Dorothy-Marie Jones (born January 4, 1964) is an American actress and retired athlete who has had multiple roles in

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

. She attended

California State University, Fresno California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers 60 ba ...

, where she set records for

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

. Jones is also a 15-time world

arm wrestling Arm wrestling (also spelled "armwrestling") is a sport in which two participants, facing each other with their bent elbows placed on a flat surface (usually a table) and hands firmly gripped, each attempt to "pin" their opponent's hand by forcing ...

champion. She was a recurring guest star starting in the second season of the musical television series ''

Glee Glee may refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 3000 album) * ''Glee'' (Logan Lynn album) * Gle ...

'' as Coach Beiste, and appeared through the show's sixth and final season, when she was promoted to starring status. She was nominated for the

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Owned and operated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the P ...

for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2011, 2012, and 2013 for her portrayal of Coach Beiste. She is also known for her roles as Coach Kelly in ''

Lizzie McGuire ''Lizzie McGuire'' is an American television comedy, comedy television series created by Terri Minsky that premiered on Disney Channel on January 12, 2001. The series stars Hilary Duff as the titular character who learns to navigate the person ...

'' and as Butch Brenda in '' Material Girls''.

Early life

Jones was born January 4, 1964, in

Turlock, California Turlock is a city in Stanislaus County, California, United States. Its population was 72,740 at the 2020 United States census, making it the second-largest city in Stanislaus County after Modesto. History Founded on December 22, 1871, by pr ...

, and was raised in Hilmar, California. She first got involved in strength competitions at a fairly young age. She started track in middle school. While Jones attended Hilmar High School, she was a champion weight lifter and named female athlete of the year. She started arm wrestling on a whim, and won her first arm wrestling world championship at 19 years old and went on to win 14 more. After graduating from Hilmar High School, Jones attended Modesto Junior College and

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers 60 ba ...

, where she continued her involvement with sports. She earned a scholarship in track which paid her way through junior college and university. Jones played

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

and competed in

and

powerlifting Powerlifting is a competitive strength athletics, strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: Squat (exercise), squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, it involves the athle ...

. She won

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

honors in shot put both at junior college and university, was state champion in 1983 and 1984 and set the national record at the junior college level from 1983 to 1990. Jones qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in 1988 for shot put with a throw, surpassing the qualifying mark of . She finished sixth. During her sporting career, she suffered 11 knee injuries, bringing her height of down to . After college, Jones worked as a youth counselor at the Fresno County Juvenile Probation center while continuing her involvement with sports.

Acting career

Jones, who originally had no acting aspirations, was discovered at a

bodybuilding Bodybuilding is the practice of Resistance training, progressive resistance exercise to build, control, and develop one's skeletal muscle, muscles via muscle hypertrophy, hypertrophy. An individual who engages in this activity is referred to a ...

competition by Shirley Eson of '' American Gladiators'' fame. Eson urged Jones to audition for the Gladiators-like '' Knights and Warriors'', and Jones got the part, becoming one of the few female warriors. Jones was also offered a position in

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

, but turned it down because, she said it was "too fakey." After ''Knights and Warriors'' finished after one season, she became a bit actor. She played small roles in several television series throughout the

1990s File:1990s decade montage.png, From top left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope orbits the Earth after it was launched in 1990; American jets fly over burning oil fields in the 1991 Gulf War; the Oslo Accords on 13 September 1993; the World ...

and

2000s File:2000s decade montage3.png, From top left, clockwise: The Twin Towers of the original World Trade Center (1973–2001), World Trade Center on fire and the Statue of Liberty on the left during the September 11 attacks, terrorist attacks on Sep ...

and breaking into feature films in the late 1990s, including the cult film ''

The Boondock Saints ''The Boondock Saints'' is a 1999 Vigilante film, vigilante Action film, action thriller film written and directed by Troy Duffy in his list of directorial debuts, feature directorial debut. Starring Willem Dafoe, Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman R ...

