Biography: Tommy Lee Jones was born on September 15th 1946 in San Saba, Texas. His father was a hard-drinking oil-field worker and his mother worked as a police officer, they divorced while Tommy was still very young. It was a difficult childhood, but things started to look up when he started to play football in the 7th grade at Alamo Junior High. He earned scholarships and continued his education at St. Mark’s School, where he almost immediately became interested in acting, appearing in several of the school’s plays such as “Under Milk Wood” and “The Caine Mutiny”.

In 1965 Jones continued playing football at Harvard University where his roommates were John Lithgow and Al Gore. But he became more and more convinced that he wanted to be an actor and so appeared in several Shakespearian plays. After graduating from Harvard Jones moved to New York to pursue an acting career. He would land his first Broadway part only one week after he arrived to the Big Apple, in “A Patriot for Me”. Jones married Katharine Lardner, the marriage would last seven years.

Jones made his first film appearance in LOVE STORY (1970). During the next five years Jones worked for television, appearing in “One Life to Live”. By this time Jones began to realise that his career was getting him nowhere. He didn’t get the chance to play any good parts; he was constantly passed over for bigger names. Broadway was at a low point too, the shows were shallow and coarse. Tommy Lee made the decision to move to the west coast, to Los Angeles. Jones made his living playing small parts in JACKSON COUNTY JAIL, THE AMAZING HOWARD HUGHES and THE BETSY. After his marriage fell apart in 1978 Tommy Lee enjoyed a typical Hollywood lifestyle for some time, partying a lot and seeing a lot of dames. It was during this period he met Kimberlea Gayle Cloughley. They married in 1981; the marriage would last until Kimberlea discovered that Tommy Lee was being unfaithful to her in 1995.

During the 80’s Tommy Lee appeared in TV productions such as “The Executioner’s Song”, “The Rainmaker” and “Cat On a Hot Tin Roof”. One of his better parts during this period was in the mini-series “Lonesome Dove”, where he played a Texas Ranger, co-starring with Robert Duvall. Tommy Lee Jones was still an unknown to the general public, but that was going to change within a few short years. He appeared in Mike Figgis’ film noir STORMY MONDAY (1988), then in Andrew Davis’ spy film THE PACKAGE (1989) where he plays a prisoner who is transported to the U.S. by Sgt Gallagher (Gene Hackman). He received an Academy Award nomination for his eerie performance as suspected assassinator Clay Shaw in Oliver Stones JFK (1991). Jones then re-teamed with director Andrew Davis for two more films; UNDER SIEGE (1992) where he plays a disgruntled ex-CIA operative who leads a band that takes over a battleship.

The second film was the excellent chase movie THE FUGITIVE (1993) where he plays opposite Harrison Ford. Ford stars as Dr. Richard Kimble, an innocent man accused of murdering his wife. He is now on the run and leading the pursuit is the relentless U.S. marshal Sam Gerard, played by Jones who won an Oscar. By this time Jones became one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, a position which has been cemented by a number of strong performances in some of the decades’ most successful films. He played Dwight McCluskey in Oliver Stone’s road movie NATURAL BORN KILLERS (1994) and Two-Face in the blockbuster BATMAN FOREVER (1995). He teamed with Will Smith in the sci-fi comedy MEN IN BLACK (1997) which grossed 250 million dollars. Jones plays ‘K’, a veteran of a government agency that tracks down aliens on Earth. Smith and Jones form a perfect duo, Smith with his frantic energy and Jones with his deadpan delivery. Jones returned as Sam Gerard in U.S. MARSHALS (1998) opposite Wesley Snipes and as ‘K’ in MEN IN BLACK II (2002). Other notable appearances are the thriller DOUBLE JEOPARDY (1999) and Clint Eastwood’s space adventure SPACE COWBOYS (2000).

Jones lives on a large ranch outside his hometown San Saba where he raises polo ponies and cattle. He has two children, Austin and Victoria. Jones is known to be short tempered with journalists and has a reputation of being difficult to work with sometimes. His characters on the screen are often dangerous, sympathetic and intelligent. He is currently working on the drama MISSING and will then appear in CHEER UP.
 

Biography written by Erik Ståhlberg.