Thomas Jane

Thomas Jane
Jane at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2010
Born	Thomas Elliott III (1969-02-22) February 22, 1969 Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1987–present
Spouse(s)	Aysha Hauer (1989–1995) Patricia Arquette (2006–2011)
Children	1

Thomas Jane (born Thomas Elliott III;^[1] February 22, 1969) is an American actor. He has appeared in films such as Padamati Sandhya Ragam (1987), At Ground Zero (1994), The Crow: City of Angels (1996), Boogie Nights (1997), The Last Time I Committed Suicide (1997), Thursday (1998), The Thin Red Line (1998), Deep Blue Sea (1999), Dreamcatcher (2003), The Punisher (2004), The Mist (2007), Mutant Chronicles (2008), The Veil (2016) and Before I Wake (2016).

Jane's television roles include Mickey Mantle in the television film 61* (2001) and starring in the HBO series Hung (2009–2011) and currently stars as Detective Joe Miller in the science fiction series The Expanse. He is the founder of RAW Studios, an entertainment company he uses to release 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.

Early life

Jane was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Cynthia, an antiques dealer, and Michael Elliott, a genetic engineer.^[1][2] In 1987, he graduated from Thomas Sprigg Wootton High School. At age 18, he moved to Hollywood to pursue an acting career. He was initially homeless and lived out of his car, often doing street performances to earn money:^[3] "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."^[4]

Career

Jane began his acting career with the Indian Telugu language film Padamati Sandhya Ragam (1987), directed by Jandhyala. His early roles included Zeph in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992). He also 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 like Andre Stander in the South African film Stander (2003), for which he gained further critical acclaim.

Jane, director Jonathan Hensleigh, and Avi Arad have said that Jane 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, it was Tim Bradstreet's artwork of the character that secured his interest. After finding out that the character was not a traditional superhero, but more of an anti-hero and a vigilante crime fighter, he accepted. He read as many Punisher comics as he could find and quickly became a fan, then trained for several months with Navy SEALs and gained more than twenty pounds of muscle.^[5]

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 Steve Niles and the cover model for comic book character Cal McDonald in 2006. 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.

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.^[6] 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.^[7][8]

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,^[9] but because he was too busy, he turned down the role.^[10] The same year he starred in Frank Darabont's adaption of the Stephen King book, The Mist.^[11] His directing debut was the 2009 film Dark Country, in which he also played the main character.^[12][13][14] In 2009, Jane starred with Ving Rhames in the crime film Give 'Em Hell, Malone, which premiered at San Diego Comic Con.^[14][15][16]

Jane at the 2007 San Diego Comic Con.

On December 18, 2008, HBO announced it was picking up the dark 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.^[17] The series was renewed for a second season which aired in the summer of 2010.^[18] The show was renewed for a final season, which aired in fall of 2011.^[19]

Jane appeared on the June/July 2010 cover of Men's Fitness magazine.^[20] He voiced the character Jonah Hex in an animated short as a companion piece on the Special Edition Blu-ray and 2-Disc Special Edition DVD release of Batman: Under the Red Hood.^[21] He was set to play the role of a cop in Sylvester Stallone's hitman action film Headshot^[22] but then he was deemed not "ethnic" enough and let go. In a recent interview with Collider he mentions an upcoming film project called 'The Lycan.' Jane describes this project as a gothic werewolf romance set in a castle in the 18th century.^[23] On June 7, 2012, Jane released a digital EP titled Don't Come Home under the moniker Rusty Blades.^[24] At the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con International, Jane debuted an independently financed Punisher short film, directed by Phil Joanou and co-starring Ron Perlman, titled Dirty Laundry.^[25]

Personal life

Jane married actress Aysha Hauer, daughter of Rutger Hauer, in 1989. The couple starred in a number of films together before they divorced in 1995. Jane was engaged to Olivia d'Abo from 1998 to 2001. After meeting through mutual friends in 2001, Jane and actress Patricia Arquette became engaged in 2002. Their daughter, Harlow Olivia Calliope, was born on February 20, 2003. Jane and Arquette subsequently married on June 25, 2006 at the Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo in Venice, Italy.

In January 2009, Arquette filed for divorce from Jane on the grounds of irreconcilable differences,^[26] but the couple soon reconciled and Arquette requested to abandon the divorce petition on July 9, 2009.^[27] However, on August 13, 2010, Jane's representative announced that Jane and Arquette had decided to proceed with a divorce.^[28] The divorce was finalized on July 1, 2011. The pair were granted joint custody of their child.^[29]

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Discography

Albums

Bibliography

Awards

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Thomas Jane.

• Thomas Jane at the Internet Movie Database