# Caleb Landry Jones
**Caleb Landry Jones** (born 1989) is an American actor and musician from Texas, known for playing outsiders and unsettling characters in films such as *Get Out*, *Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri*, and *[Nitram](https://www.edgepedia.org/nitram)*, for which he won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor in 2021.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2655177/) He also records experimental psychedelic music, releasing albums on the New York label Sacred Bones.[2](https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/what-caleb-landry-jones-is-listening-to-right-now/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1989; Texas native; American actor and musician[3](https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/50/25111/presskit-1.pdf) |
| Signature role | Title role in *Nitram* (2021), directed by Justin Kurzel; Cannes Best Actor and AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2655177/) |
| Known screen roles | Banshee in *X-Men: First Class*, Jeremy Armitage in *Get Out*, Red Welby in *Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri*, Ty Carter in *The Outpost*, Jeff in *Finch*[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2655177/) |
| First screen appearance | "Boy on Bike" in *No Country for Old Men* (2007)[4](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/caleb-landry-jones-gadzooks-profile/2021/09/22/07bf60d0-156e-11ec-b976-f4a43b740aeb_story.html) |
| Music | Debut album *The Mother Stone* (2020) on Sacred Bones; *Gadzooks Vol. 1* followed in 2021[2](https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/what-caleb-landry-jones-is-listening-to-right-now/) • [4](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/caleb-landry-jones-gadzooks-profile/2021/09/22/07bf60d0-156e-11ec-b976-f4a43b740aeb_story.html) |
| Recent work | Title role in Luc Besson's *DogMan* (2023) and *Dracula* (France, July 30, 2025; US theaters, February 6, 2026)[5](https://echanges.dila.gouv.fr/OPENDATA/AMF/ECO/2025/06/FCECO078881_20250625.pdf) |
## Early career
Jones grew up in Texas, where he discovered acting in a high school speech class and began working professionally in films and television shot around his home state.[6](https://www.gq.com/story/caleb-landry-jones-everywhere-man) His first acting job was as the "Boy on Bike" in the [Coen brothers](https://www.edgepedia.org/coen-brothers)' *No Country for Old Men* (2007), a brief appearance in the film's penultimate scene in which his character tells [Javier Bardem](https://www.edgepedia.org/javier-bardem) that a bone is sticking out of his arm.[4](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/caleb-landry-jones-gadzooks-profile/2021/09/22/07bf60d0-156e-11ec-b976-f4a43b740aeb_story.html) • [7](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/jun/30/caleb-landry-jones-acting-was-the-only-place-you-were-allowed-to-scream-or-cry) On television he played the drummer in the fictional death-metal band Crucifictorious on *Friday Night Lights* and Walt Junior's best friend on *Breaking Bad*.[6](https://www.gq.com/story/caleb-landry-jones-everywhere-man)
**Breakthrough roles.** He attracted notice early in the 2010s as Banshee in *X-Men: First Class* (2011), in [Brandon Cronenberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/brandon-cronenberg)'s body-horror film *Antiviral* (2012, Un Certain Regard at Cannes), and in the [Safdie brothers](https://www.edgepedia.org/safdie-brothers)' *Heaven Knows What*.[8](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/p/caleb-landry-jones/) • [9](https://medias.unifrance.org/medias/215/107/289751/presse/harvest-presskit-french.pdf) In 2017 he appeared in three widely seen American films in a single year: [Jordan Peele](https://www.edgepedia.org/jordan-peele)'s *Get Out*, as Jeremy Armitage, the racist brother of a White woman who brings her Black boyfriend home to meet her family; Sean Baker's *The Florida Project*; and Martin McDonagh's *Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri*, as Red Welby.[4](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/caleb-landry-jones-gadzooks-profile/2021/09/22/07bf60d0-156e-11ec-b976-f4a43b740aeb_story.html) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2655177/) He later played soldier Ty Carter in *The Outpost* (2019) and Jeff, an android, opposite Tom Hanks in the post-apocalyptic drama *Finch* (2021).