Jones, Cherry (b. 1956), actress. One of the brightest new acting talents to come out of the last decade of the 20th century, Jones is a striking leading lady with a wide smile that camouflages complex and fascinating characters. She was born in Paris, Tennessee, and was educated at Carnegie Mellon University before getting experience in regional theatre. Although praised for some of her early Off‐Broadway efforts, she gained wide attention with her 1991 Broadway debut as the condemned prisoner‐actress Liz in Our Country's Good (1991) and gave a luminous portrayal of the reclusive Catherine Sloper in The Heiress (1995). Jones's other exceptional performances include the spinster artist Hannah Jelkes in The Night of the Iguana (1996), the champion swimmer Mabel seen at different ages in Pride's Crossing (1997), a small but hardened Josie Hogan in A Moon for the Misbegotten (2000), the idealistic Major Barbara (2001), and the bitchy writer Mary McCarthy in Imaginary Friends (2002). Clive Barnes in the New York Post described Jones's Catherine Sloper as “radiant in hope, tragic in despair, chilling in conviction, [she] resonates with passions that seem all the more vibrant for being suppressed.”
Cherry Jones
| American Theater Guide: Cherry Jones |
| Actor: Cherry Jones |
- Born: Nov 21, 1956 in Paris, Tennessee
- Occupation: Actor
- Active: '90s-2000s
- Major Genres: Drama, Comedy Drama
- Career Highlights: Erin Brockovich, Cradle Will Rock, Julian Po
- First Major Screen Credit: Julian Po (1997)
Biography
Well known as a premiere theater actress and an advocate for gay rights, Cherry Jones has also appeared in a number of high-profile films. Born and raised in Tennessee, Jones headed north to study drama at Carnegie Mellon University. A founding member of the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, MA, Jones spent the early years of her professional career performing in a wide range of plays. After she relocated to New York, Jones acted in numerous Broadway productions, including Angels in America, The Night of the Iguana, Our Country's Good, and A Moon for the Misbegotten. Her performance as the lonely heroine in the 1995 production of The Heiress earned Jones several awards, including the Tony.Even as she became a theater star, Jones added TV and films to her repertoire in the 1980s, with supporting roles in the TV docudrama Alex: The Life of a Child (1986) and Paul Schrader's Light of Day (1987). Though drama was her primary forte, Jones also appeared in the hit comedies Housesitter (1992) and A League of Their Own (1992). After several years of stage work, Jones returned to films in the independent black comedy Julian Po (1997), and Robert Redford's The Horse Whisperer (1998). Jones brought an air of forceful integrity to her roles as the embattled head of the Federal Theater Project in Tim Robbins' 1930s tapestry Cradle Will Rock (1999) and as one of the chemical contamination victims in Steven Soderbergh's Erin Brockovich (2000).
Unabashedly out since her professional debut at age 21, Jones made theater history of sorts when she thanked her same-sex domestic partner from the podium when she won her Tony for The Heiress. Jones added her voice to Out of the Past (1998), a documentary about the struggles of the gay rights movement throughout U.S. history, and co-starred in the TV movie about lesbian parents, What Makes a Family (2001).
Continuing to take smaller roles in big movies between her stage work, Jones followed Erin Brockovich with a turn as one of the residents on land forced to come to grips with the tragic effects of The Perfect Storm (2000). Back on summer movie screens two years later in two heavily hyped releases, Jones was one of the many oddly monikered women populating the eccentric female universe in Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002). In M. Night Shyamalan's spiritual science fiction hit Signs (2002), Jones quietly shined with her gentle yet no-nonsense performance as the local cop who gets involved in teasing out the meaning of the crop circles in anguished father Mel Gibson's corn field. Both Soderbergh and Shyamalan would continue to feature her such films as Ocean's Twelve and The Village, as Jones continued to rack up acclaim for her stage work, including a Best Actress Tony in 2005 for John Patrick Shanley's Doubt. In 2007 Fox announced that Jones would be portraying the first female president on the seventh season of 24. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
| Filmography: Cherry Jones |
| Wikipedia: Cherry Jones |
| Cherry Jones | |
 Jones at 24's season 7 finale screening, 2009 |
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| Born | November 21, 1956 Paris, Tennessee, United States |
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Cherry Jones (born November 21, 1956) is a American actress.
