Dot-Marie Jones Biography

Fast Facts

• Went to Fresno State University on a track scholarship and was an All-American shot-putter
• Won 15 professional arm-wrestling titles; also competed in weightlifting and bodybuilding tournaments
• After college, worked four and a half years as a counselor at a Fresno correctional facility for juvenile offenders; later played corrections officers on iCarly (2008) and Desperate Housewives ('09)
• Broke into TV in Knights and Warriors, an American Gladiators clone, in 1992 (Jones' nom de guerre: Lady Battleaxe)
• Was cast as Coach Shannon Beiste in Glee after running into executive producer Brad Falchuk in an L
• A
• supermarket and asking to be on the show
• Jones had previously worked with Falchuk and Glee creator Ryan Murphy on Nip/Tuck and their failed pilot Pretty/Handsome