| Thomas Jane | |
| Birth Name: | Thomas Elliott III |
| Birth Date: | 22 February 1969 |
| Birth Place: | Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
| Alias: | Tom Jane |
| Education: | Thomas S. Wootton High School |
| Years Active: | 1987–present |
| Spouse: | |
| Children: | 2 |
Thomas Jane (born Thomas Elliott III; February 22, 1969) is an American actor. He is known for appearing in the films Boogie Nights (1997), Deep Blue Sea (1999), The Sweetest Thing (2002), The Punisher (2004), The Mist (2007), 1922 (2017), and The Predator (2018). Jane's television roles include Mickey Mantle in the television film 61* (2001), and starring in the HBO series Hung (2009–2011) and the Syfy/Amazon Video series The Expanse (2015–2022).
He is the founder of RAW Studios, an entertainment company that releases comic books he has written, the first of which was Bad Planet. He made his directorial debut with the crime thriller Dark Country (2009), in which he also starred.
Thomas Elliott III was born on February 22, 1969, in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Cynthia (née Jane), an antiques dealer, and Thomas Elliott, Jr, a genetic engineer. He later changed his name to Thomas Jane.[1] [2]
He attended Thomas Sprigg Wootton High School but dropped out and moved to Hollywood to pursue an acting career.[3] [4] He was initially homeless and lived out of his car, often doing street performances to earn money:[5] "I had two songs in my repertoire that I hammered to death, 'Hey Joe' and 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door'. People used to pelt me with change just to shut me up."[6]
Jane began his acting career with the Indian Telugu language film Padamati Sandhya Ragam (1987), directed by Jandhyala. His early roles included the Hustler in I'll Love You Forever … Tonight (1992), Zeph in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992), and Billy in Nemesis (1992). He also had supporting roles in several high-profile films, including (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 received offers for leading roles beginning with Andre Stander in the South African film Stander (2003), for which he gained further critical acclaim.[7]
Along with director Jonathan Hensleigh and Avi Arad, Jane has said he was the first and only actor to be asked to play the title role in the film The Punisher (2004). He turned down the role twice, as he did not have much interest in the superhero genre. When they asked him the second time to play the Punisher, Tim Bradstreet's artwork of the character secured his interest. After finding out that the character was not a traditional superhero, but more of an antihero and a vigilante crime fighter, he accepted,[8] became a fan, then trained for several months with Navy SEALs, gaining more than of muscle.[9]
In addition to starring in the film, he contributed his voice to the video games The Punisher and Gun. He also co-owns RAW, an entertainment company which he runs with Steve Niles and Tim Bradstreet. RAW Studios, the company's comic-book division, released Bad Planet (written by Jane) through Image Comics. Jane became a spokesperson for Niles and the cover model for comic-book character Cal McDonald in 2006.[10] 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 of himself in an episode of the television series Arrested Development.[11]
Jane did not return in the planned sequel to The Punisher. Lions Gate Entertainment had approved a direct sequel due to the strong sales of the film on DVD. However, the project lingered in development for over three years. Jonathan Hensleigh completed a first draft of the script before leaving the project in 2006. John Dahl was in talks to direct the film, but cited his dislike of the script and the reduced budget as his reasons for refusing.[12] In a statement on May 15, 2007, and in two audio interviews, Jane said that he pulled out of the project due to creative differences and the studio's further reduction of the budget.[13] [14] Jane said in June 2007 that Zack Snyder had expressed interest in casting him for the role of the Comedian for the adaptation of Alan Moore's graphic novel Watchmen,[15] but because he was too busy, he turned down the role, which was eventually given to Jeffrey Dean Morgan. The same year he starred in Frank Darabont's adaptation of the Stephen King novella, The Mist.[16] His directorial debut was the 2009 film Dark Country, in which he also played the main character.[17] [18] [19] In 2009, Jane starred with Ving Rhames in the crime film Give 'Em Hell, Malone, which premiered at San Diego Comic-Con.[20] [21]
On December 18, 2008, HBO announced it was picking up the black comedy Hung, and Jane was contracted 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 market the large size of his penis as a path to success.[22] The series was renewed for a second season, which aired in the summer of 2010.[23] The show was renewed for a final season, which aired in fall of 2011.[24]
Jane appeared on the June/July 2010 cover of Men's Fitness magazine.[25] He voiced the character Jonah Hex in an animated short as a companion piece on the Special Edition Blu-ray and two-disc Special Edition DVD release of .[26]
On June 7, 2012, Jane released a digital EP, Don't Come Home, under the pseudonym Rusty Blades.[27] At the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con, Jane debuted an independently financed Punisher short film, Dirty Laundry, directed by Phil Joanou and co-starring Ron Perlman.[28]
On February 1, 2017, Syfy began a two-episode debut of the second season of its critically acclaimed "murder mystery in space", The Expanse. Jane portrays the lead role of Detective Joe Miller in this futuristic saga, in which humans have colonized both Mars and the Asteroid Belt. The series premiered December 2015, and continued through six seasons,[29] with Jane appearing in the first four of them.