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2655177/) • [4](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/caleb-landry-jones-gadzooks-profile/2021/09/22/07bf60d0-156e-11ec-b976-f4a43b740aeb_story.html)
## Nitram and the Cannes award
In [Justin Kurzel](https://www.edgepedia.org/justin-kurzel)'s *Nitram* (2021), Jones played the troubled young man behind Australia's worst mass shooting, the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania, in which [Martin Bryant](https://www.edgepedia.org/martin-bryant) murdered 35 people. The film never names the real perpetrator on screen; "Nitram" is a reversal of his first name, a device the filmmakers used to avoid adding to his celebrity, and the violence itself is never shown.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/jun/30/caleb-landry-jones-acting-was-the-only-place-you-were-allowed-to-scream-or-cry) • [10](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/nitram-sensitive-cautionary-tale-against-lax-gun-laws) Jones was initially reluctant to take the part.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/jun/30/caleb-landry-jones-acting-was-the-only-place-you-were-allowed-to-scream-or-cry)
The performance won the Award for Best Actor at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, where the film played in competition, and later the AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.[8](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/p/caleb-landry-jones/) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2655177/) Reviewers described his portrayal as capturing the character's hair-trigger reactivity and frustrated need to belong while keeping his inner world closed off.[10](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/nitram-sensitive-cautionary-tale-against-lax-gun-laws) In interviews, Jones connected the film to current debates over gun laws, saying the filmmakers wanted to use this history to comment on the present.[11](https://www.nme.com/features/film-interviews/caleb-landry-jones-nitram-interview-3252413)
## Music
Jones has made music for around a decade, recording hundreds of songs in a barn at his parents' farm in Collin County, north of Dallas, but only began releasing it in 2020.[2](https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/what-caleb-landry-jones-is-listening-to-right-now/) • [12](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2020/05/25/laurent-bardainne-caleb-landry-jones-lolomis-retour-sur-nos-albums-coups-de-c-ur_6040618_3246.html) The filmmaker [Jim Jarmusch](https://www.edgepedia.org/jim-jarmusch), impressed by Jones's back-to-back 2017 performances, heard his recordings and introduced him to the experimental label Sacred Bones, which issued his first official album, *The Mother Stone* (2020).[4](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/caleb-landry-jones-gadzooks-profile/2021/09/22/07bf60d0-156e-11ec-b976-f4a43b740aeb_story.html) • [2](https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/what-caleb-landry-jones-is-listening-to-right-now/) Critics placed the record in retro-psychedelic territory, comparing it to [Van Dyke Parks](https://www.edgepedia.org/van-dyke-parks)' *Song Cycle* and [Syd Barrett](https://www.edgepedia.org/syd-barrett)'s abstract folk, and noted its theatrical, character-driven vocals.[12](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2020/05/25/laurent-bardainne-caleb-landry-jones-lolomis-retour-sur-nos-albums-coups-de-c-ur_6040618_3246.html) • [13](https://riffmagazine.com/album-reviews/caleb-landry-jones-the-mother-stone/) Jarmusch described the sound as "like if John Lennon and Brian Wilson were on psychoactive drugs in Daniel Johnston's basement."[4](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/caleb-landry-jones-gadzooks-profile/2021/09/22/07bf60d0-156e-11ec-b976-f4a43b740aeb_story.html) A second album, *Gadzooks Vol. 1*, followed in 2021, written while Jones was in Albuquerque shooting *Finch*.[4](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/caleb-landry-jones-gadzooks-profile/2021/09/22/07bf60d0-156e-11ec-b976-f4a43b740aeb_story.html)
