He is a skeleton who is the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, a fantasy world based solely on the eponymous holiday.
His overall appearance is a skeleton dressed in a black pin-striped suit and a bow tie that strongly resembles a bat.
At the beginning of the film, Jack makes his grand entrance by emerging out of the fountain in Halloween Town's plaza.
[4][better source needed] Jack Skellington is the undead patron spirit of Halloween, portrayed as being on par with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny within his own holiday.
Jack, as the "Pumpkin King" and master of ceremonies, is in charge of Halloweeen Town (film)'s Halloween celebration.
He is loved, respected, and even idolized by the other residents for his role, but he has grown weary of celebrating the same holiday endlessly and is depressed about it.
One morning after the usual annual celebration, Jack enters a forest containing portals to other worlds themed around holidays.
He makes preparations for his own Christmas celebration in Halloween Town and wants to impersonate Santa Claus in the real world.
Tired of using the same old themes over and over on Halloween, Jack Skellington goes to Doctor Finkelstein, who gives him the Soul Robber, a slimy green creature that changes shape.
The games' protagonists, Sora, Donald Duck and Goofy, befriend Jack and together they battle the Heartless, and also Oogie Boogie.
Chris Sarandon reprises his role for the English version, and Masachika Ichimura provides Jack's Japanese voice.
Sora becomes worried about what will happen when he discovers his true memories, but Jack reassures him that fear is a sign of a strong heart.
But after fighting the Heartless and Oogie Boogie, who has been resurrected by Maleficent, Santa explains to Jack that they each have a job to do with their respective holidays.
Along with Sora and the gang, he helps defeat Doctor Finkelstein's experiment, who stole Christmas presents from Santa in search of a heart.
During a cut scene in the end credits, he is shown to be wearing his original suit, suggesting he has taken Santa's previous advice to heart completely, and apparently begins presenting new ideas for next Halloween.
In the Disney Infinity video game series, Jack appears as part of the second wave of playable characters.
[5] In the world builder game Disney Magic Kingdoms, Jack appears as a playable character to unlock for a limited time.
[6] An alternate version of Jack Skellington appears as a playable character in the video game Disney Mirrorverse.
[7] Jack Skellington was added as a villager to Disney Dreamlight Valley as part of a free update in December 2023, again voiced by Chris Sarandon.
[8] On November 3, 2023, Jack Skellington was disabled in the "Save the World" mode in Fortnite due to an issue.
He appeared in the Kingdom Hearts action figure collections, and was also released in Japan's REVOLTECH Sci-fi line in 2010, along with the Japanese monsters, Gamera and Gyaos.
In the Disney Infinity toys-to-life series, Jack appears as part of the second wave of playable figurines.