Gay History Month: Cherry Jones
Cherry Jones has contributed greatly to gay and lesbian visibility in the United States.
Jones knew at an early age that she was gay. She grew up in Paris, Tenn., a small town, where she knew it would be difficult to come out.
She also knew very early that she wanted to be an actress. Jones studied at the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama and later at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass.
She made her Broadway debut in the late 1980s, earning her first Tony nomination in 1991 for her role in Our Country’s Good.
In 1993, she starred in And Baby Makes Seven, a play where in her role as a lesbian, she kissed another woman. Audiences were shocked and the production flopped.
In 1995, her career picked up when she won a Tony Award for Best Actress in The Heiress. During her speech, she thanked her then-partner, Mary O’Conner, a move that received much criticism in her hometown of Paris, Tenn. Nationally she was praised. She became the first openly lesbian to win a Tony Award. She now has multiple Tony Awards and is partnered with actress Sarah Paulson.
And, although her passion lies on the theater stage, Jones’ other landmark roles have been on the big screen in Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002) ,Erin Brockovich (2002), and on television in the Lifetime movie What Makes a Family (2001), and a recurring role in the drama series, Clubhouse.
Cherry Jones recently won her first Prime Time Emmy Award for her supporting role in 24.
