Kelton Jones(I)

Kelton Jones is an actor, director, producer, screenwriter, and cinematographer. Kelton was originally from a small farm town in Texas with a population of less than 2000 residents. His parents were small business owners. His father, a former army sergeant, owned a tractor shop and custom farming business, his mother was a florist. The flower shop shared a wall with the local movie theatre where Kelton spent much of his time. When he was seven, his mom took him to the set watch a film being shot in his town. The film was Convoy by legendary director Sam Peckinpaw. At sixteen Kelton acted in an independent feature film as was invited to join the crew. The film was a western about the history of Texas, Kelton worked building sets, camera assisting and preparing pyrotechnics for the big battle scenes. This film experience set the course for Kelton's lifelong love of the film industry. Kelton studied film and theatre in college attaining a BFA degree in Art from Stephen F. Austin State University. He worked on multiple features and television in the lighting and camera departments in Dallas and Houston including the television series Walker Texas Ranger, Wishbone and the Wes Anderson film Bottle Rocket. Kelton soon made the move to Los Angeles in the 90s and worked his way up on to being a cinematographer and producer. His first major gig as a cinematographer was shooting special effects, miniatures, and makeup effects on Mel Gibson's epic The Passion Of The Christ. His first feature as a producer and cinematographer, the action comedy Hot Guys With Guns, was met with very favorable reviews in Variety and the Hollywood Reporter and was chosen as the the closing film for Outfest. After directing many, many short films, Kelton directed his first feature film Dry Blood which was released by Epic Pictures in 2019. Dry Blood won scores of awards on the festival circuit including several for Best Feature and Best Director. Kelton has continued his education as a actor and film studying directing and acting techniques with Mark Travis, Sean S. Cunningham, and the legendary Miesner Technique teachers Joanne Baron and DW Brown. Kelton works as a film teacher and acting coach as well having taught at Colorado University in Denver and the Young Actors Theatre Camp in Santa Cruz. Four of the short films Kelton has shot, acted in, and produced with the Young Actors Theatre Camp have been accepted and shown at the American Pavilion at the Cannes Film Festivial. Kelton also makes documentaries and has shot award winning docs for film legend Robert Zemeckis and rapper/actor/producer Ice-T. Kelton's wife and sons are also filmmakers and actors with a wide range of filmmaking skills from make-up and sound mixing to music scoring and editing. The four family members often work together on projects in multiple departments or acting in the same project. Kelton is strong advocate for equality and diversity and often mentors up and coming filmmakers.