James Earl Jones

Who is James Earl Jones?

James Earl Jones is an American actor who has continuously worked in the entertainment industry for over seven decades and is still working. He is considered one of Hollywood’s most versatile actors who have done acting in various genres of movies and series. The actor has achieved great success through his voice acting. He was initially studying medicine and then moved to become a military army, but he soon realized that he loved acting more than anything. This made him to join acting and to pursue his acting career. He first made his acting career through stage performances and received huge success, which leads him to step into the Hollywood film industry. Throughout his whole career in acting, he has been honored with many prestigious nominations and awards.

Bio

James Earl Jones was born to parents Robert Earl Jones and Ruth Conolly on January 17, 1931, in Arkabutla, Mississippi, United States. He was very young when his father left his family due to which he was raised by his maternal grandparents. He is currently 89 years old with a Capricorn sun sign.

Nationality and Physical Stats

James Earl Jones holds an American nationality. He belongs to Black ethnicity and is of African-American descent. Besides, he stands 6 feet and 1 inch (186cm/1.86m) tall and weighs around 85 kg (187lbs). His body type is average, and has brown colored eyes with salt and pepper hair color.

Early Life/Education 

James Earl Jones faced lots of trouble while growing up on his grandparent’s farm. He completed his primary education from only a boys school named Browning School and then attended Brethren High School. He enrolled at the University of Michigan for his college but dropped out as he did not feel good about studying medicine.

Then, he joined the military and received his training from Reserve Officer Training. First, he joined as a second lieutenant and was promoted to the first lieutenant. After he was released from his military job, he decided to take acting classes and attended the American Theatre Wing.

Career

Early career

James Earl Jones started his acting career by working in stage performance as a theatre artist. During those times, he appeared mostly in Shakespeare’s plays such as ‘Othello,’ ‘King Lear,’ ‘Hamlet,’ etc.

Television

James Earl Jones made his professional TV acting career in the 1963 series ‘East Side/West Side’. He then worked in other series out of which in 1977 he appeared in a miniseries ‘Roots’ where he played as Alex Haley. He again reprised his role as Alex in ‘Roots: The Next Generations’ in 1979.

From 1985 to 1990, he appeared in other series like ‘Mathnet,’ ‘Square One TV,’ ‘Long Ago and Far Away,’ ‘The Simpsons,’ and ‘Gabriel’s Fire’ as a titular role. Likewise, Neb Langston was seen in six episodes of ‘Under One Roof’ in 1995. This series is all about an African-American family living together of three generations in a house.

He had also narrated the sitcom ‘3rd Rock from the Sun’ in 1996. He has also voiced over for many characters in different series like ‘Happily Ever After Fairy Tales for Every Child’ in 1995, ‘Merlin’ and ‘Recess’ in 1998, and ‘According to Jim’ in 2004. Also, he appeared in an episode of ‘The Big Bang Theory’ in 2014. The same year, he also voiced over for Darth Vader in four episodes of ‘Star Wars Rebels’. His recent TV series work is in 2015, where he appeared in 2 episodes as Chief Justice Caleb Thorne in ‘Agent X.’

James Earl Jones Film

James Earl Jones landed his debut cinematic film in 1964 as Lt. Lothar Zogg in ‘Dr. Strangelove.’ After three years, he landed another two films named ‘The Comedians’ and ‘The Comedians in Africa’. He then came after two years in the film industry with the film ‘The Great White Hope’. The same year, he made a documentary film ‘King: A Filmed Record… Montgomery to Memphis.’ After appearing in certain movies, he came into the limelight when he played the role of Darth Vader in the ‘Star Wars’ film franchise in 1977. He has also reprised his role as Darth in another film like ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ in 1980 and ‘Return of the Jedi’ in 1980. His other notable films during the 1970s and 1980s were ‘Claudine,’ ‘The Greatest,’ ‘Best of the Best,’ ‘Gardens of Stone,’ ‘Conan the Barbarian,’ and many more.

Similarly, in 1994 he also voiced over in the computer-animated film ‘The Lion King’ as Mufasa. He reprised his role in ‘The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride’ in 1998. During the 2000s, he mostly had a voice cameo role, cameo role, an uncredited cameo role, and also narrated many films. Some of his projects were ‘Finder’s Fee’ in 2001, ‘Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith’ in 2005, ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ in 2009 and ‘Star Tours – The Adventures Continue’ as a voice role and ‘Scary Movie 4’ as uncredited cameo role, etc. He again voiced as Darth in the 2016 film ‘Rogue One’ and in the 2019 film series ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’. He has worked alongside other stars like Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Anna Faris, and many others.

Achievements

James Earl Jones has been honored with three Tony Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and won Grammy Awards to contribute to the entertainment industry. Likewise, he had also won Golden Globe Awards in 1970 and Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2009.

Personal Life 

James Earl Jones hitched twice. He first married actress/singer Julienne Marie in 1968 but sadly separated in 1964. He then tied the knot to actress Cecilia Hart in 1972. They gave birth to a son in 1982 named Flynn Earl Jones. Sadly, his second wife died of ovarian cancer on October 16, 2016.

Social

James Earl Jones is active in his Twitter account (@jamesearljones), which has 40.7 thousand followers.

Net Worth

James Earl Jones is an American actor who is regarded as one of the most versatile and distinguished actors in the Hollywood film industry who have already spent over 65 years. He has an estimated net worth of about $45 million, as of 2020.