James Earl Jones

James Earl Jones (born January 17, 1931) is an American actor.

He has been described as "one of America's most distinguished and versatile" actors for his performances on stage and screen, and "one of the greatest actors in American history".

His deep voice has been praised as a "a stirring basso profondo that has lent gravel and gravitas" to his projects.

Over his career, he has received three Tony Awards, two Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award.

James Earl Jones was born in Arkabutla, Mississippi, on January 17, 1931, to Ruth (née Connolly); (1911–1986), a teacher and maid, and Robert Earl Jones (1910–2006), a boxer, butler and chauffeur.

His father left the family shortly after James Earl's birth and later became a stage and screen actor in New York and Hollywood.

In 1949, Jones graduated from Dickson Rural Agricultural School (now Brethren High School) in Brethren, Michigan, where he served as vice president of his class.

He attended the University of Michigan, where he was initially a pre-med major.

He joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps and excelled.

He felt comfortable within the structure of the military environment and enjoyed the camaraderie of his fellow cadets in the Pershing Rifles Drill Team and Scabbard and Blade Honor Society.

During the course of his studies, Jones discovered he was not cut out to be a physician.

Instead, he focused on drama at the University of Michigan with the thought of doing something he enjoyed, before, he assumed, he would have to go off to fight in the Korean War.

Jones and his father did not get to know each other until the 1950s, when they reconciled.

He has said in interviews that his parents were both of mixed African-American, Irish and Native American ancestry.

His great grandfather's mother was Parthenia Connolly; who is a 3rd great grandchild of Rob Roy MacGregor on her mothers side

From the age of five, Jones was raised by his maternal grandparents, John Henry and Maggie Connolly, on their farm in Jackson, Michigan; they had moved from Mississippi in the Great Migration.

Jones found the transition to living with his grandparents in Michigan traumatic and developed a stutter so severe that he refused to speak.

"I was a stutterer. I couldn't talk. So my first year of school was my first mute year, and then those mute years continued until I got to high school."

He credits his English teacher, Donald Crouch, who discovered he had a gift for writing poetry, with helping him end his silence.

Crouch urged him to challenge his reluctance to speak through reading poetry aloud to the class.

Jones was commissioned in mid-1953, after the Korean War's end, and reported to Fort Moore to attend the Infantry Officers Basic Course.

After four years of college, Jones graduated from the university in 1955 with a Bachelor of Arts with a major in drama.

With the war intensifying in Korea, Jones expected to be deployed as soon as he received his commission as a second lieutenant.

As he waited for his orders, he worked on the stage crew and acted at the Ramsdell Theatre in Manistee, Michigan.

Since his Broadway debut in 1957, he has performed in several Shakespeare plays including Othello, Hamlet, Coriolanus, and King Lear.

Jones made his film debut in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove (1964).

Jones worked steadily in theater winning his first Tony Award in 1968 for his role in The Great White Hope, which he reprised in the 1970 film adaptation earning him Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations.

He received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Claudine (1974).

Jones gained international fame for his voice role as Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise, beginning with the original 1977 film.

Jones' other notable roles include in Conan the Barbarian (1982), Matewan (1987), Coming to America (1988), Field of Dreams (1989), The Hunt for Red October (1990), The Sandlot (1993), and The Lion King (1994).

He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1985.

Jones won his second Tony Award in 1987 for his role in August Wilson's Fences.

He was honored with the National Medal of Arts in 1992, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2002, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2009 and the Honorary Academy Award in 2011.

Having had a stutter since childhood, Jones has said that poetry and acting helped him overcome the challenges of his disability.

A pre-med major in college, he served in the United States Army during the Korean War before pursuing a career in acting.

He was further Tony nominated for his roles in On Golden Pond (2005), and The Best Man (2012).

Other Broadway performances include

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (2008), Driving Miss Daisy (2010–2011), You Can't Take It with You (2014), and The Gin Game (2015–2016).

He received a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2017.

Jones has reprised his roles in Star Wars media, The Lion King (2019), and Coming 2 America (2021).