Date of Birth: January 29, 1969
"If you really love something, you'll find a way to do it. Whether it's acting on a street corner or in a rat-infested space, you'll be alright if you stick with the fuel for your motor."
At 17, Thomas Jane landed his first audition because he had the right hair at the right time. While living in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland, some East Indians came to Washington DC looking for a blond kid to appear in an Indian film. It was a Romeo and Juliet love story between a white American and an Indian girl. Though he found fame and fortune in India, he decided to return to America to study acting.
He ended up in Hollywood and wound up working the streets, acting mentally disabled and asking for money. Working in local theater productions as well as a few commercials (although the commercials never aired on television) provided money for the bills.
Years of toiling in bit-part hell ended in 1997 with his performance as beatnik legend Neal Cassady in the indie flick The Last Time I Committed Suicide. Although the movie didn't do well at the box office or with critics, the actor's performance was praised. That was followed by small roles in Boogie Nights, The Thin Red Line and The Velocity of Gary with Salma Hayek before Renny Harlin fought to have him cast as the shark wrangler Blake in Deep Blue Sea, summer 1999's $80 million shark thriller. It was a classic action-hero gig—with Speedo-ready body and solid breast-stroke required. Harlin made his leading man promise to keep away from hamburgers and to work out to get in top shape. Jane later had to gain 20 to 40 pounds of muscle to play the title role in The Punisher (2004), co-starring John Travolta.
Most recently, Jane made his return to the big screen in the sci-fi action movie The Predator(2018).
Divorced from first wife Aysha Hauer (daughter of actor Rutger Hauer), Jane and actress Patricia Arquette were engaged in August 2002, and their first child, a girl named Harlow, was born in February 2003. They married in 2006 but Arquette filed for divorce in 2009. Although they briefly reconciled, their divorce was finalized in 2011.
Filmography:
The Predator (2018)
Before I Wake (2016)
Reach Me (2014)
White Bird in a Blizzard (2014)
I Melt With You (2011)
Give 'em Hell, Malone (2009)
The Dark Country (2009)
Killshot (2008)
The Mutant Chronicles (2008)
The Butler's in Love (2008)
The Mist (2007)
The Tripper (2006)
The Punisher (2004)
Stander (2004)
Dreamcatcher (2003)
The Sweetest Thing (2002)
Under Suspicion (2000)
Dancing in the Dark (2000)
Magnolia (1999)
Deep Blue Sea (1999)
Molly (1999)
The Thin Red Line (1998)
Thursday (1998)
The Velocity of Gary (1998)
Boogie Nights (1997)
Face/Off (1997)
The Last Time I Committed Suicide (1997)
The Crow: City of Angels (1996)
At Ground Zero (1994)
Nemesis (1993)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)
I'll Love You Forever... Tonight (1992)