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Tommy Lee Jones

Tommy Lee JonesBorn: 15-Sep-1946
Birthplace: San Saba, TX

Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Men in Black

Tommy Lee Jones's mother was a cop and a beautician, and his father was an oil rig worker and a heavy drinker who was sometimes abusive to his family. They were married and divorced twice. Young Tommy attended Dallas's prestigious St. Mark's School (on a scholarship, Jones points out). He played football and stumbled into acting by accident, and it changed his life. "One day I happened to walk into a practice room and came upon a rehearsal of Mister Roberts. Almost immediately, I started acting in plays... My feelings at this discovery were indescribable". He attended Harvard, where he played offensive guard on the football team and won all-Ivy League athletic honors, but Jones was too scrawny to play professional football. At Harvard, his roommates were Al Gore and, later, John Lithgow. Erich Segal, who attended and later taught at Harvard, has mentioned both Jones and Gore as models for the character of Oliver in Segal's novel, Love Story. Jones actually had a small role in the film version of Love Story, long before he was famous.

Jones performed in summer rep in Cambridge and Boston, and eventually came to New York, where he made his Broadway stage debut in A Patriot for Me, in 1970. He played Dr. Mark Toland on the soap opera One Life to Live from 1971-75, while still appearing in plays. Weary of holding two jobs, Jones left for Los Angeles in the mid-1970s, where he quickly found work in low-budget films and the pilot episode of TV's Charlie's Angels. In 1976 he landed the lead in the film Jackson County Jail, and in 1977 he played The Amazing Howard Hughes in a TV movie, to great acclaim. Jones worked steadily in films and TV until 1989's Lonesome Dove made him a household name. Since then, he's worked almost exclusively in film, including JFK, The Client, The Fugitive, Men in Black and its sequel, Space Cowboys, and The Missing.

In front of the camera, Jones is famous for his short temper with other actors and general grumpiness with journalists. When he's not working, Jones frequently hobnobs with pals Willie Nelson, Gary Busey, Oliver Stone, and Robert Duvall. Jones owns a working cattle ranch near San Antonio, TX. He plays polo competitively, and his team won the U.S. Polo Association's Western Challenge Cup in 1993. In 1998, Jones was injured falling from his horse in a polo match.

Father: Clyde L. Jones (oil rigger)
Mother: Lucille Marie Scott Jones (police officer)
Wife: Katherine Lardner (actress, m. 1971; div. 1978)
Wife: Kimberlea Gayle Cloughley (photographer, m. 30-May-1981, div. 1996)
Son: Austin Leonard "Bubba" Jones (b. 1983)
Daughter: Victoria Kafka "Tory" Jones (b. 1991)
Girlfriend: Lisa Taylor (model)
Wife: Dawn Laurel (camera assistant, m. 19-Mar-2001)

    High School: St. Mark's School of Texas (1965)
    University: BA American Literature, Harvard University (1969)

    Gore 2000
    Kerry Victory 2004
    Oscar for Best Supporting Actor 1994 for Fugitive
    Golden Globe 1994 for Fugitive
    Emmy 1983 for The Executioner's Song
    Hollywood Walk of Fame 6925 Hollywood Blvd.

    FILMOGRAPHY AS DIRECTOR
    The Homesman (18-May-2014)
    The Sunset Limited (12-Feb-2011)
    The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (20-May-2005)
    The Good Old Boys (5-Mar-1995)

    FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
    Mechanic: Resurrection (22-Aug-2016)
    Jason Bourne (3-Jul-2016)
    Criminal (5-Apr-2016)
    The Homesman (18-May-2014)
    The Family (10-Sep-2013)
    Lincoln (8-Oct-2012)
    Emperor (14-Sep-2012)
    Hope Springs (8-Aug-2012) · Arnold
    Men in Black III (23-May-2012)
    Captain America: The First Avenger (22-Jul-2011) · Col. Chester Phillips
    The Sunset Limited (12-Feb-2011) · White
    The Company Men (22-Jan-2010) · Gene McClary
    In the Electric Mist (7-Feb-2009) · Dave Robicheaux
    Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 (5-Sep-2008) · Himself
    In the Valley of Elah (1-Sep-2007) · Hank Deerfield
    No Country for Old Men (19-May-2007)
    A Prairie Home Companion (12-Feb-2006)
    The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (20-May-2005) · Pete Perkins
    Man of the House (25-Feb-2005) · Roland Sharp
    The Missing (26-Nov-2003) · Samuel Jones
    The Hunted (11-Mar-2003) · L. T. Bonham
    Men in Black II (26-Jun-2002) · Kevin Brown
    Space Cowboys (1-Aug-2000) · Hawk Hawkins
    Rules of Engagement (31-Mar-2000)
    Double Jeopardy (21-Sep-1999)
    Small Soldiers (10-Jul-1998) · Chip Hazard [VOICE]
    U.S. Marshals (6-Mar-1998)
    Men in Black (2-Jul-1997) · Kay
    Volcano (25-Apr-1997) · Mike Roark
    Batman Forever (16-Jun-1995) · Harvey Two-Face
    The Good Old Boys (5-Mar-1995)
    Cobb (2-Dec-1994) · Ty Cobb
    Blue Sky (9-Sep-1994)
    Natural Born Killers (26-Aug-1994) · Warden Dwight McClusky
    The Client (20-Jul-1994)
    Blown Away (1-Jul-1994) · Gaerity
    The Fugitive (6-Aug-1993)
    House of Cards (25-Jun-1993)
    Heaven & Earth (20-Jan-1993)
    Under Siege (9-Oct-1992)
    JFK (20-Dec-1991) · Clay Shaw
    Fire Birds (25-May-1990)
    The Package (25-Aug-1989) · Thomas Boyette
    Lonesome Dove (5-Feb-1989)
    Gotham (21-Aug-1988)
    April Morning (24-Apr-1988) · Moses Cooper
    Stormy Monday (22-Apr-1988) · Cosmo
    The Big Town (25-Sep-1987)
    Broken Vows (28-Jan-1987)
    Black Moon Rising (10-Jan-1986) · Quint
    The Park Is Mine (3-Jan-1986) · Mitch
    The River Rat (28-Sep-1984) · Billy
    Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (19-Aug-1984) · Brick Pollitt
    Nate and Hayes (18-Nov-1983)
    The Executioner's Song (10-Sep-1982)
    Back Roads (13-Mar-1981)
    Coal Miner's Daughter (22-Feb-1980) · Doolittle Lynn
    Eyes of Laura Mars (2-Aug-1978)
    The Betsy (9-Feb-1978) · Angelo Perino
    Rolling Thunder (14-Oct-1977)
    The Amazing Howard Hughes (13-Apr-1977)
    Smash-Up on Interstate 5 (3-Dec-1976)
    Jackson County Jail (28-Jul-1976)
    Love Story (16-Dec-1970)


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