David Howard Thornton

David Howard Thornton is an actor for the big screen, theater, and voiceover in YouTube and video formats. He has made his biggest impact playing the bloodthirsty killer Art the Clown in the Terrifier series of slasher-horror movies. Thornton’s first movie credit was as a voice actor in the English dub of Japanese director Keiichi Hara’s anime version of the historical manga, Miss Hokusai (2015), released in North America by GKIDS.

Thornton made his debut on-screen film performance as Art the Clown in filmmaker Damien Leone’s slasher cult hit, Terrifier (2016), which Thornton followed up with Leone’s hit sequel Terrifier 2 (2022) and Terrifier 3 (2024), co-starring Lauren LaVera and Samantha Scaffidi, and released by Cineverse after premiering at Fantastic Fest. Thornton joined the ensemble (shot on separate screens during the COVID-19 pandemic) of director/co-writer Marcus Slabine’s horror movie, The Dark Offerings (2021), and then starred in the title role of director/co-writer/producer Steven LaMorte’s The Mean One (2022), an unauthorized slasher version of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, released to poor business and reviews by Atlas Film Distribution.

David Howard Thornton appeared in director/co-writer/producer Michael Leavy’s slasher-horror movie, Stream (2024), made by the team behind the Terrifier franchise, with co-stars Jeffrey Combs, Tim Reid, Dee Wallace, Tony Todd, and Tim Curry. Thornton starred in director/co-writer/producer Steven LaMorte’s Screamboat (2025), the horror version of Walt Disney’s Steamboat Willie character (the precursor for Mickey Mouse, and officially in the public domain on January 1, 2024) and released by Iconic Events Releasing and DeskPop Entertainment.

Thornton co-starred in director/writer Frank Merle’s fantasy-thriller, Namaka (date to be announced), with Jamie Kennedy, Ash Tsai, and Jason Markoff, followed by Thornton starring in director/writer Michael Pickle’s high school horror movie, The Dead Place (date to be announced). Then Thornton led the cast of director/writer Mitchell Slan’s horror movie about a streamer and a masked killer, Rough Cut (date to be announced), with Kimberly J. Brown and Kayla Cromer.