Thomas Jane Biography

Thomas Jane (born Thomas Elliott III; February 22, 1969) is an American actor and comic book writer, best known for his roles in Padamati Sandhya Ragam (1987), Boogie Nights (1997), 61* (2001), The Punisher (2004), The Mist (2007), and Hung (2009-2011).

Early life

Jane was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Cynthia, an antiques dealer, and Michael Elliott, a genetic engineer. 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: "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."

Career

Jane began his acting career with the Telugu film Padamati Sandhya Ragam (1986), directed by Jandhyala, a renowned filmmaker in Telugu Cinema. 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 2003 South African film Stander, 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 2004 film The Punisher. He initially 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.

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 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.

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. 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.

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, but because he was too busy, he turned down the role. The same year he starred in Frank Darabont's adaption of the Stephen King book, The Mist. His directing debut was the 2009 film Dark Country, in which he also played the main character. It was reported on February 8, 2008, that Thomas Jane had joined film director John McTiernan in the action/thriller film Run. However, Jane did not sign 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 Jane and Ving Rhames had joined the cast in the action film Give em Hell, Malone.

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 baseball 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. The series was renewed for a second season which aired in the summer of 2010. The show was renewed for a final season, which aired in fall of 2011. It is unknown when, but Jane will develop a mini series for Syfy Channel called Voyage to Savage Planet. He is also planning on doing a World War II action horror film called The Devil's Commandos.

Jane appeared on the June/July 2010 cover of Men's Fitness magazine. 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. He was set to play the role of a cop in Sylvester Stallone's hitman action pic 'Headshot,' 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. On June 7, 2012, Jane released a digital EP titled Don't Come Home under the moniker Rusty Blades. 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.

Personal life

Relationships

Jane married actress Aysha Hauer, the daughter of actor Rutger Hauer, in 1989. He and Aysha starred in a number of films together, including a short called Picture This, before they divorced in 1995. He 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, but the couple soon reconciled and Arquette requested to abandon the divorce petition on July 9, 2009. However, on August 13, 2010, Jane's representative announced that Jane and Arquette had decided to proceed with a divorce. The divorce was finalized on July 1, 2011. The pair were granted joint custody of their child.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Padamati Sandhya Ragam	Chris	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	The Crow: City of Angels	Nemo
1997	The Last Time I Committed Suicide	Neal Cassady
	Face/Off	Burke Hicks
	Boogie Nights	Todd Parker	Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cast Nominated "? Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
	Hollywood Confidential	Lee
1998	Thursday	Casey
	The Velocity of Gary	Gary
	Zack and Reba	Sparky Stokes
	The Thin Red Line	Private Ash
1999	Deep Blue Sea	Carter Blake
	Molly	Sam
	Junked	Switch
	Magnolia	Young Jimmy Gator
2000	Under Suspicion	Detective Felix Owens
2001	Original Sin	Bill Walter Downs Mephisto
	Eden	Dov
2002	The Sweetest Thing	Peter Donahue
2003	Dreamcatcher	Henry
	Stander	Andre Stander
2004	The Punisher	Frank Castle / The Punisher
2006	The Tripper	Buzz Hall	Executive producer
2007	The Mist	David Drayton
2008	The Butler's in Love	The Butler	Short film
	Mutant Chronicles	Sgt. Mitch Hunter
	Killshot	Wayne
2009	Give 'Em Hell, Malone	Malone
	Dark Country	Dick	Director Producer
2010	DC Showcase: Jonah Hex	Jonah Hex	Voice Short film
	Scott Pilgrim vs. the World	Vegan police officer	Uncredited cameo
2011	I Melt with You	Richard	Executive producer
2012	LOL	Allen
	The Punisher: Dirty Laundry	Frank Castle / The Punisher	Short film Producer
2013	Sirius	Narrator	Voice
	Pawn Shop Chronicles	The Man
	Buttwhistle	Grumisch
2014	Endangered	TBA	Complete
	Reach Me	Wolfie	Post-production
	Heavenly Sword	Loki	Voice Complete
	Broken Horses	TBA	Post-production
	Hard Drive	Peter Roberts	Complete
TBA	A Magnificent Death from a Shattered Hand	TBA	Director Co-writer Pre-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	She-Wolf of London	Johnny	Episode: "Heart Attack" Credited as Thomas Bridgett
1995	High Tide	Barry	Episode: "Barry"
1999	Jonni Nitro	Brack	Director Episodes: "Crash and Burn, Part 2" and "Crash and Burn, Part 3"
2001	61*	Mickey Mantle	TV Film
2004	Arrested Development	Himself	Episode: "The One Where They Build a House"
2006	Medium	Clay Bicks	Episodes: "Four Dreams, Part 1" and "Four Dreams, Part 2"
2009-2011	Hung	Ray Drecker	Main Role Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Television Series Musical or Comedy (2010, 2011, 2012) Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Actor - Television Series Musical or Comedy (2010)

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	The Punisher	Frank Castle / The Punisher	Voice
	Gun	Colton White	Voice

Discography

Albums

Year	Artist	Album	Notes
2012	Rusty Blades	Don't Come Home	Singer-songwriter Guitarist

Bibliography

Year	Title	Issues	Notes
2005-present	Bad Planet	8	Comic book, editor and written with Steve Niles (1-6) and Bruce Jones (7-present)
2007	Alien Pig Farm 3000	4	Comic book, written with Steve Niles and Todd Farmer
2012	Dark Country		Graphic novel, editor and director, written by Tab Murphy and art by Thomas Ott
TBA	The Lycan	6	Comic book
TBA	Alien Worlds	TBA	Comic book, written with Bruce Jones

Awards

See List of awards and nominations received by Thomas Jane for more information