Cherry Jones

Cherry Jones was born on November 21, 1956 in Paris, Tennessee and is known for her Tony Award-winning roles in the 2005 premiere of Doubt and the 1995 revival of The Heiress, as well as her Emmy Award-winning role on FOX's 24 and roles in movies such as Erin Brockovich and The Village.

She studied at the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama, graduated in 1978 and began a professional career on stage at City Theatre in Pittsburgh. Since then, she has forged an exceptional career in theatre, resulting in an induction to the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2014. She made her Off-Broadway debut in Manhattan Theatre Club's 1983 production of The Philanthropist, followed by The Public Theater's production of The Ballad of Soapy Smith in 1984 and a revival of The Importance of Being Earnest in 1985.

Jones finally made her Broadway debut as Lynne in Stepping Out in December 1986, launching what would become a highly acclaimed Broadway career with two Tony Awards and a further three Tony nominations. Her Broadway résumé includes the role of Lady Macduff in the 1988 revival of Macbeth, her first Tony nomination for Our Country's Good (1991), Angels in America in 1994, a Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning performance as Catherine Sloper in The Heiress (1995), The Night of the Iguana (1996), a Tony-nominated performance as Josie Hogan in A Moon for the Misbegotten (2000) and the title role in the 2001 revival of Major Barbara, Imaginary Friends (2002).

She gave another Tony- and Drama Desk Award-winning performance in 2005, this time as Sister Aloysius in Doubt, which led to a national tour engagement from September 2006 to May 2007. Credits since then include a Drama Desk-nominated performance in Faith Healer (2006), the title character in the 2010 revival of Mrs. Warren's Profession, and her fifth Tony Award nomination for her performance as Amanda Wingfield in the 2013 revival of The Glass Menagerie, also resulting in a London transfer and her West End debut in 2017.

Jones's Off-Broadway credits also include Manhattan Theatre Club's Claptrap (1987), Light Shining in Buckinghamshire (1991), an Obie Award-winning performance in The Baltimore Waltz (1992), Classic Stage Company's Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)​ (1992), And Baby Makes Seven (1993), Desdemona (1993), a Lucille Lortel- and Drama Desk Award-winning performance in Lincoln Center Theater's Pride's Crossing (1997), The Public Theater's Tongue of a Bird (1999), New York Theatre Workshop's Flesh and Blood (2003), an Obie-, Lucille Lortel-, and Drama Desk Award-winning performance in Manhattan Theatre Club's Off-Broadway premiere of Doubt (2004), MTC's When We Were Young and Unafraid (2014), and WP Theater's Dear Elizabeth (2015).

In television, Jones is also widely known for her recent Emmy Award-nominated turn as Holly Maddox on Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale, her Emmy Award-winning role as President Allison Taylor on FOX's 24, and for her recurring roles as Dr. Judith Evans on NBC's Awake and as Leslie Mackinaw on Amazon's Transparent. Her most notable film credits include appearances in The Horse Whisperer (1998), Erin Brockovich (2000), The Perfect Storm (2000), Signs (2002), The Village (2004), Ocean's Twelve (2004), Amelia (2009), and The Beaver (2011).

Jones returned to Broadway to star in the world premiere of The Lifespan of a Fact at Studio 54 from September 20, 2018 through January 13, 2019.