Glee's Dot-Marie Jones Could Kick All of Our Asses

Dot-Marie Jones, left, plays the new football coach, Shannon Bieste (pronounced “Beast”), in Season 2 of Glee.

Dot-Marie Jones comes on board in the second season of Glee as the new boys’ football coach, Shannon Beiste (pronounced Beast—“It’s French,” she explains), and she is a pleasure to watch. And I’m not just saying that because she’s 6’1”, worked in a prison, played an axe-wielding warrior, and can dead lift a Cadillac. As VF.com’s Glee expert, I gave her a call to discuss her insane past, her stunning presence, and her thrilling future.

Brett Berk: Dot! Thanks for taking the time to talk to me. I just saw you in the premiere episode of this season of Glee and you did a great job. You brought some real pathos to your depiction of an emotionally wounded, butch lady football coach. I like the way you alternated between alienation, rage, and outreach in portraying the character. It reminded me of many of the lesbian gym teachers I know personally, except without the alcoholism. What were your inspirations for this portrayal?

Dot Marie-Jones: You’re assuming that she’s a lesbian.

No, I said that she reminded me of a lesbian.

O.K., fair enough. Well, I think we’ve all had coaches that are tough and sometimes mean. And also, too, I think where I pull from for Shannon Beiste, I worked for four and half years in lockdown at the Juvenile Hall in Fresno with adolescent offenders.

Woah. Juvie!

Yeah, mostly in maximum security with boys—which were violent offenders, anywhere from a 187 which was murder to whatever else they were in there for.

How did you make that transition? To acting.

A friend of mine in 1991 was an alternate on American Gladiators, and called me and told me about a new show they were working on called Knights and Warriors, and I drove down for the auditions. I was living in Fresno and they were here in LA. That first day was all physical agility, from rollerblading to tackling someone, stuff like that. I think there were three or four hundred people auditioning. And they said they’d call that night by 8:00 if they needed me for a cold read—and that threw me. I thought: Do we have to read in a freezer or something? And they didn’t call, and I thought, Oh well, I have a full time job with the county back in Fresno. Then at 8:30, they called, and they had me come back for a cold read. I said, “What should I wear?” and they said, “Wear your best warrior outfit.” I thought, Good thing I brought that from Fresno, because I just keep it in the trunk, right?

Anyway, at that time I was working out a lot, doing some competitive power lifting, and I had some baggy workout pants and a zebra sweatshirt, so I threw something together. Two weeks later the phone rings and the woman says, “How’d you like to be a warrior?”

That’s a great story. A detail I particularly like: “I was doing some competitive power lifting at the time…” Explain.

Out of high school, I turned down basketball scholarships to focus on track and field—I was a shot-putter. The strength coach started us on lifting. I went from 5’6” to 6’1” in eighth grade so I was big, and my coach said, “Why don’t we do some dead-lifting?” You know what that is, where you just pick up the barbell from the ground and your hands are at your side and you pick it up? I had one meet—when I was 19 years old—that would have been a world record but it wasn’t a sanctioned meet. I lifted 518 pounds.

Five hundred and eighteen pounds? What the fuck?! I mean, really. So…how did you end up on Glee? Was Ryan Murphy [Glee’s creator] like, “We need a lady tougher than Jane Lynch?”

I don’t know if you ever saw Ryan’s pilot that he shot, Pretty/Handsome? Well, on that, I played a female-to-male transsexual. And then I’d done three episodes of Ryan’s Nip/Tuck and I worked with Brad Falchuk [also a creator of Nip/Tuck and Glee.] Anyway, I ran into Brad at Whole Foods over on Coldwater last year, and I asked what he was working on and he said he was still working with Ryan, on Glee, and I joked that he should write me something—like that’s going to happen to me. And two months later, my agent called and said that he’d gotten a strange call from Robert Ulrich [the casting director for Glee] saying that Ryan Murphy was writing me something for the show. And I just started crying.

That is a crazy story.

Yeah, thinking about it, I still get a little weepy.

Speaking of tough ladies, there’s a fight between two of the cheerleaders in this first episode, a physical fight. If there was a fight between your character and Sue Sylvester, and it went to its ultimate conclusion, who would win, and how?

She’s so dirty, she’d probably win. And I’m saying that as Shannon Bieste to Sue Sylvester. In real life, I love Jane Lynch. Every day, going to work is like taking a class. She is amazing. And so gracious.

Agreed. She's in top form in the Season 2 premiere. Now, Ken Tanaka got a girlfriend in Emma Pillsbury in Season 1. Sue laughably almost went on a date with one of her co-anchors at the news station, as well as with Will. And Will Schuster has gone out with every female character in the entire cast and special guest roster who is not a student. Will there be love for Shannon Beiste?

I hope so, down the road. But I know that Episode 6 will surprise a lot of people. All I can say is that, for my character, it’s a topper to Episode 1. Episode 1 is amazing for me.

Will she get to sing? Dance?

I hope so. One of the things Brad asked me at the grocery store was, “Can you sing?” And I said, “I’m no Mariah Carey, but I can carry a tune.”

If Shannon did sing, what would be her anthem?

It’s so funny because one of my favorite songs to sing just goofing around is “You Shook Me All Night Long” by AC/DC, mainly because I can sound like them. So I’d like her to do that. Either that or Cher. I love Cher. [Begins singing] If I could turn back ti-ime.

Oh my god. That’s amazing. My mother—who also has a rather deep voice—always loved Cher.

They’re both good options for songs. And both so similar!

Right. Now, I want you to know that I’ve only ever talked to the kids from the show—you’re my first grown up—and when I talk to the kids, they all say that they’re really just like one big happy family, they all love each other and hang out together, and eat dinner at each others’ houses after working 14-hour days. And they seem so pleasant, and attractive, and clean. I don’t buy it. What’s the truth about them? Are they really a bunch of mean, dirty bitches?

They’re a bunch of liars! Nasty liars! Not really. I love them. I haven’t had dinner with them yet, but I know it’s coming. I will cook for them every day if they want. They’re just so sweet. It’s been fun since day one. And a lot of them, like Kevin [McHale, who plays Artie] when I came in for the first day, he was like, I’m so glad to meet you, I’m so excited. It turns out Ryan had given them a copy of Pretty/Handsome to watch, which totally blew me away. They’re just great kids—and a lot of them aren’t kids. Very sweet, and polite. You go to work, and they hug you. And I love that.

If you could play one of the kid characters, which one would it be?

Definitely Heather’s character, Brittany. Just because she’s so funny. She could say one word or one sentence, and it breaks you up and it’s just so endearing. She plays it so true and so sincere.

O.K., last attempt to dig for dirt: What’s the worst thing about working on Glee?

That I’m not there every day. I absolutely love it. I went yesterday for a fitting for some of the lovely outfits I’ll be wearing in Episode 6. I just went to get measured, but I stayed for two hours, just hanging out.

Well, I think Shannon is going to be a very interesting character to watch. Best of luck.

Thanks, Brett. And when you come to LA, call me and we’ll have lunch.

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