## Work with Luc Besson and recent films
Jones starred in [Luc Besson](https://www.edgepedia.org/luc-besson)'s *DogMan* (2023), which debuted at the [Venice Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/venice-film-festival), and the director subsequently cast him as Vlad, Count Dracula, in *Dracula*, a retelling of [Bram Stoker](https://www.edgepedia.org/bram-stoker)'s story centered on the vampire's lost love.[14](https://apnews.com/article/b2e192a3bbbcce7237c11d557e933477) • [5](https://echanges.dila.gouv.fr/OPENDATA/AMF/ECO/2025/06/FCECO078881_20250625.pdf) The film, also starring Christoph Waltz and Zoë Bleu, was released in France on July 30, 2025, and reached North American theaters on February 6, 2026.[5](https://echanges.dila.gouv.fr/OPENDATA/AMF/ECO/2025/06/FCECO078881_20250625.pdf) • [15](https://www.thewrap.com/luc-bessons-dracula-a-love-tale-vertical-entertainment-distribution/) Jones said the role required the most costume, hair, and makeup changes of any project he had worked on.[16](https://tucson.com/life-entertainment/nation-world/movies-tv/article_b2d6090c-6673-5f44-8506-2fead7f79cba.html)
He also played the farmer Walter Thirsk in Athina Rachel Tsangari's *[Harvest](https://www.edgepedia.org/harvest-2024-film)* (2024), an adaptation of Jim Crace's novel set in a medieval Scottish village, shot in Argyll; the role required him to learn a Scottish accent.[17](https://www.anothermag.com/design-living/16505/caleb-landry-jones-interview-harvest-film) In 2026 he was set to appear in *Down the Arm of God*, co-written with director Peter Brunner, playing a young pastor in a small Texas town whose efforts to help the homeless meet resistance from his own congregation.[5](https://echanges.dila.gouv.fr/OPENDATA/AMF/ECO/2025/06/FCECO078881_20250625.pdf)
## References
1. [Caleb Landry Jones, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2655177/)
2. [What Caleb Landry Jones Is Listening to Right Now, Pitchfork](https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/what-caleb-landry-jones-is-listening-to-right-now/)
3. [Caleb Landry Jones – Norman press kit, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival](https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/50/25111/presskit-1.pdf)
4. [Caleb Landry Jones profile, The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/caleb-landry-jones-gadzooks-profile/2021/09/22/07bf60d0-156e-11ec-b976-f4a43b740aeb_story.html)
5. [EuropaCorp annual results press release (June 2025)](https://echanges.dila.gouv.fr/OPENDATA/AMF/ECO/2025/06/FCECO078881_20250625.pdf)
6. [Caleb Landry Jones Interview: The Everywhere Man, GQ](https://www.gq.com/story/caleb-landry-jones-everywhere-man)
7. [Caleb Landry Jones: 'Acting was the only place you were allowed to scream or cry', The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/jun/30/caleb-landry-jones-acting-was-the-only-place-you-were-allowed-to-scream-or-cry)
8. [Caleb Landry Jones, Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/p/caleb-landry-jones/)
9. [Harvest press kit, UniFrance](https://medias.unifrance.org/medias/215/107/289751/presse/harvest-presskit-french.pdf)
10. [Nitram review: sensitive caution against lax gun laws, Sight and Sound, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/nitram-sensitive-cautionary-tale-against-lax-gun-laws)
11. [Caleb Landry Jones: 'I don't like gratuitous violence in movies', NME](https://www.nme.com/features/film-interviews/caleb-landry-jones-nitram-interview-3252413)
12. [Retour sur nos albums coups de cœur, Le Monde](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2020/05/25/laurent-bardainne-caleb-landry-jones-lolomis-retour-sur-nos-albums-coups-de-c-ur_6040618_3246.html)
13. [Caleb Landry Jones transcends definition on debut LP, Riff Magazine](https://riffmagazine.com/album-reviews/caleb-landry-jones-the-mother-stone/)
14. [What to know about SAG-AFTRA's 'interim agreements', AP News](https://apnews.com/article/b2e192a3bbbcce7237c11d557e933477)
15. [Luc Besson's 'Dracula: A Love Tale' Locks US Release at Vertical, TheWrap](https://www.thewrap.com/luc-bessons-dracula-a-love-tale-vertical-entertainment-distribution/)
16. [For director Luc Besson, 'Dracula' is a love story that waits 400 years, Tucson.com](https://tucson.com/life-entertainment/nation-world/movies-tv/article_b2d6090c-6673-5f44-8506-2fead7f79cba.html)
17. [Caleb Landry Jones on Starring in Folk Thriller Harvest, AnOther](https://www.anothermag.com/design-living/16505/caleb-landry-jones-interview-harvest-film)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 2000s onward › Surnames Jo to Kl*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license