Caleb Landry Jones—yeah, that name really started turning heads in the late 2010s—brought a unique blend of androgynous charm and edgy intensity to a diverse range of films, from big-budget superhero flicks to bold indie experiments. Born on December 7, 1989, in Garland, Texas, Caleb Landry Jones spent his formative years just down the road in Richardson, where he first dipped his toes into acting through local theater productions. It wasn’t long before he caught the attention of major filmmakers, making his film debut in the Coen Brothers’ Oscar-winning crime thriller No Country for Old Men (2007). That same year, viewers might’ve spotted Caleb Landry Jones in small but memorable roles in Superbad and then again in The Longshots (2008).
Around that time, Caleb Landry Jones also stepped into television, landing a multi-episode arc on the beloved drama Friday Night Lights (NBC, 2006–2011), which helped solidify his presence on screen. Eager to take things further, he packed up and moved to Los Angeles to fully commit to his craft. From there, his career began gaining real momentum. He made guest appearances on critically acclaimed shows like Breaking Bad (AMC, 2008–2013) and even popped up on the lighter side of the spectrum with a role in Nickelodeon’s Victorious (2010–2013).
But it was in 2011 that Caleb Landry Jones truly broke through, stepping into the role of Sean “Banshee” Cassidy in the high-profile superhero reboot X-Men: First Class. That performance put him on the map, opening doors to more complex and challenging projects. He went on to appear in Neil Jordan’s atmospheric vampire tale Byzantium (2012), the gritty mob drama God’s Pocket (2014) starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, and the raw, emotionally intense Heaven Knows What (2014) by Josh and Benny Safdie.
Still, nothing quite compared to what came in 2017—a standout year for Caleb Landry Jones, no doubt about it. In just one calendar year, he delivered powerful performances across an incredible range of genres. He played the unnervingly polite yet unsettlingly creepy Jeremy Armitage in Jordan Peele’s groundbreaking horror satire Get Out. Then, in Sean Baker’s deeply empathetic The Florida Project, Caleb Landry Jones brought quiet gravity to a supporting role that lingered long after the credits rolled. He also appeared in Doug Liman’s fast-paced American Made, starring Tom Cruise, and delivered a darkly comedic turn in Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri—a film that earned multiple award nominations.
And if that wasn’t enough, Caleb Landry Jones made a surreal, unforgettable impression in David Lynch and Mark Frost’s revival of Twin Peaks: The Return (Showtime, 2017–), where his brief but bizarre appearance left fans talking for weeks. By the end of 2017, it was clear: Caleb Landry Jones wasn’t just another actor on the rise—he had firmly established himself as one of the most distinctive and compelling talents of his generation.
So, when you look at Caleb Landry Jones’s career, it’s pretty interesting to see how his roles have been received over the years. I mean, Caleb Landry Jones has definitely had his ups and downs in terms of critical acclaim. One standout moment for Caleb Landry Jones was his involvement in Get Out (2017), which ended up being his highest-rated film by a significant margin. Critics and audiences alike praised the movie, and Caleb Landry Jones’s performance definitely contributed to that success. On the flip side, though, there’s Stonewall (2015), which unfortunately turned out to be one of the lower points in Caleb Landry Jones’s filmography—both commercially and critically. It’s safe to say that Caleb Landry Jones has shown real range, but not every project hit the mark quite like Get Out did.