBO announced it was picking up the dark comedy Hung, and Jane was attached to star in the show. He plays the character of Ray Drecker, a high school history teacher and basketball coach, who, after attending a self help class while being down on his luck, decides to use the large size of his penis as a market to success.^[21]

It is unknown when, but Thomas Jane will develop a mini series for the Syfy (Sci Fi Channel) called Voyage to Savage Planet. He is also planning on doing a World War II action horror film called The Devil's Commandos.^[22][23][24]

Personal life

Jane is divorced from Aysha Hauer, the daughter of actor Rutger Hauer. He was engaged to Olivia d'Abo from 1998 to 2001. He and actress Patricia Arquette (Medium) are parents to daughter Harlow Olivia Calliope, who was born on February 20, 2003. Jane and Arquette married in Venice, Italy, on June 24, 2006. In January 2009, Arquette filed for divorce from Jane on the grounds of irreconcilable differences.^[25] But on July 9, 2009 Arquette officially pulled her divorce petition deciding to give their marriage another try.^[26]

Jane spent time in his early Hollywood days as a busker. He commented on this in a Newsweek article published May 31, 2004 (p. 21):

"I had two songs in my repertoire that I hammered to death — "Hey Joe" and "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"," he recalled. "People used to pelt me with change just to shut me up."^[27]

On 17 March 2008, Jane was pulled over by the California Highway Patrol for driving at "an extremely high rate of speed" on I-5. Jane was arrested for DUI with a blood alcohol level higher than .08% in Kern County, California. Jane failed several field sobriety tests, including a breathalyzer. Police also say he was driving with a suspended license.^[28]

Filmography

Films

• Padamati Sandhya Ragam (1986) – Tom
• I'll Love You Forever...Tonight (1992) – The Hustler
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) – Zeph (as Tom Janes)
• Nemesis (1993) – Billy (as Tom Janes)
• At Ground Zero (1994) – Thomas Q. Pennington (as Tom Elliott)
• The Crow: City of Angels (1996) – Nemo
• Hollywood Confidential (1997) – Lee
• The Last Time I Committed Suicide (1997) – Neal Cassady
• Face/Off (1997) – Burke Hicks
• Boogie Nights (1997) – Todd Parker
• Thursday (1998) – Casey
• The Velocity of Gary (1998) – Gary
• Zack and Reba (1998) – Sparky Stokes
• The Thin Red Line (1998) – Pvt. Ash
• Deep Blue Sea (1999) – Carter Blake
• Junked (1999) – Switch
• Molly (1999) – Sam
• Magnolia (1999) – Young Jimmy Gator
• Jonni Nitro (1999) – Brack
• Under Suspicion (2000) – Det. Felix Owens
• Original Sin (2001) – Walter Downs
• Eden (2001) – Dov
• The Sweetest Thing (2002) – Peter Donahue
• Dreamcatcher (2003) – Dr. Henry Devlin
• Stander (2003) – Andre Stander
• The Punisher (2004) – Frank Castle / The Punisher
• The Tripper (2007) – Buzz Hall
• The Mist (2007) – David Drayton
• The Butler's in Love (2008) – The Butler
• Killshot (2009) – Wayne Colson
• Mutant Chronicles (2009) – Major Mitch Hunter
• Dark Country (2009) – Dick
• Give 'em Hell, Malone (2009) – Malone

Television

• 61* (2001) – Mickey Mantle
• Arrested Development (2004) – "The One Where They Build a House" – Himself
• Medium (2006) - "Four Dreams" – Clay Bicks
• Best Ed (2008—2009) - Ed (voice only)
• Hung (2009—) – Ray Drecker

Video Games

• The Punisher (2005) – Frank Castle (voice only)
• Gun (2005) – Colton White (voice only)

Writer

• Bad Planet (2005—2009)

Producer

• The Tripper (2006) (executive producer)
• Dark Country (2009)

Director

• Jonni Nitro (1999) ("Crash and Burn, Part 2", "Crash and Burn, Part 3")
• Dark Country (2009)

Awards and nominations

• In 1998 he won an FFCC Award Best for ensemble cast for Boogie Nights.
• In 1998 he was nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Cast for Boogie Nights.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Thomas Jane

• Thomas Jane at the Internet Movie Database