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.
Early life
Jane was born February 22, 1969, in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Cynthia (née Jane), an antiques dealer, and Thomas Elliott, Jr., a genetic engineer. He is of Irish, Scottish, and some German-Jewish and Native American descent. He attended Thomas Sprigg Wootton High School but dropped out and 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 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 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 received offers for leading roles beginning with Andre Stander in the South African film Stander (2003), for which he gained further critical acclaim.
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, became a fan, then trained for several months with Navy SEALs, gaining more than 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 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. 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, 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. His directorial debut was the 2009 film Dark Country, in which he also played the main character. In 2009, Jane starred with Ving Rhames in the crime film Give 'Em Hell, Malone, which premiered at San Diego Comic Con.