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The youngest of four brothers, Doug Jones was born on May 24, 1960, in Indianapolis, Indiana, and grew up in the city's northeast side. After attending Bishop Chatard High School, he headed to Ball State University and graduated in 1982 with a bachelor's degree in telecommunications and a minor in theater.

While at Ball State, Jones joined a troupe called Mime Over Matter. The summer after graduation, he worked as a mime at Kings Island theme park in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has also worked as a contortionist.

After a hitch in theater in Indiana, Jones moved to Los Angeles in 1985. Since then, he has acted in more than 30 films, many television series (including the award-winning Buffy the Vampire Slayer—his episode Hush received two Emmy nominations), more than 90 commercials, and music videos with the likes of Madonna, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Marilyn Manson.

His empathetic performance as Abe Sapien in director Guillermo del Toro 's Hellboy raised his profile with both audiences and critics in 2004. A year later, del Toro gave him the title role in his career-defining fantasy/horror film, El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan's Labyrinth). In addition to portraying Pan, Jones took on the role of The Pale Man, a gruesome creature with a penchant for eating children. Working under heavy prosthetics for both characters, he chose to learn and speak their dialogue in archaic Spanish. Pan's Labyrinth was nominated for six Oscars and won three, including Best Makeup.

2005 proved to be a busy year for Jones. In addition to starring in Pan's Labyrinth, he performed in Doom, The Benchwarmers and M. Night Shyamalan's Lady in the Water. In 2006, he donned the suit of the Silver Surfer and created another iconic screen character in the 2007 box-office blockbuster 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer.

Although best-known for his work under prosthetics, such as the floppy zombie Billy in the Halloween classic Hocus Pocus, or the lead Spy Morlock in the 2002 remake of The Time Machine, Jones has performed as himself in such films as Adaptation, with Nicolas Cage; Mystery Men, with Ben Stiller; Batman Returns, with Danny DeVito; and indie projects including Stefan Haves' Stalled and Phil Donlon's A Series of Small Things. He portrayed Cesare in David Lee Fisher's 2005 remake of the 1919 silent classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, which won three prizes at the Screamfest Horror Film Festival, including the Audience Choice Award.

Jones was also prosthetics-free for his guest-starring role as a drug addict in the Blood Hungry episode of the television series Criminal Minds.

Coming up for Jones are roles in the feature film Legion, and again, out of the prosthetics in the indie features Super Capers and My Name Is Jerry.