Tony Cox
Joseph Anthony Cox (born March 31, 1958 in New York City) is an actor and achondroplasiac dwarf, best known for his co-starring role in Bad Santa (2003)
Cox is the son of Joe and Henrietta Jones Cox. He was born in Manhattan, but grew up in Uniontown with his grandparents, Lottie and Henry Jones. As a child he underwent numerous surgical procedures intended to lengthen his legs. He taught himself to play drums as a young boy, but Perry County didn't have school band programs. After graduating from Robert C. Hatch High School in 1976 he enrolled at Alabama State University hoping to study music, but his inability to read music left him too far behind.
Cox dropped out during his freshman year and moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue a career in acting. He had idolized Billy Barty and Michael Dunn as a boy. In California he was coached by De De Tillman at the Merrick Studio School of Acting and was offered riles in commercials and television programs. He landed his first film role, in Nice Dreams, in 1981.
Cox was costumed as an "ewok" in the blockbuster Return of the Jedi (1983). He also had memorable roles in Beetlejuice (1988), I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1989), the FOX TV series Martin (1993-1994), and Me, Myself & Irene (2000) before he was offered the co-starring role of Marcus in Bad Santa. Since then, Cox has had important roles in Date Movie (2006), Epic Movie (2007) and Disaster Movie (2008), and as the munchkin herald Knuck in Oz the Great and Powerful (2013), He reprised the role of Marcus in Bad Santa 2 (2016).
Cox married his childhood classmate, Otelia, in 1989 and has one child.
References
- Taylor, Drew (December 22, 2023) "Years before ‘Bad Santa’ launched him into stardom, Tony Cox was a boy from Alabama who kept the faith." CBS42.com
External links
- Tony Cox at the Internet Movie Database