Jon Douglas Rainey
In January Off Campus Life and ACCENT brought Jon Douglas Rainey, co-host of It Takes a Thief on the Discovery Channel, to speak to students and the community about how to keep your residence safe and also show behind the scenes footage of the show.
Bio
Jon was born in Camden, New Jersey and lived in New Jersey until the age of 23, when he enlisted in the United States Coast Guard. Prior to that, he was in trouble with the law as a juvenile and young adult on several occasions. Jon was a professional car thief, breaking and entering into auto dealerships along the Jersey coast and driving off with cars like Corvettes, Camaros, Mustang GTs and Porsches. As a juvenile and first time offender as an adult, he was sentenced to probation, community service and restitution. Jon went to Camden County College, unsure of what direction he wanted to go in, and studied both law and acting. Just shy a few courses of getting his associates, the Coast Guard was awarding waivers for people with criminal records that did not involve physical violence to join the military, and Jon left college and New Jersey for a tour in the service.
Jon did boarding patrols on the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Sorrel in New York, and when he was Honorably Discharged after four years, he returned to New Jersey and worked as a licensed Private Investigator in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania. His primary work load was divided between domestic cases and insurance fraud. He investigated over 3oo insurance fraud cases in the four and a half years as a investigator, and testified in court for the prosecutors office in over a hundred cases. In the last year as an investigator, he resumed to study acting under acting coach Mike Lemon in Philadelphia, who helped Jon make the transition from detective to actor.
Jon started to get acting work, playing Tony in Tony-N-Tina's Wedding at the Venice Plaza on weekends, and then getting commercial work through Mile Lemons Casting company. Eventually, Jon started to travel to New York to work on shows like "Sex and the City," "Rescue Me," and "Law & Order." Jon, believing he needed to live in New York to move his career forward, retired from the private investigation business and did just that. He moved to Harlem and started auditioning for roles.
Fourteen months after his move, Jon starred in six independent films, and worked on over a dozen t.v. sets, but his big break came when he saw an ad in the paper that read: "Major Cable Network looking to cast Host of new t.v. show. Applicants must have criminal experience and must have theft related criminal record, but not within the past 10 years." Jon, amazed at the ad, fit the description, and auditioned for the part. Over seven thousand people auditioned for the part. The network was Discovery Channel, and they informed Jon that he got the part as Host and Break-in expert for their new show "It Takes a Thief."
Jon hosted 80 episodes of "It Takes A Thief," and has worked with security experts and security equipment vendors for over 3 years. Jon has been discussing the fundamentals of individual safety and personal security on over 50 radio shows, and has been the cover story on magazines like "Sales and Security Integration," and "Readers Digest," and has been interviewed on many talk shows including "The Today Show," "20/20," "Jimmy Kimmel Live," "Geraldo At Large," "The Morning Show with Mike & Juliet," and "The Big Idea with Donny Deautsch," and has given presentations to colleges and security functions for the past 3 years. Currently, AMC is considering doing a new show called "Free Kairo" about Jon's experiences as a Private Detective, and Jon continues to educate people about how to secure themselves and their loved ones.