He also voiced Simbas father (Mufasa) in Disneys 'The Lion King.' He has appeared in 3 films based on Tom Clancys Jack Ryan novels.
Enjoy checking out these photos of James Earl Jones when he was young. James Earl Jones is a long-time character actor and voice actor with a distinctive deep voice, most well known to Sci-Fi fans as the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars series of movies. Strangelove, Malcolm X, as well as his voice-over roles as Darth Vader in Star Wars and Mufasa in The Lion King. He is best known for his roles in The Great White Hope, Dr. He found a passion for acting instead, and graduated in 1955. Jones attended college at the University of Michigan with the intention of becoming a doctor. He and his father reconciled after many years. After several years, he moved to Brethren, Michigan, where a teacher helped him overcome his speech impediment after he encouraged him to find an outlet through poetry.
Jones and his father reconciled many years later in the 1980s and 1990s. He moved in with them when he was five years old, and the situation was so traumatic for him that he developed a stutter and wouldn’t speak most of the time. Jones was born Todd Jones in Arkabutla Township, Tate County, Mississippi, the son of Ruth Connolly, a teacher and maid, and Robert Earl Jones (1910-2006), an actor, boxer, butler, and chauffeur who left the family before James Earls birth. James was primarily raised by his grandparents, who were farmers in Jackson, Michigan. His mother, Ruth, was a maid and teacher. Born on Januin Arkabutla, Mississippi, his father was actor, boxer and butler Robert Earl Jones, who sadly left the family shortly after he was born.
Recently he was the voice of CNN News and Bell Atlantic, and after a long career as a theatre, film, and television actor, Jones’s steady, authoritative voice is among the most recognizable in the world.Īfricana The Encyclopedia of the African andĮditors: Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates Jr.This gallery features photos of a young James Earl Jones, including his baby photo, pictures from his childhood, and several pictures from his 20’s and 30’s. Through the 1970s and '80s, he received critical acclaim for a number of stage, film, and television roles, notably in the two-character stage play Paul Robeson (1978) and in the title role of Othello, opposite Christopher Plummer's Iago (1981-82). His father, the actor Robert Earl Jones, left his family before James Earl Jones was born, and the youth was raised largely by his grandparents in Michigan. He also performed in other New York productions and won a Tony award for his boxer role in Howard Sackler's The Great White Hope (1968), later starring in the film version (1970). James Earl Jones, (born January 17, 1931, Arkabutla, Mississippi, U.S.), American actor who used his deep resonant voice to great effect in stage, film, and television roles. He played in his first off-Broadway production in 1957 and subsequently, with the New York Shakespeare Festival, played a number of Shakespearean roles from 1961 to 1973. Jones went to New York City and studied at the American Theatre Wing and with Lee Strasberg. (Then) young Jones found his father and performed a monologue of the impulsive young soldier character Hotspur from Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part I. One special experience with oration came when he left the army in the mid-1950s. In 1953, Jones graduated from the University of Michigan, majoring in drama, after which he had a brief stint in the U.S. The educator insisted that he recite a poem to the class each day. While in high school Jones’s teacher discovered his gift for writing poetry and encouraged public speaking of his works to help him out of his silence. James Earl Jones II Bio, Photos, Theatre Credits, Stage History - James Earl Jones II has performed with Porchlight Music Theatre in the Jeff-Award winning productions of The Scottsboro Boys and. As a boy, Jones had such a relentless stutter that, for eight years, he refused to talk and was functionally speechless. He is a Black actor.įrom Arkabutla, Mississippi Jones's father, the actor Robert Earl Jones left his family before his son was born, and young Jones was raised by his grandparents in Michigan.
*James Earl Jones was born on this date in 1931.