Dorothy-Marie “Dot” Jones is an ath­lete and actress who has had mul­ti­ple roles in tele­vi­sion. She attended Cal­i­for­nia State Uni­ver­sity, Fresno, where she set records for shot put. Jones is also a 15-time world arm wrestling cham­pion. She cur­rently has a recur­ring role on the musi­cal, Glee, as Shan­non Beiste, for which she was nom­i­nated for Out­stand­ing Guest Actress in a Com­edy Series at the 2011 and 2012 Prime­time Emmy Awards.
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 said, 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 pop­u­lar shows Nip/Tuck, Des­per­ate House­wives, and Prison Break, among oth­ers.
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.[2] Soon after, the char­ac­ter of Coach Shan­non Beiste was cre­ated for her.
Dot Jones appeared recently on Logo TV’s RuPaul’s Drag U as a vis­it­ing pro­fes­sor dur­ing the sec­ond sea­son of the show.