Doc Antle was no stranger to Hollywood before Netflix’s Tiger King, and worked on a number of famous movies. Netflix’s new documentary about some people at the center of the big cat world has become a sensation thanks to the colorful personality of Joe Exotic and the insane developments of the story, keeping Tiger King a big point of discussion online. Even with seven episodes (plus a new bonus episode), there is only so much the docu-series can explore, especially with the long list of individuals involved, from Carole Baskin to Jeff Lowe.
Another person at the center of Tiger King‘s story is Mahamayavi Bhagavan Antle aka Doc Antle. He is a world-famous animal trainer who founded The Institute for the Greatly Endangered and Rare Species, a giant wildlife preserve in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Prior to his appearance on Tiger King, Antle was already quite well-known for his appearances on late-night talk shows. But, his involvement in the big cat and other wildlife worlds doesn’t begin and end with his preserve, as he has a long history of working on film productions since he is an expert in the field.
Despite this aspect of Antle’s life, Tiger King doesn’t dive too deep into his career in Hollywood. In addition to working on live performances, Antle served many animal-related roles on set for about 15 years. He began consulting on movies during the 1990s but hasn’t been credited on a project in over a decade. Here’s the full list of movies Antle worked on:
- Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D. (1990) – Head Animal Trainer
- The War (1994) – Animal Trailer/Animal Wrangler
- The Jungle Book (1994) – Animal Trailer
- Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995) – Principal Animal Trainer
- The Second Jungle Book: Mowgli & Baloo (1997) – Tiger Trainer
- Wild America (1997) – Animal Coordinator/Animal Trainer
- Mighty Joe Young (1998) – Animal Trainer
- The Jungle Book 2 (2003) – Animal Trainer
- The Notorious Bettie Page (2005) – Animal Wrangler
Throughout this time in Antle’s life, he was able to work on some notable projects, such as Ace Ventura 2 or Disney’s Mighty Joe Young, but the credit that may confuse people the most is Jungle Book 2. Unlike the other live-action Jungle Book adaptations on his filmography, Jungle Book 2 is an animated movie, so the need for a real-life animal trainer might seem odd. While Antle’s exact role on the animated sequel isn’t known, it would appear that Disney still used actual animals in some capacity. Whether Antle helped train animals for animators to use as reference points or helped produce the animal sounds isn’t clear, but both are fairly common practices in the industry.
Even though Antle’s days of working as behind-the-scenes as an animal trainer or consultant are probably done, his renewed fame thanks to Tiger King could lead to him being in front of the camera again soon. In addition to the Netflix series, he’s appeared on Man v. Animal in 2017 and several other animal-focused documentaries. Since his story wasn’t the focus of Tiger King, it’s possible that more Doc Antle content could come before too long, whether in the form of other Joe Exotic documentaries or an Antle-specific story.
