victorsteinbach: Jon Gries Biography

Jon Gries Biography:

Jon Gries

Profile:
Name: Jon Gries
Birth Name: Jonathan Francis Gries
Date Of Birth: June 17, 1957 (Age 55)
Country Of Birth: USA
Birth Place: Glendale, California
Height: 5? 11? (1.8 m)
Occupation: Actor, writer, director

Jon Gries young photo

Biography:
A longtime character actor with the unique ability to alternate between meek and menacing at the drop of a hat, Jon Gries can play a computer wiz or a South American mercenary with equal zeal and conviction. A native of Glendale, CA, and the son of Emmy-winning writer/producer/director Tom Gries, Jon launched his acting career with a small role in his father?s made-for-television feature Helter Skelter (1976). Supporting roles in More American Graffiti, Joysticks, and High School USA segued Gries? career into the 1980s, with his role as the reclusive genius Lazlo in the brainy college comedy Real Genius enduring him to a nation of moviegoers. If the remainder of the decade didn?t offer Gries the sort of roles that would take him to leading-man status, they would at least find him cast in such high-profile releases as Running Scared, The Monster Squad, and Fright Night Part 2.

Jon Gries stills

Early life:
Gries was born in Glendale, California, the son of Mary Eleanor Munday, an actress, and Tom Gries, a writer, director, and producer. His first film role came at the age of 11, when he played the Boy Horace in the Charlton Heston film Will Penny. Jonathan Francis ?Jon? Gries (born June 17, 1957) is an American actor, writer and director. He is also credited under the names Jon Francis and Jonathan Gries. He is known for his role in Napoleon Dynamite as Uncle Rico, and more recently as recurring character Roger Linus on Lost.

The Sasquatch Gang movie still

Career:
Some of his signature roles have come in cult classics. He played Lazlo Hollyfeld in Real Genius (1985), Azzolini in Rainbow Drive, Shawn McDermott in the TV series Martin (1992-1994), Ronnie Wingate in Get Shorty (1995), Harvey in The Rundown, and Uncle Rico in Napoleon Dynamite (2004). Gries has played a werewolf on several occasions, such as Fright Night Part II and The Monster Squad. In the historical Western film September Dawn, he played executed murderer John D. Lee, in a performance praised by critics who otherwise panned the film. His most recent role was as Casey in the film Taken released in 2008 in Europe, and 2009 in the US. He was also in TerrorVision as O.D.

Good Intentions movie still

Among his television roles are that of a terrorist in season two of the hit show 24 and as Broots on the NBC series The Pretender. He had a guest role on The X-Files in the episode ?Sleepless?. He played Dylan McKay?s drug dealer in season 5 of Beverly Hills, 90210. He played Ben Linus? father Roger in a recurring role on the TV series Lost. He played Shawn on the Fox sitcom Martin during the first two seasons. He appeared as a band member in the Quantum Leap episode ?Glitter Rock?. He appeared as Rusty the Bum (not to be confused with Rusty the Horse) in two episodes of Seinfeld.

Tina Majorino, Jon Gries

In ?The Beard?, when Elaine rips George?s toupee off and tosses it out the window, Rusty finds it and puts it on. In ?The Bookstore?. Kramer and Newman start a rickshaw business powered by bums, but on its maiden run, Rusty takes off with the conveyance. In 2007 he played the menacing dad to Samaire Armstrong in Around June. In 2008, he appeared in the CSI: NY episode ?The Box? as the father of that episode?s victim. Jon recently wrapped production on A True Story. Based on Things that Never Actually Happened. ?and Some that Did.

Tina Majorino, Diedrich Bader, Efren Ramirez, Jon Heder, Jon Gries, Sandy Martin

Trivia:
Son of noted writer/director/producer Tom Gries.
Does not drink milk and eats very little red meat.
In one of his appearances on ?Seinfeld? (1990), he plays a homeless man that refuses to give Kramer?s (Michael Richards) Tupperware back. In Napoleon Dynamite (2004), his character is a door-to-door salesman of Tupperware-like products.
On ?Lost? (2004) he played the father of Michael Emerson, who is actually 3 years older than him.
Brother of Cary Gries.
Played the role of a wolf man in 2 films, in The Monster Squad (1987) as Desperate Man (wolf man in human form) and in Fright Night Part 2 (1988) as Louie.

Jon Gries attends the screening of Fox Searchlight?s Napoleon Dynamite at The Paley Center

Personal Quotes:
On his definition of success: It?s not about the money. It?s not about the prestige or being recognized. It?s about doing work that you really think has integrity.
On Napoleon Dynamite (2004): The fun of this kind of experience, which I think, unfortunately, a lot of people in the film industry miss, is really the adventure of making a movie that is being nurtured almost like a child and having to go through a channel where there are not millions of hands kind of massaging it to the screen.
(On Get Shorty) I was probably the 250th person they saw for that. They saw Matthew McConaughey, Steve Buscemi, a lot of people. Getting it was kind of an anomaly. It?s very difficult being nobody and getting a part in a movie like that. My personal feeling is that what I did in the audition didn?t translate on film, and part of that was Barry Sonnenfeld?s insecurity. There was so much dialogue, so he thought everything should be sped up. He kept saying, ?Make it faster,? and I think it lost something. When we had the cast and crew screening, there wasn?t a peep from the audience. Barry was sweating profusely. He thought everyone hated it. I walked out of there thinking it was gonna be a big flop. Of course, seeing it now, I think it worked just fine, and we were all being too hard on it.

Jon Gries at event of Confessions of an Action Star

Filmography:
Around June 2012
Natural Selection 2012
Unicorn City 2012
Redemption: For Robbing the Dead 2011
Five Time Champion 2010
Pickin? & Grinnin? 2010
Good Intentions 2010
Elsewhere 2009
Bar Starz 2008
Taken 2008
The Beatnicks 2008
South of Heaven 2008
The Sasquatch Gang 2007
September Dawn 2007
The Astronaut Farmer 2007
American Pastime 2007
Frank 2007
CarBabes 2007
Stick It 2006
Waterborne 2005
Napoleon Dynamite 2004
The Big Empty 2003
The Rundown 2003
Northfork 2003
The Snow Walker 2003
Jackpot 2001
ER: Fear of Commitment 2001
Twin Falls Idaho 1999
Seinfeld: The Bookstore 1998
Casualties 1997
Men in Black 1997
Race Against Time: The Search for Sarah 1996
Get Shorty 1995
Four Eyes and Six Guns 1993
Ed and His Dead Mother 1993
Martin: Season 02 1993
Martin: Season 01 1992
The Grifters 1990
Rainbow Drive 1990
Pucker up and Bark Like a Dog 1989
Number One with a Bullet 1987
Running Scared 1986
Real Genius 1985
The Jeffersons: I Do, I Don?t 1983
High School USA 1983
Sunnyside 1979
More American Graffiti 1979
Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn 1977
The Chicken Chronicles 1977
Helter Skelter 1976
Will Penny 1967