Cherry Jones (born November 21, 1956) is an American actress. Having started her career in theatre as a founding member of the American Repertory Theatre in 1980, she then transitioned into film and television. Celebrated for her dynamic roles on stage and screen, she has received various accolades, including three Primetime Emmy Awards and two Tony Awards, as well as nominations for an Olivier Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Jones made her Broadway debut in the 1987 play Stepping Out. She went on to receive two Tony Awards for Best Actress in a Play for The Heiress in 1995 and Doubt in 2005. Her other Tony-nominated roles were in Our Country's Good in 1991, A Moon for the Misbegotten in 2000, and The Glass Menagerie in 2014. Her most recent Broadway performance was in The Lifespan of a Fact in 2018. She is also known for her work on television with breakthrough roles as Barbara Layton in The West Wing and President Allison Taylor in 24 the latter of which won her the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2009. She received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Transparent in 2015 and earned two Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her roles in the Hulu drama series The Handmaid's Tale in 2019 and the HBO drama series Succession in 2020. Her film appearances include The Horse Whisperer (1998), Erin Brockovich (2000), Signs (2002), The Village (2004), Amelia (2009), The Beaver (2011), A Rainy Day in New York (2019), and The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021).

Filmography

• 2024National Theatre at Home: The Grapes of Wrath — Ma Joad
• Extrapolations — President Elizabeth Burdick
• 2023Obsessed with Light — Loïe Fuller (voice)
• Poker Face — Laura
• Velma — Victoria (voice)
• Five Days at Memorial — Susan Mulderick
• 2022The Sky Is Everywhere — Fiona
• 2021Becoming Helen Keller — Helen Keller (voice)
• Foundation — Ambassador Quent
• Hacks — Kelly Kilpatrick
• 2021The Eyes of Tammy Faye — Rachel Grover
• Defending Jacob — Joanna Klein
• 2020Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens — Nancy
• 2019A Rainy Day in New York — Mrs. Welles
• Chimerica — Mel Kincaid
• 2019Motherless Brooklyn — Gabby Horowitz
• 2019Our Friend — Faith Pruett
• 2019Transparent: Musicale Finale — Leslie Mackinaw
• 2019Wine Country — Lady Sunshine
• 2018Boy Erased — Dr. Muldoon
• Succession — Nan Pierce
• The Handmaid's Tale — Holly Maddox
• 2017The Party — Martha
• 11.22.63 — Marquerite Oswald
• 2016I Saw the Light — Lillie Williams
• 2016Whiskey Tango Foxtrot — Geri Taub
• 2015Knight of Cups — Ruth
• 2014Days and Nights — Mary
• Transparent — Leslie Mackinaw
• Awake — Dr. Judith Evans
• Black Mirror — Susan Taylor
• 2011New Year's Eve — Mrs Rose Ahern
• Portlandia — Bridge Manager / New Mayor
• 2011The Beaver — Vice President
• 2009Amelia — Eleanor Roosevelt
• 2009Mother and Child — Sister Joanne
• 2005Swimmers — Julia Tyler
• Clubhouse
• 2004Ocean's Twelve — Molly Star / Mrs. Caldwell
• 2004The Village — Mrs. Clack
• Working Shakespeare
• 2002Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood — Buggy
• 2002Miss America — Narrator
• 2002Signs — Officer Paski
• 24 — Allison Taylor
• 2001What Makes a Family — Sandy Cataldi
• 2000Cora Unashamed — Lizbeth Studevant
• 2000Erin Brockovich — Pamela Duncan
• 2000The Perfect Storm — Edie Bailey
• 1999Cradle Will Rock — Hallie Flanagan
• 1999Murder in a Small Town — Mimi Barnes
• 1999The Lady in Question — Mimi Barnes
• The West Wing — Barbara Layton
• 1998Out of the Past — Annie Adams Fields (voice)
• 1998The Horse Whisperer — Liz Hammond
• 1997Julian Po — Lucy
• Frasier — Janet (voice)
• 1992Housesitter — Patty
• American Experience — Narrator (voice)
• 1987Light of Day — Cindy Montgomery
• 1987The Big Town — Ginger McDonald
• 1986Alex: The Life of a Child — Tina Crawford
• 1984Sganarelle — Dorimène / Lucinde
• 1983O’Malley — Secretary
• Fonda
• The Steel Harp
• Untitled The Secret of Secrets Series — Heide Nagel

Appearances as themselves (6)

• 2021Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age — Self
• 2014Holbrook/Twain: An American Odyssey — Self
• 2013Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me — Self
• 2005Deconstructing 'The Village' — Self
• 2003Making 'Signs' — Self - 'Officer Paski'
• Broadway: The Next Generation — Self