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Tommy Lee Jones, Dorian Missick, and Mamoudou Athie in The Burial (2023)

Tommy Lee Jones and Jamie Foxx in The Burial (2023)

Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith in Men in Black (1997)

Tommy Lee Jones and Sally Field in Back Roads (1981)

Tommy Lee Jones, Brian Frishman, and David Pellette in Back Roads (1981)

Tommy Lee Jones and Jessica Lange in Blue Sky (1994)

Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones in The Sunset Limited (2011)

Tommy Lee Jones in The Sunset Limited (2011)

Robert De Niro and Tommy Lee Jones in The Comeback Trail (2020)

Tommy Lee Jones and Cate Blanchett in Inside the Actors Studio (1994)

Tommy Lee Jones and Kathleen Turner in House of Cards (1993)

Tommy Lee Jones in Natural Born Killers (1994)

Tommy Lee Jones, Tom Sizemore, Everett Quinton, and Pruitt Taylor Vince in Natural Born Killers (1994)

Tommy Lee Jones and Richard Hamilton in Men in Black (1997)

Anne Heche and Tommy Lee Jones in Volcano (1997)

Tommy Lee Jones and Gaby Hoffmann in Volcano (1997)

Tommy Lee Jones and Michael Rispoli in Volcano (1997)

Tommy Lee Jones and S. Epatha Merkerson in Lincoln (2012)

Tommy Lee Jones and David Costabile in Lincoln (2012)

Robert De Niro and Tommy Lee Jones in The Family (2013)

Kevin Bacon, Tommy Lee Jones, and Joe Pesci in JFK (1991)

Tommy Lee Jones in Just Getting Started (2017)

Tommy Lee Jones, Glenne Headly, and Rene Russo in Just Getting Started (2017)

Tommy Lee Jones, Sheryl Lee Ralph, and Elizabeth Ashley in Just Getting Started (2017)

Morgan Freeman and Tommy Lee Jones in Just Getting Started (2017)

Morgan Freeman, Tommy Lee Jones, Joe Pantoliano, Graham Beckel, George Wallace, and Nick Peine in Just Getting Started (2017)

Tommy Lee Jones was born in San Saba, Texas, the son of Lucille Marie (Scott), a police officer and beauty shop owner, and Clyde C. Jones, who worked on oil fields. Tommy himself worked in underwater construction and on an oil rig. He attended St. Mark's School of Texas, a prestigious prep school for boys in Dallas, on a scholarship, and went to Harvard on another scholarship. He roomed with future Vice President Al Gore and played offensive guard in the famous 29-29 Harvard-Yale football game of '68 known as "The Tie." He received a B.A. in English literature and graduated cum laude from Harvard in 1969.

Following college, he moved to New York and began his theatrical career on Broadway in "A Patriot for Me" (1969). In 1970, he made his film debut in Love Story (1970). While living in New York, he continued to appear in various plays, both on- and off-Broadway: "Fortune and Men's Eyes" (1969); "Four on a Garden" (1971); "Blue Boys" (1972); "Ulysses in Nighttown" (1974). During this time, he also appeared on a daytime soap opera, One Life to Live (1968) as Dr. Mark Toland from 1971-75. He moved with wife Kate Lardner, granddaughter of short-story writer/columnist Ring Lardner, and her two children from a previous marriage, to Los Angeles.

There he began to get some roles on television: Charlie's Angels (1976) (pilot episode); Smash-Up on Interstate 5 (1976); and The Amazing Howard Hughes (1977). While working on the movie Back Roads (1981), he met and fell in love with Kimberlea Cloughley, whom he later married. More roles in television--both on network and cable--stage and film garnered him a reputation as a strong, explosive, thoughtful actor who could handle supporting as well as leading roles. He made his directorial debut in The Good Old Boys (1995) on TNT. In addition to directing and starring in the film, he co-wrote the teleplay (with J.T. Allen). The film, based on Elmer Kelton's novel, is set in west Texas where Jones has strong family ties. Consequently, this story of a cowboy facing the end of an era has special meaning for him.

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Tommy Lee Jones

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