Cherry Jones is epitome of the successful stage actor, & yet she is probably best known for a TV series. In 2008, Jones joined the cast of the Fox television series, 24, playing the role of the President of the United States. For her work in this role, she received a 2009 Emmy Award as Best Supporting Actress in a Drama. Cherry Jones became the first out lesbian to win a Tony Award when she was chosen as Best Actress in 1995. Classically trained & notably versatile, she has performed in a wide range of stage roles, gaining admiration for her professionalism.
Cherry Jones grew up in Paris, Tennessee- "a wonderful little town . . . a wonderful mix of tolerant and intolerant people," she acknowledges feeling like an outsider at times, such as when, at age twelve, she felt alienated from her church because "they could never embrace [me] because of [my] homosexuality.". Seeing Colleen Dewhurst in Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten caused a 16 year old Jones, to aspire to be a professional actress herself. Ironically, Jones would go on to play this role on Broadway opposite Gabriel Byrne in 2000. After making her Broadway debut as the Angel in Tony Kushner's Angels in America, Jones had her first major Broadway role in Timberlake Wertenbaker's Our Country's Good in 1991, for which she earned a Tony nomination. She was also nominated in 2000 for her performance in A Moon for the Misbegotten.
In 1995, after fifteen years on stage, Jones became an "overnight sensation" with a powerful lead performance in a revival of Ruth and Augustus Goetz's The Heiress, & she also became the first openly gay actress to win a Tony award. In her acceptance speech, she thanked her partner- architect Mary O'Connor. In 2004, after 18 years together, Jones & O'Connor ended their relationship. Jones is currently in a relationship with actress Sarah Paulson. In 2004, Jones starred in the Manhattan Theatre Club's production of John Patrick Shanley's Doubt, which moved to Broadway in 2005 & won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Jones's intense performance as a nun suspicious that a priest might be abusing students won her a second Tony Award. Jones called the experience of being the first out lesbian to win a Tony "humbling," & spoke of the importance of the award saying - "it means the world to all of those people in all of those places who can't be out." My friend Kevin A studied with her & he told me that she was an amazing & inspirational acting coach.
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