Ron Cephas Jones (born January 8, 1957) is an American actor. He is best known for his role in the drama series ''

This Is Us ''This Is Us'' is an American family drama television series that aired on NBC from September 20, 2016, to May 24, 2022. The series follows the lives and families of two parents, and their three children, in several different time frames. It ...

'' (2016–2022), which earned him four consecutive

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

nominations, winning twice for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series in 2018 and 2020. Jones appeared in television series such as ''

Mr. Robot ''Mr. Robot'' is an American drama thriller television series created by Sam Esmail for USA Network. It stars Rami Malek as Elliot Alderson, a cybersecurity engineer and hacker with social anxiety disorder, clinical depression and dissociativ ...

'' (2015–2016), ''

The Get Down ''The Get Down'' is an American musical drama television series created by Baz Luhrmann and Stephen Adly Guirgis. The series debuted on Netflix on August 12, 2016, and was cancelled after the first season. Produced by Sony Pictures Television, t ...

'' (2016–2017), ''Luke Cage'' (2016–2018), and '' Truth Be Told'' (2019-present). He also appeared in a number of films, including ''

Half Nelson A nelson hold is a grappling hold which is executed by one person from behind the opponent, generally when both are on the mat face down with the opponent under the aggressor. One or both arms are used to encircle the opponent's arm under the armpi ...

'' (2006), ''

Across the Universe "Across the Universe" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. It was written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song first appeared on the 1969 various artists' charity compilation album '' No One's Gonna Change Our ...

'' (2007), '' Glass Chin'' (2014), ''

The Holiday Calendar ''The Holiday Calendar'' is a 2018 American Christmas romantic comedy film directed by Bradley Walsh from a screenplay by Amyn Kaderali. The film stars Kat Graham, Quincy Brown, Ethan Peck, and Ron Cephas Jones. It was released on November 2, 201 ...

'' (2018), ''

Dog Days The dog days or are the hot, sultry days of summer. They were historically the period following the heliacal rising of the star system Sirius (known colloquially as the "Dog Star"), which Hellenistic astrology connected with heat, drought, sud ...

'' (2018), and ''

Dolemite Is My Name ''Dolemite Is My Name'' is a 2019 American biographical comedy film directed by Craig Brewer and written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. The film stars Eddie Murphy as filmmaker Rudy Ray Moore, who is best known for having portrayed ...

'' (2019).

Early life

Jones was born on January 8, 1957, in

Paterson, New Jersey Paterson ( ) is the largest city in and the county seat of Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.John F. Kennedy High School and graduated from

Ramapo College Ramapo College of New Jersey (RCNJ) is a public liberal arts college in Mahwah, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. As of the fall 2021 semester, there were a total of 5,732 students enrolled at the colleg ...

. While at Ramapo, Jones had originally intended to study jazz under director Arnold Jones (no relation), but changed majors to theater after getting the lead in a production of ''Cinderella Ever After'' his sophomore year. Jones graduated from Ramapo in 1978, after which he moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

and drove a bus for the

Southern California Rapid Transit District The Southern California Rapid Transit District (almost always referred to as ''RTD'' or rarely as ''SCRTD'') was a public transportation agency established in 1964 to serve the Greater Los Angeles area. It was the successor to the original Los ...

for the next four years. During that time, Jones stated he "fell in love, had a child, got separated". He then "traveled around", living in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States. It is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th largest and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14 ...

, and

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

in 1985.

Career

After returning to New York in 1985, Jones began spending time at the

Nuyorican Poets Café The Nuyorican (Puerto Rican New Yorkers) Poets Cafe is a nonprofit organization in Alphabet City, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It is a bastion of the Nuyorican art movement in New York City, and has become a forum for poetry, music, hip ...

in Manhattan's East Village. During that time, he performed in a play based on the

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop s ...

song '' Don't Explain''. His performance caught the attention of a casting director, which led to Jones being offered the lead role in the

Tazewell Thompson Tazewell Thompson (born May 27, 1948), is an African-American theatre director, the former artistic director of the Westport Country Playhouse (2006–07) in Westport, Connecticut and the Syracuse Stage (1992–95) in New York state. Prior to ...

production of the

Cheryl West Cheryl L. West (born October 23, 1965, Chicago) is an American playwright. Life West holds a degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. She worked as a social worker and taught before turning to playwriting. In 1990, she came t ...

play ''Holiday Heart'' in 1994. Jones has performed in several theatrical productions with the

