At a glance
| Known for | Art the Clown in the Terrifier films |
| Active | 2010s–present |
| Role | Actor |
| Predecessor | Mike Giannelli played Art in the early shorts |
Overview
David Howard Thornton plays Art the Clown in Terrifier (2016), Terrifier 2 (2022), and Terrifier 3 (2024). He did not play the character in the shorts. Mike Giannelli was Art in The 9th Circle, the 2011 Terrifier short, and All Hallows’ Eve (2013). Damien Leone recast the role when Giannelli stepped back from acting. Thornton is the version that became the franchise: silent, elastic, and pleased with the work.
Career
Thornton came out of comedy and clowning, which is the detail Leone has used to explain the casting. The audition story he and Leone tell involves a mime bit with a severed head. The films give him no dialogue. The performance is timing, a walk, and a face that switches from cartoon to blank. Terrifier was a small, mean feature. Terrifier 2 was longer, brought in Sienna Shaw, and found a much bigger audience. Terrifier 3 opened wide at Christmas and outgrossed its budget by a distance that surprised the studios that had passed.
He has appeared as Art outside the films, including a cameo on television, and he has been clear that the makeup is a job with a limit. The character page on this site covers Art. This page is the actor who has played him since the first feature.
Art credits
- Terrifier (2016)
- Terrifier 2 (2022)
- Terrifier 3 (2024)
- Not the shorts or All Hallows’ Eve — those are Mike Giannelli
Trivia
- Leone has said Giannelli played a man in a clown suit, and Thornton plays a clown.
- Art does not talk. The laugh is the line.
- The Little Pale Girl in Terrifier 2 is not him. Amelie McLain plays her.
- Sienna Shaw, played by Lauren LaVera, is the survivor the later films are built around.
- The series is independent. The box office on the third film is what moved it into wider release.