What Star Trek's Saru Looks Like In Real Life
While audiences have gotten to know the distinctive faces of "Star Trek" actors like William Shatner, Patrick Stewart, Sonequa Martin-Green, and Anson Mount over the decades, there are other performers who have been concealed by makeup to varying degrees during their work on the franchise. As such, it leaves viewers wondering, for example, what "Star Trek's" Worf looks like in real life. Much in the way Michael Dorn transforms into Worf in the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" TV series and movies, another longtime "Trek" star, Doug Jones, disappears in makeup as Captain Saru on the USS Discovery in the series "Star Trek: Discovery."
Playing a member of the Kelpian alien race, the frequent creature performer is completely unrecognizable since he's covered in head and facial makeup prosthetics in the series. But that's not a concept new to the veteran actor. Most of Jones' roles throughout his esteemed career have utilized copious amounts of makeup prosthetics to cover his face and head, if not his entire body.
Outside of his "Star Trek: Discovery" role, Jones is known as one of Guillermo del Toro's chief collaborators over the years, starring as the humanoid amphibian Abe Sapien in the writer-director's "Hellboy" in 2004 and its sequel in 2008. Jones also embodied the Faun and the Pale Man in del Toro's "Pans Labyrinth" in 2006 and was the principal character — the Amphibian Man — in del Toro's best picture Oscar-winning "The Shape of Water" in 2017.
But while many fans associate Jones with his collaborations with del Toro — he also appeared in the filmmaker's first Hollywood film "Mimic" in 1997 and his 2015 horror thriller "Crimson Peak" — the venerable actor has appeared in over 150 other productions.
Jones also played the Silver Surfer as well as Billy Butcherson in the Hocus Pocus movies
While Doug Jones first teamed with Guillermo del Toro for "Mimic," he actually kicked off his screen career nine years earlier, in 1988. Among the lanky, 6-foot-3 1/2 actor's early successes was his memorable makeup-heavy role as the zombie Billy Butcherson in the classic 1993 comedy fantasy "Hocus Pocus," a part he reprised for the film's 2022 sequel.
In between the "Hocus Pocus" films, Jones appeared in more than 160 screen roles, most of the time in makeup but sometimes not. In 2002's "Men in Black II," Jones' identity was only concealed by a long-haired wig and sunglasses, but for his guest turn in "Sons of Anarchy" in 2013, viewers got a look at Jones' real-life look as Officer Crane in the Season 5 episode "Mad King."
Back in makeup, Jones also starred in 2007's "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer." There are two stars behind the Herald of Galactus in the "Fantastic Four" sequel, though, as Jones played the Silver Surfer in physical form while Laurence Fishburne provided his voice.
Finally, in addition to his role on "Star Trek: Discovery," Jones' more recent high-profile projects include his guest turns in FX's vampire comedy series "What We Do in the Shadows." Jones gets the best of both acting worlds as Baron Afanas, first appearing as an ancient, decrepit man-bat before transforming into human form, where he sports long hair and a pair of fangs while wearing an aristocratic costume.