Early acting and film (1969–1982) After graduating from Harvard in 1969, Jones moved to
New York City to become an actor, making his
Broadway debut in 1969's
A Patriot for Me in a number of supporting roles. In 1970, he landed his first film role, coincidentally playing a Harvard student in
Love Story (
Erich Segal, the author of
Love Story, said that he based the lead character of Oliver on aspects of two undergraduate roommates he knew while on a
sabbatical at Harvard, Jones and
Al Gore). In early 1971, he returned to Broadway in
Abe Burrows'
Four on a Garden where he shared the stage with
Carol Channing and
Sid Caesar. Between 1971 and 1975 he portrayed
Dr. Mark Toland on the
ABC soap opera
One Life to Live. He returned to the stage for a short-lived 1974 production of
Ulysses in Nighttown, an adaptation of one episode from
James Joyce's novel
Ulysses, playing
Stephen Dedalus opposite
Zero Mostel's
Leopold Bloom and directed by
Burgess Meredith. It was followed by the acclaimed TV movie
The Amazing Howard Hughes, where he played the lead role. In films, he played a hunted escaped convict in
Jackson County Jail (1976), a Vietnam veteran in
Rolling Thunder (1977), an automobile mogul, co-starring with
Laurence Olivier, in the
Harold Robbins drama
The Betsy (1978), and a police detective opposite
Faye Dunaway in the 1978 thriller
Eyes of Laura Mars. In 1980, Jones earned his first
Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of country singer
Loretta Lynn's husband,
Doolittle "Mooney" Lynn, in ''
Coal Miner's Daughter. In 1981, he played a drifter opposite Sally Field in Back Roads, a comedy that received middling reviews. In 1982, he co-starred with Tuesday Weld in the HBO adaptation of The Rainmaker'', directed by
John Frankenheimer.
Further exposure (1983–2004) In 1983, he won a
Primetime Emmy Award for his performance as murderer
Gary Gilmore in
''The Executioner's Song'', the television adaptation of
Norman Mailer's novel. The same year, he starred in a pirate adventure,
Nate and Hayes, playing pirate captain
Bully Hayes. In 1986, Jones played a former thief working for the
FBI in the action thriller
Black Moon Rising. In 1988, Jones co-starred with
Chad Lowe and
Robert Urich in the made-for-TV film
April Morning, which depicted the
Battle of Lexington in the
American Revolutionary War. In 1989, he earned a second
Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Texas Ranger
Woodrow F. Call in the acclaimed television miniseries
Lonesome Dove, based on
the best-seller by
Larry McMurtry. In the 1990s, Jones was featured in numerous blockbuster films. He starred as
Clay Shaw in
JFK (1991), receiving
BAFTA and
Academy Award nominations. In
The Fugitive (1993), co-starring
Harrison Ford, his performance as relentless and sharp-witted Deputy U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard in
The Fugitive received broad acclaim. He received
Golden Globe and
BAFTA nominations and won the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. When he accepted his
Oscar, his head was shaved for his role in the film
Cobb (1994), which he made light of in his speech: "The only thing a man can say at a time like this is 'I am not really bald'. Actually I'm lucky to be working". He reprised the role of Gerard in the sequel,
U.S. Marshals (1998). He played
Harvey Dent / Two-Face in
Batman Forever (1995) and starred as Michael "Mike" Roark in
Volcano (1997) co-starring
Anne Heche and
Don Cheadle. His role as grizzled alien investigator
Kevin Brown / Agent K in
Men in Black (1997), with
Will Smith, brought him critical acclaim with critics and audiences. Among his other well-known performances during the 1990s were those of a terrorist who hijacks a U.S. Navy battleship in
Under Siege (1992), an ambitious U.S. Attorney "Reverend" Roy Foltrigg in
The Client (1994), an overwhelmed maximum-security prison warden in
Natural Born Killers (1994), and a parole officer in
Double Jeopardy (1999). In 2000, Jones co-starred with
Samuel L. Jackson as a Vietnam War veteran and Marine colonel serving as Jackson's defense attorney in the film
Rules of Engagement, and co-starred with director
Clint Eastwood as astronauts in the film
Space Cowboys, in which both played retired pilots and friends/rivals leading a space rescue mission together. In 2002, he and Will Smith co-starred in the
Men in Black sequel,
Men in Black II.
Later years (2005–present) In 2005, the first theatrical feature film Jones directed,
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, was presented at the
2005 Cannes Film Festival. Jones's character speaks both English and Spanish in the film. His performance won him the
Best Actor Award at Cannes. His first film as a director had been
The Good Old Boys in 1995, a made-for-television movie. Two strong performances in 2007 marked a resurgence in Jones's career. For his role as a beleaguered father investigating the disappearance of his soldier son in
In the Valley of Elah, he received an
Academy Award nomination. His next role as a Texas sheriff hunting an assassin in the
Best Picture-winning
No Country for Old Men brought him critical acclaim, a
BAFTA nomination, and two
Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations (
Supporting Actor and
Outstanding Ensemble). Jones has been a spokesman for Japanese brewing company
Suntory since 2006. He can be seen in various Japanese television commercials of Suntory's Coffee brand
Boss as a character called "Alien Jones", an extraterrestrial who takes the form of a human to check on the world of humans. Many of these commercials can be seen on YouTube. In 2011, Jones appeared in
public service announcements on Japanese television, joining a number of other popular figures who sang two sentimental songs in remembrance of those lost in the
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. In 2010, Jones appeared alongside
Ben Affleck in the recession drama
The Company Men. The film premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival, where early reviews praised Jones's performance as "pitch-perfect". Jones played
Colonel Chester Phillips in the
Marvel Studios film,
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). He also directed, produced and co-starred with Samuel L. Jackson in an adaptation of
The Sunset Limited (2011). In 2012, there was another turning point in Jones's career, starting with playing
Agent K again in
Men in Black 3, portraying Arnold Soames in the romantic dramedy
Hope Springs, and co-starring as
Thaddeus Stevens in Steven Spielberg's
Lincoln. Jones's performance in
Lincoln received wide critical acclaim, and he was nominated for the
Golden Globe,
BAFTA, two
Screen Actors Guild Awards (
Supporting Actor and
Outstanding Ensemble), and
Academy Award. Since
Lincoln, Jones has continued appearing in popular films, including portraying
CIA Director Robert Dewey in the action thriller film
Jason Bourne (2016) and missing astronaut H. Clifford McBride in the sci-fi
Ad Astra (2019), co-starring
Brad Pitt,
Ruth Negga,
Liv Tyler, and
Donald Sutherland. ==Personal life==