James Earl Jones is an American actor. He is best known as the voice of Darth Vader in the original Star Wars film trilogy. He has won three Tony Awards, a Grammy Award, and two Primetime Emmy Awards. Jones was born in Arkabutla, Mississippi, on January 17, 1931, to Ruth Jones and Robert Earl Jones.
About James Earl Jones in brief
James Earl Jones is an American actor. He has won three Tony Awards, a Grammy Award, and two Primetime Emmy Awards. He is best known as the voice of Darth Vader in the original Star Wars film trilogy. Jones has a stutter which was more pronounced in his youth. He credits his English teacher, Donald Crouch, who discovered a gift for writing poetry with helping him end his reluctance to speak. Jones was born in Arkabutla, Mississippi, on January 17, 1931, to Ruth Jones, a teacher and maid, and Robert Earl Jones, 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. Jones and his father did not get to know each other until the 1950s, but became reconciled then. His parents were both of mixed African-American, Irish and Native American ancestry. He was raised by his maternal grandparents, John Henry and Maggie Williams, 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 more rural Brethren, Michigan, traumatic. When he was eight years old, he remained functionally mute for eight years until he entered high school. He went on to serve in the United States Army during the Korean War before pursuing a career in acting. He made his Broadway debut in 1957, and has had various roles in the theater ranging from the works of Shakespeare including Othello, Hamlet, Coriolanus and King Lear.
He won his second Tony Award in 1987 for his role in August Wilson’s Fences. He starred alongside Angela Lansbury in Gore Vidal’s The Best Man, and in an Australian tour of Driving Miss Daisy. He then appeared in You Can’t Take It With You with Annaleigh Ashford, and starred in The Gin Game alongside Cicely Tyson. In 2017, Jones was honored with a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. He reprised several of his popular film role in the Star Wars prequel Rogue One, the remake of The Lion King, and the sequel Coming 2 America. He has been said to possess \”one of the best-known voices in show business, a stirring basso profondo that has lent gravel and gravitas\” to his projects, including live-action acting, voice acting, and commercial voice-overs. He also has appeared in the film versions of Conan the Barbarian, Matewan, Field of Dreams, The Hunt for Red October, The Sandlot, and The lion King. He received an Honorary Doctor of Arts degree from Harvard University on May 25, 2017, and is a member of the Board of Overseers of the American Theater Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was invited by President Barack Obama to perform Shakespeare at the White House Evening for Poetry. In 2002, he received the Kennedy Center Honor. That same year he also received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.
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