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Career
Jones is most well known for her role as President Allison Taylor on the Fox series 24; however, she also has done extensive stage work, including her Tony-winning lead performances in Lincoln Center's 1995 production of The Heiress and John Patrick Shanley's play Doubt, a role which earned her the 2005 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Play. The play opened at the Walter Kerr Theatre in March 2005. Other Broadway credits include Nora Ephron's play Imaginary Friends (with Swoosie Kurtz); Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and Perestroika, the 2000 revival of A Moon for the Misbegotten, and Timberlake Wertenbaker's Our Country's Good, for which she earned her first Tony nomination.[1] She is considered to be one of the foremost theater actresses in the United States.[citation needed]
She also narrated the audiobook adaptations of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series including, "Little House in the Big Woods", "Little House on the Prairie" , "Farmer Boy","On the Banks of Plum Creek" , "By the Shores of Silver Lake" , "The Long Winter" and "Little Town on the Prairie"
In recent years, Jones has ventured into the film industry, in which she has played mostly supporting roles. Her screen credits include Cradle Will Rock, The Perfect Storm, Ocean's Twelve, Signs, and The Village.[2]
Jones also played President Allison Taylor on the seventh season of the Fox series 24. Jones will reprise her role as President Allison Taylor during the 2010 season, currently in planning stages. Filming is slated to begin on May 1, 2009.[3]
Personal life
Jones was born in Paris, Tennessee, to a high school teacher mother and a flower shop owner father.[4] She is a 1978 graduate of the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama.
In 1995, when Jones accepted her first Tony Award, she thanked her then-partner, architect Mary O'Connor. When she accepted her Best Actress Tony in 2005 for her work in Doubt, she thanked "Laura Wingfield", the Glass Menagerie character being played in the Broadway revival by Jones' partner, actress Sarah Paulson.[5] The pair had attended the awards together and kissed right after Jones won, thus making it clear that Paulson was not secretive about the relationship. In 2007, Paulson and Jones declared their love for each other in an interview with VelvetPark at Women's Event 10 for the LGBT Center of New York.[6]
Filmography
- Alex: The Life of a Child (1986) (TV) .... Tina Crawford
- Light of Day (1987) .... Cindy Montgomery
- The Big Town (1987) .... Ginger McDonald
- Spenser: For Hire (1987) TV Series ....Tracy Kincaid
- HouseSitter (1992) .... Patty
- Loving (1983) TV Series .... Frankie (1992)
- Polio Water (1995) .... Virginia
- Julian Po (1997) .... Lucy
- The Horse Whisperer (1998) .... Liz Hammond
- Murder in a Small Town (1999) (TV) .... Mimi Barnes
- Cradle Will Rock (1999) .... Hallie Flanagan
- The Lady in Question (1999) (TV) .... Mimi Barnes
- Erin Brockovich (2000) .... Pamela Duncan
- The Perfect Storm (2000) .... Edie Bailey
- Cora Unashamed (2000) (TV) .... Lizbeth Studevant
- What Makes a Family (2001) (TV) .... Sandy Cataldi
- Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2000).... Buggy Abbott
- Signs (2002) .... Officer Paski
- The West Wing TV Series .... Barbara Layton (2004)
- The Village (2004) .... Mrs. Clack
- Clubhouse (2004) TV Series .... Sister Marie
- Ocean's Twelve (2004) .... Molly Star/Mrs. Caldwell
- Swimmers (2005) .... Julia Tyler
- 24 (2009-present) .... President Allison Taylor
- Mother and Child (2010) .... Sister Joanne
References
- ^ Internet Broadway Database Cherry Jones at the Internet Broadway Database
- ^ Cherry Jones at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ "Jones moves into 24 Oval Office". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSN2027850820070721?feedType=RSS&rpc=22&sp=true. Retrieved on 2008-07-26.
- ^ Cherry Jones Biography (1956-)
- ^ AfterEllen.com Sarah Paulson
- ^ velvetparkmedia.com
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cherry Jones |
- Cherry Jones at the Internet Broadway Database
- Cherry Jones at the Internet Movie Database
- Cherry Jones at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
- Cast Out: Queer Lives in Theater (U. Michigan Press, edited by Robin Bernstein) republishes the interview in which Cherry Jones first publicly discussed her sexuality.
- Cherry Jones - Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing.org
- TonyAwards.com Interview with Cherry Jones
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This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
 | Murder in a Small Town (TV Episode) (1999 Mystery TV Episode) |
| The Night of the Iguana (American Theater) |
| What Makes a Family (2001 Film) |
Copyrights:
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 | American Theater Guide. The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. Copyright © 2004 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Actor. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Cherry Jones". Read more |
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Mentioned in
- Murder in a Small Town (TV Episode) (1999 Mystery TV Episode)
- The Night of the Iguana (American Theater)
- What Makes a Family (2001 Film)
- The Heiress (American Theater)
- A Moon for the Misbegotten (American Theater)
- Pride's Crossing (American Theater)
- Out of the Past (1998 History Film)
- Cora Unashamed (TV Episode) (2000 Drama TV Episode)
- Naked Songs (1995 Album by Rickie Lee Jones)
- The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads (1982 Album by Talking Heads)
- White Animals (Rock Band, '80s)
- Jab It in Yore Eye (1974 Album by Sharks)
- George Bernard Shaw (American Theater)
- Ol' Dirty Bastard
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