Steppenwolf Theatre Company Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Chicago theatre company founded in 1974 by Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry, and Gary Sinise in the Unitarian church on Half Day Road in Deerfield, Illinois and is now located in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood o ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

; appeared as the title character of

Shakespeare's William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

''Richard III'' with

The Public Theater The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American L ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, as well as other

Off Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

productions. Jones has served as an

understudy In theater, an understudy, referred to in opera as cover or covering, is a performer who learns the lines and blocking or choreography of a regular actor, actress, or other performer in a play. Should the regular actor or actress be unable to a ...

or standby in several

Broadway theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''T ...

productions. In 2014 Jones starred as Prometheus in

Prometheus Bound ''Prometheus Bound'' ( grc, Προμηθεὺς Δεσμώτης, ''Promētheús Desmṓtēs'') is an Ancient Greek tragedy traditionally attributed to Aeschylus and thought to have been composed sometime between 479 BC and the terminus ante ...

directed by

Travis Preston Travis Preston (born September 20, 1959) is an American director and theater artist known for his temper and abusive tendencies. He is the Artistic Director of the CalArts Center for New Performance and Dean of the CalArts School of Theater. Hi ...

through the CalArts Center for New Performance. His film credits include ''

He Got Game ''He Got Game'' is a 1998 American sports drama film written, produced and directed by Spike Lee and starring Denzel Washington and Ray Allen. The film revolves around Jake Shuttlesworth (Denzel Washington), father of the top-ranked basketball pro ...

'' (1998), ''

Sweet and Lowdown ''Sweet and Lowdown'' is a 1999 American comedy-drama mockumentary film written and directed by Woody Allen. Loosely based on Federico Fellini's film '' La Strada'', the film tells the fictional story, set in the 1930s, of self-confident jazz gu ...

'' (1999), ''Half Nelson'' (2006), and ''Across The Universe'' (2007). In television, he appeared as Reverend Lowdown in the episode "The Goat Rodeo" of the 2013 television series '' Low Winter Sun'' and he played Romero, a member of "fsociety" in the 2015 television series ''

''. He also appeared on season 3 of the show ''Banshee'' as Philadelphia kingpin, Mr. Frasier. He played Harlem chess master Bobby Fish in season 1 of

Marvel Marvel may refer to: Business * Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company ** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment ** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe ** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics * ...

's ''Luke Cage''. Since 2016, Jones stars on the NBC

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

series ''

'' as William Hill, the biological father of Randall Pearson (

Sterling K. Brown Sterling Kelby Brown (born April 5, 1976) is an American actor. He has portrayed Christopher Darden in the FX limited series '' The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story'' (2016) and stars as Randall Pearson in the NBC drama series '' ...

). Jones received critical acclaim for his performance on ''This Is Us'' and received a

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series is an award presented annually by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS). It is given in honor of an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a guest st ...

in 2018 and 2020 for his performance. Currently, Jones appears in the

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television seri ...

teen drama In film and television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (tele ...

series ''Looking for Alaska'', as well as the

Apple TV+ Apple TV+ is an American subscription streaming service owned and operated by Apple Inc. Launched on November 1, 2019, it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service was announced ...

crime drama series ''Truth Be Told'', opposite

Octavia Spencer Octavia Lenora Spencer (born May 25, 1970) is an American actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, two Critics' Choice Awards and three Screen Actors ...

Lizzy Caplan Elizabeth Anne Caplan (born June 30, 1982) is an American actress. Her first acting role was on the television series ''Freaks and Geeks'' (1999–2000). She received wider recognition with roles in the films ''Mean Girls'' (2004) and ''Cloverfi ...

and

Aaron Paul Aaron Paul (born Aaron Paul Sturtevant; August 27, 1979) is an American actor best known for portraying Jesse Pinkman in the AMC series ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–2013), for which he won several awards, including the Critics' Choice Television ...

Personal life

Jones and British-born jazz singer Kim Lesley have a daughter, American stage and screen actress

Jasmine Cephas Jones Jasmine Cephas Jones (born July 21, 1989) is an American-British actress, singer, and producer, who originated the dual roles of Peggy Schuyler and Maria Reynolds in the Broadway stage musical '' Hamilton''. In 2020, Cephas Jones won a Primet ...

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Ron Cephas 20th-century births Place of birth missing (living people) 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors African-American male actors American male film actors American male stage actors American male television actors American male Shakespearean actors John F. Kennedy High School (Paterson, New Jersey) alumni Living people Male actors from Chicago Male actors from New York City Theatre in Chicago 1957 births People from Paterson, New Jersey Primetime Emmy Award winners Ramapo College alumni