Dot Jones
Gender:	Female
Age:	49
Born:	January 4, 1964
Character:	Shannon Beiste
Occupation:	Actress

Dorothy-Marie "Dot" Jones is an actress who portrays football coach Shannon Beiste on the TV series Glee. She is also a 15-time world and 6-time national arm-wrestling champion.

Early life and educationEdit

Dot Jones was born Dorothy-Marie Jones on January 4, 1964 in Turlock, California. She was raised in Hilmar, California, Jones got involved in strength competitions at a fairly young age. She started track in middle school, then experienced a huge growth spurt over nine months. The sudden addition of seven inches to her height weakened her back, so she started lifting weights to strengthen it. While she 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 high school, Jones attended Modesto Junior College and Fresno State, where she continued her involvement with sports. She earned a scholarship in track which paid her way through junior college and university. She played softball and competed in shot put and powerlifting.^[2 She won All-America 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 Olympic Games in 1988 for shot put with a 56 ft 6¼in (17.23 m) throw, surpassing the qualifying mark of 55 ft (17 m). She finished sixth. During her sporting career, she suffered 11 knee injuries, bringing her height of 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) down to 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m). A knee-replacement surgery gave her lost inch back. After college, Jones worked as a youth counselor at the Fresno County Juvenile Probation center while continuing her involvement with sports.

When she went to Russia and won the tournament, she was working at Fresno County Juvenile Hall. When she came back to work every kid in Juvie had made a poster for their hero Dot Jones. There were posters along every hallway in the building.

CareerEdit

Jones, who had no intentions of acting, was discovered at a bodybuilding 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, but turned it down because she claimed it was "too fakey".

Knights and Warriors only lasted one season, but Jones' acting career was just starting. She became a bit actor, playing small roles in several television series throughout the 1990s and 2000s and breaking into feature films in the late 1990s. While acting, she kept up her involvement with arm wrestling. In 1995, her biceps measured 171⁄2 in (44.45 cm).

Her 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 many other popular shows, such as Nip/Tuck, Desperate Housewives, and Prison Break.

Jones, being a fan of Glee and having worked with series co-creator Ryan Murphy on Nip/Tuck and Pretty/Handsome, asked co-executive producer Brad Falchuk during an encounter at a supermarket if she could be on the show.

She guest mentored on the third episode of The Glee Project, Vulnerability.

She was nominated for "Guest Actress in a Comedy Series" at the 2011 Emmy Awards, and is currently nominated again at the 2012 Emmy Awards. She lost the first award to Gwyneth Paltrow, who was nominated for her role as Holly Holliday.

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TriviaEdit

• Ships Tartie and Klaine. (See her Twitter page). Source.
• Is an arm wrestler.
• In her role on Glee, Dot stars as the school’s new football coach, Shannon Beiste in Season Two. In Season Three, along with being the football coach, Shannon Beiste also takes on the role of directing the school musical.
• Her favorite band is Heart.
• She eats real chicken on the show and the quantity depends on how many times they shoot the scene.
• Her partner's name is Bridgett Casteen.
• Her favorite Glee performance is Shake It Out.