Jane co-starred in Shane Black's The Predator (2018),[30] a direct sequel to the 1987 film Predator and the 1990 film Predator 2.[31]
Jane plays a lead role in the Australian crime drama series Troppo, the first season of which aired in 2022 and the second in 2024.[32]
In 1989, Jane married actress Ayesha Hauer, daughter of Rutger Hauer. They divorced in 1995.
After meeting through mutual friends in 2001, Jane and actress Patricia Arquette became engaged in 2002 and had a daughter together before marrying on June 25, 2006, at the Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo in Venice, Italy.[33] In January 2009, Arquette filed for divorce from Jane on the grounds of irreconcilable differences,[34] but the couple reconciled and Arquette sought to abandon the divorce petition six months later.[35] However, they proceeded with the divorce, [36] which was finalized on July 1, 2011. The pair were granted joint custody of their child.[37]
Jane and former Hung co-star Anne Heche announced that they were in a relationship in 2019; however, they had separated by the time of Heche's death in 2022.[38] [39]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Padamati Sandhya Ragam | Chris | Indian Telugu film; credited as Tom Jane | |
| 1992 | I'll Love You Forever... Tonight | The Hustler | ||
| Buffy the Vampire Slayer | Zeph | |||
| Nemesis | Billy | Credited as Tom Janes | ||
| 1994 | At Ground Zero | Thomas Quinton Pennington | Credited as Tom Elliott | |
| 1996 | Nemo | |||
| 1997 | The Last Time I Committed Suicide | Neal Cassady | ||
| Face/Off | Burke Hicks | |||
| Boogie Nights | Todd Parker | |||
| 1998 | Thursday | Casey | ||
| The Velocity of Gary | Gary | |||
| Zack and Reba | Sparky Stokes | |||
| The Thin Red Line | Private Hiram Ash | |||
| 1999 | Deep Blue Sea | Carter Blake | ||
| Molly | Sam | |||
| Junked | Switch | |||
| Magnolia | Young Jimmy Gator | Cameo | ||
| 2000 | Under Suspicion | Detective Felix Owens | ||
| 2001 | Original Sin | Bill / Walter Downs / Mephisto | ||
| Eden | Dov | |||
| 2002 | The Sweetest Thing | Peter Donahue | ||
| 2003 | Dreamcatcher | Henry Devlin | ||
| Stander | Andre Stander | |||
| 2004 | The Punisher | Frank Castle / The Punisher | Credited as Tom Jane | |
| 2006 | The Tripper | Buzz Hall | Also executive producer | |
| 2007 | The Mist | David Drayton | ||
| 2008 | The Butler's in Love | The Butler | Short film | |
| Mutant Chronicles | Sgt. Mitch Hunter | Direct-to-VOD | ||
| Killshot | Wayne | |||
| 2009 | Give 'Em Hell, Malone | Malone | Direct-to-DVD | |
| Dark Country | Dick | Direct-to-DVD; also director and producer | ||
| 2010 | Jonah Hex | Voice; short film[40] | ||
| Scott Pilgrim vs. the World | Vegan Police Officer | Uncredited cameo | ||
| 2011 | I Melt with You | Richard | Also executive producer | |
| 2012 | LOL | Allen | ||
| Frank Castle / The Punisher | Short film; also producer | |||
| 2013 | Sirius | Narrator | Voice; documentary | |
| Pawn Shop Chronicles | The Man[41] | Direct-to-VOD | ||
| Buttwhistle | Grumisch | Direct-to-VOD | ||
| 2014 | White Bird in a Blizzard | Detective Scieziesciez | ||
