Jones made his first film appearance in the 1979 romantic comedy film
10. His appearance in
10 allowed him to beat
Kurt Russell and
Arnold Schwarzenegger for his most famous role, that of
Flash Gordon in the
1980 film of the same name. Jones' hair was dyed blonde for this role. The film was moderately successful at the box office grossing $27.1 million in North America, and $22 million in the UK, double its $20 million budget. However, a falling-out between Jones and producer
Dino De Laurentiis led to the scrapping of a planned film trilogy. After the release of
Flash Gordon,
Playgirl reprinted his 1975 nude photo spread in its January 1981 issue, this time using his real name. He went on to play Chris Rorchek in the TV series
Code Red (1981–1982). He had guest roles in other TV shows including
The A-Team,
Hunter, and
Riptide. In 1987, he played the lead role in a
TV movie adaptation of
Will Eisner's comics character
The Spirit. He also played the title character in the short-lived
NBC sci-fi series
The Highwayman. In the late 1980s and early 1990s he portrayed Johnny Valentine on the
HBO series
1st & Ten. Jones starred in the 1986 theatrical release
My Chauffeur and the straight-to-video movies
Jungle Heat (1985),
Jane and the Lost City (1987),
Under the Gun (1988),
Silent Assassins (1988),
Whiteforce (1988),
Driving Force (1989) and
One Man Force (1989). In the 1990s, Jones had roles in films including
In Gold We Trust (1990),
Maximum Force (1992),
Fist of Honor (1993),
Hard Vice (1994),
Enter the Shootfighter (1995),
Texas Payback (1995),
The Killer Inside (1996),
Earth Minus Zero (1996),
Baja Run (1996) and
American Tigers (1996), and guest roles in the TV shows
Baywatch,
Diagnosis Murder and
Walker: Texas Ranger. In 2001, Jones was cast in
Animal Planet's family series
Hollywood Safari as park ranger Troy Johnson. He appeared in "Deadman Switch", an episode of the television series
Stargate SG-1. In 2002, Jones retrained and when he is not acting or working autograph booths on the ComicCon circuit, he is a high-end security professional in
San Diego, protecting executives traveling to Mexico. In his words "I became a security professional 15 years ago. My wife looked at me and said, 'You've been waiting for the phone to ring. The phone isn't ringing. We have kids. There's the door. Don’t come back until you're providing.' That's why I walked away from labels years ago. Actor? I'm a working man. Whatever it takes to provide, I'm a working man". In 2007, Jones played the prisoner Krebb in the
Sci Fi Channel original television series
Flash Gordon. He also had extended cameos (as himself, with his blond Flash Gordon hairstyle) in both the 2012 comedy film
Ted and its 2015 sequel
Ted 2. Jones then starred in, and served as an executive producer of,
Life After Flash, a
crowdfunded feature-length documentary about
Flash Gordon. The documentary, which chronicles the original film's production and
cult following through interviews with fans and members of its cast and crew, including
Melody Anderson,
Brian Blessed,
Peter Wyngarde,
Mark Millar,
Robert Rodriguez,
Stan Lee and
Brian May, also explores how Jones' falling-out with De Laurentiis impacted his life and career. ==Personal life==