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Tommy Lee Jones

One of the most acclaimed and accomplished actors in Hollywood, Academy Award winner Tommy Lee Jones brings a distinct character to his every film.

Most recently Jones directed The Sunset Limited for HBO. This telefilm, which premiered in February, is based on the play of the same name by Cormac McCarthy and starred Jones and Samuel L. Jackson.

Jones' upcoming films include lead roles in Men in Black 3, in which he reprises his role as Agent K; Lincoln for director Steven Spielberg; and Great Hope Springs with Meryl Streep.

Jones was awarded the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his portrayal of the uncompromising U.S. Marshal Sam Gerard in the box office hit The Fugitive in 1994. For this performance, he also received a Golden Globe Award as Best Supporting Actor. Three years before, Jones received his first Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Clay Shaw in Oliver Stone's JFK.

In 2005, audiences saw Jones star in the critically acclaimed film, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, which he also directed and produced. The film debuted in competition at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival and garnered Jones the award for Best Actor and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga the award for Best Screenplay for this film about friendship and murder along the Texas-Mexican border.

In 2007 Jones starred in the critically acclaimed film In the Valley of Elah, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. The film, directed by Paul Haggis, is about a career officer who investigates the disappearance of his son, an exemplary soldier who went AWOL after his recent return from Iraq.

In that same year he starred in the Academy Award-winning film No Country for Old Men, written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and based on the Cormac McCarthy novel.

Jones made his feature film debut in Love Story and, in a career spanning four decades, has starred in such films as Eyes of Laura Mars, Coal Miner's Daughter (for which he received his first Golden Globe nomination), Stormy Monday, The Package, JFK, Under Siege, The Fugitive, Heaven and Earth, The Client, Natural Born Killers, Blue Sky, Cobb, Batman Forever, Men in Black, U.S. Marshals, Double Jeopardy, Rules of Engagement, Space Cowboys, Men in Black 2, The Hunted, The Missing, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, A Prairie Home Companion, In the Electric Mist and The Company Men.

In 1995, Jones made his directorial debut with the critically acclaimed telefilm adaptation of the Elmer Kelton novel The Good Old Boys for TNT. Jones also starred in the telefilm with Sissy Spacek, Sam Shepard, Frances McDormand and Matt Damon. For his portrayal of Hewey Calloway, he received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination and a CableACE Award nomination.

Jones has had previous success on the small screen. In 1983, he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or a Special for his portrayal of Gary Gilmore in The Executioner's Song and, in 1989, he was nominated for an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Special for Lonesome Dove.

His numerous network and cable credits include the title role in The Amazing Howard Hughes, the American Playhouse production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Rainmaker for HBO, the HBO/BBC production of Yuri Noshenko, KGB and April Morning.

In 1969, Jones made his Broadway debut in John Osborne's A Patriot for Me. His other Broadway appearances include Four on a Garden with Carol Channing and Sid Caesar, and Ulysses in Nighttown with the late Zero Mostel.

Born in San Saba, Texas, he worked briefly with his father in the oil fields before attending St. Mark's School of Texas, then Harvard University, where he graduated cum laude with a degree in English.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2011.
Read earlier biographies on this page.

Tommy Lee Jones Facts

OccupationActor, Producer, Director
BirthdaySeptember 15, 1946 (77)
SignVirgo
BirthplaceSan Saba, Texas, USA
Height6' (1m83)  How tall is Tommy Lee Jones compared to you?
Awards2008 BAFTA Awards: Actor in a Supporting Role (for No Country For Old Men)
1994 Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor (for The Fugitive)
1994 Golden Globe Awards: Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Motion Picture (for The Fugitive)
1994 MTV Movie Awards: Best On-Screen Duo (for The Fugitive)

Selected Filmography

Mechanic: Resurrection
No Country For Old Men
Jason Bourne
Lincoln
Men In Black II
Captain America: The First Avenger
Double Jeopardy
Under Siege
Stormy Monday
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