| Drive Hard | Peter Roberts | Direct-to-VOD | ||
| Heavenly Sword | Loki | Voice; direct-to-VOD | ||
| Reach Me | Wolfie | |||
| 2015 | Vice | Roy | Direct-to-VOD | |
| Into the Grizzly Maze | Beckett | Direct-to-VOD | ||
| Broken Horses | Gabriel Heckum | |||
| 2016 | Standoff | Carter Greene | Direct-to-VOD; also executive producer | |
| The Veil | Jim Jacobs | Direct-to-VOD | ||
| Before I Wake | Mark Hobson | |||
| nowrap; | Lt. Adrian Marks | Direct-to-VOD | ||
| The World's Biggest Asshole | Coleman F. Sweeney | Short film | ||
| 2017 | Hot Summer Nights | Sergeant Frank Calhoun | ||
| 1922 | Wilfred James | |||
| 2018 | A.X.L. | Chuck Hill | ||
| The Predator | Baxley | |||
| 2019 | Crown Vic | Ray Mandel | ||
| 2020 | The Vanished | Paul Michaelson | Direct-to-VOD | |
| Hunter's Moon | The Sheriff | Direct-to-DVD | ||
| Money Plane | Harry Greer | Direct-to-VOD | ||
| Run Hide Fight | Todd Hull | |||
| Breach | Admiral Kiernan Adams | Direct-to-VOD | ||
| 2021 | The Last Son | Solomon | Also executive producer | |
| Apache Junction | Al Longfellow | Direct-to-VOD | ||
| Warning | David | |||
| 2022 | Vendetta | Dante | Direct-to-VOD | |
| Murder at Yellowstone City | Thaddeus Murphy | Direct-to-VOD; also executive producer | ||
| Dig | Scott Brennan | Direct-to-VOD | ||
| Slayers | Elliot Jones | Direct-to-VOD; also executive producer | ||
| 2023 | Bad Hombres (2023) movie | Rob Carlton | ||
| One Ranger | Alex Tyree | Also executive producer[42] | ||
| 2024 | Bosco | Hunt | ||
| 2025 | Play Dirty | TBA | Filming |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | She-Wolf of London | Johnny | Episode: "Heart Attack"; credited as Thomas Bridgett | |
| 1995 | High Tide | Barry | Episode: "Barry" | |
| 1997 | Hollywood Confidential | Lee | Television film | |
| 1999 | Jonni Nitro | Brack | 2 episodes; also director | |
| 2001 | 61* | Mickey Mantle | Television film | |
| 2004 | Arrested Development | Himself | Episode: "The One Where They Build a House" (uncredited) | |
| 2006 | Medium | Clay Bicks | 2 episodes | |
| 2009–2011 | Hung | Ray Drecker | 30 episodes | |
| 2015 | Texas Rising[43] | James Wykoff | 2 episodes | |
| 2015–2019 | The Expanse[44] | Josephus Miller / The Investigator | 24 episodes (also directed episode: "Mother") | |
| 2019 | Robot Chicken | The Punisher (voice) | Episode: "Spike Fraser in: Should I Happen to Back Into a Horse" | |
| 2022–present | Troppo | Ted Conkaffey | 16 episodes; also executive producer |
| Year | Title | Voice role | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | The Punisher | Frank Castle / The Punisher | [45] | |
| 2005 | Gun | Colton White | [46] |
| Year | Title | Issues | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005–2013 | Bad Planet | 8 | Comic book, editor and written with Steve Niles (1–6) and Bruce Jones (7–8) | [49] | |
| 2007 | Alien Pig Farm 3000 | 4 | Comic book, written with Steve Niles and Todd Farmer | [50] | |
| 2012 | Dark Country | Graphic novel, editor and director, written by Tab Murphy and art by Thomas Ott | [51] |
See main article: List of awards and nominations received by Thomas Jane.