Short Biography

Thomas Jane (born Thomas Elliott III; 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. 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. 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.
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. Jonatha

Who's Dated Who content is contributed and edited by our readers. Please report errors or omissions on this page.