''. While acting, Jones kept up her involvement with arm wrestling. In 1995, her

biceps The biceps or biceps brachii (, "two-headed muscle of the arm") is a large muscle that lies on the front of the upper arm between the shoulder and the elbow. Both heads of the muscle arise on the scapula and join to form a single muscle bel ...

measured . Jones' first recurring role after ''Knights'' was as a character named "Dot" on the popular show '' Married... with Children'' in the mid-90s. She appeared in five episodes over two seasons. Jones' next break was on the kids show ''Lizzie McGuire'' as Coach Kelly. Since then, she has appeared in popular shows ''

Nip/Tuck ''Nip/Tuck'' is an American medical drama television series created by Ryan Murphy that aired on FX in the United States for six seasons from 2003 to 2010. The series, which also incorporates elements of crime, black comedy, family drama, sati ...

'', ''

Desperate Housewives ''Desperate Housewives'' is an American mystery comedy-drama television series created by Marc Cherry, and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. It aired for eight seasons on ABC from October 3, 2004, until May 13, 2012, for a tota ...

'', and ''

Prison Break ''Prison Break'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created by Paul Scheuring for Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox. The series revolves around two brothers: Lincoln Burrows (Dominic P ...

''. Dot Jones co-starred with

Hilary Duff Hilary Erhard Duff (born September 28, 1987) is an American actress, singer, author and businesswoman. She is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Hilary Duff, various accolades, including a World Music Awards, World Mus ...

in ''Lizzie McGuire''. They were later reunited for ''Material Girls''. Jones, being a fan of ''

'' and having worked with series co-creator Ryan Murphy on ''Nip/Tuck'' and '' Pretty/Handsome'', asked co-executive producer

Brad Falchuk Bradley Douglas Falchuk (born March 1, 1971) is an American television writer, director, and producer. He is best known for co-creating the television series ''Glee'', ''American Horror Story'', '' Scream Queens'', and '' Pose'' with Ryan Murph ...

during an encounter at a supermarket if she could be on the show. Soon after, the character of coach Shannon Beiste in ''Glee'' was created for her. She guest starred in seasons two, three, four, and five, and was a main cast member for the sixth and final season. The show allowed her to showcase her singing abilities. Her first song was " One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" with

Matthew Morrison Matthew James Morrison (born October 30, 1978) is an American actor, dancer, and singer, best known for his role as Will Schuester on the Fox television show ''Glee'' (2009–2015). He has starred in multiple Broadway and off-Broadway produ ...

's character

Will Schuester William Michael Schuester, often referred to as Mr. Schue, is a fictional teacher character and one of the two main protagonists from the Fox musical comedy-drama series ''Glee'', alongside his student Rachel Berry. He appeared in ''Glee'' fro ...

. It was featured on '' Glee: The Music, The Complete Season Two.'' She also recorded versions of

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and Cultural impact of Taylor Swift, cultural impact, Swift is one of the Best selling artists, w ...

's "

Mean A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...

" and

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and philanthropist, known primarily as a country music, country musician. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton's debut album ...

's " Jolene". These were included on the album '' Glee: The Music, The Complete Season Three.'' She also appeared in ''

Jane the Virgin ''Jane the Virgin'' is an American romantic comedy-drama and satirical telenovela developed by Jennie Snyder Urman. The series premiered October 13, 2014, on The CW and concluded on July 31, 2019. It is a loose adaptation of the Venezuelan te ...

'' and ''

Modern Family ''Modern Family'' is an American television sitcom, created by Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd, that aired on ABC for 11 seasons from September 23, 2009, to April 8, 2020. The series follows the lives of three diverse but interrelated fa ...

''. Jones appeared on Logo TV's ''

RuPaul's Drag U ''RuPaul's Drag U'' (as in "Drag University") is an American reality television series that debuted July 19, 2010, on Logo TV. Its final episode aired in August 2012. It was hosted by RuPaul and a team of drag queen "professors". ''Drag U'' was ...

'' as a visiting professor in July 2011, during the second season.

Personal life

Jones married Bridgett Casteen on December 21, 2013. The two first met in December 2010 and Jones proposed on October 4, 2013, during Gay Days Anaheim.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

*
Dot Marie Jones' Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Dot 1964 births 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Actresses from California American arm wrestlers American film actresses American female shot putters American television actresses American lesbian actresses American lesbian sportswomen LGBTQ people from California Living people People from Merced County, California Sportspeople from Turlock, California Sportspeople from California Track and field athletes from California LGBTQ track and field athletes LGBTQ arm wrestlers 21st-century American LGBTQ people 20th-century American sportswomen