Jill Marie Jones

Jill Marie Jones
Left to right: Jones with Mara Brock Akil, Persia White, Golden Brooks and Tracee Ellis Ross in 2013
Born	January 4, 1975 Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2000–present

Jill Marie Jones (born January 4, 1975) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Toni Childs-Garrett on the UPN comedy series, Girlfriends (2000–2006). Jones later has appeared in a number of films, and had the recurring role as Cynthia Irving on the Fox supernatural series, Sleepy Hollow. From 2015 to 2016, she starred as Amanda Fisher in the Starz horror-comedy series, Ash vs Evil Dead.

Early life

Jones was born in Dallas, Texas. After attending Duncanville High School, and Texas Woman's University, Jones was a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader for two years, a Dallas Mavericks Dancer for one year, and toured with the United Service Organization (USO) and United States Department of Defense to Korea, Japan, Israel, and Egypt. She has also performed on "Monday Night Football" and "The Miss Texas Pageant." She started her career as model, before moving to Los Angeles to pursue acting full-time.^[1]

Career

Jones made her screen debut in 2000, on the Saturday morning series City Guys. Later in that year, she has won the co-leading role alongside Tracee Ellis Ross, Golden Brooks and Persia White on the UPN comedy series, Girlfriends created by Mara Brock Akil. She played the role of self-centered and materialistic Toni Childs for six seasons of the series. In May 2006, it was confirmed that Jones left Girlfriends because her contract ended.^[2] In a 2007 interview, Jones responded: "No, I think if Toni came back and when I say no, I say it because there are brilliant writers on ‘Girlfriends’. There is so much more that you can do. For me and my career, my contract was up after six seasons and there's a whole film world that I wanted to experience and that's what I’ve been doing. I think if Toni came back to the show, there would be so much more to write and much more to bring. That's a testament to how great Mara and the rest of the writers are".^[3]

After leaving Girlfriends, Jones began starring in films. She had the female leading roles in comedy films Universal Remote and Redrum (both 2007), and appeared in theThe Perfect Holiday, opposite Queen Latifah and Terrence Howard as well as Morris Chestnut, Rachel True, and Gabrielle Union. In August 2007, Jones filmed Major Movie Star with Jessica Simpson.^[4] In September 2008, she appeared in the Ne-Yo video for "She Got Her Own" which is a remix to his hit single "Miss Independent". She next appeared in the 2010 music video "Got Your Back" starring T.I. ft. Keri Hilson. Jones also co-starred alongside Laura Harring in the 2009 independent film Drool.^[5]

In 2010, Jones had the leading role in the TBS micro-series, Gillian in Georgia. In 2013, she appeared on the second season of FX series, American Horror Story in the episode "Spilt Milk" as a call girl named Pandora. Later that year, Jones was cast in the recurring role as Cynthia Irving in the Fox supernatural drama series, Sleepy Hollow.^[6] In February 2015, Starz announced that Jones was cast in the leading role as Michigan State Trooper Amanda Fisher in the comedy horror series Ash vs Evil Dead.^[7][8]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	Redrum	Tonya
2007	Universal Remote	Mary Sciary
2007	The Perfect Holiday	Robin
2008	Major Movie Star	Private Connie Johnson	Also known as Private Valentine: Blonde & Dangerous
2008	The Longshots	Ronnie Macer
2009	Drool	Imogene Cochran
2010	Meeting Spencer	Nikki Ross
2011	35 and Ticking	Coco
2014	Men, Money & Gold Diggers	Dedra	Direct-to-video
2014	Hear No Evil	Kate

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	City Guys	Cheerleader Captain	Episode: "Shock Treatment"
2000–2006	Girlfriends	Antoinette Marie Childs	137 episodes Nominated—BET Comedy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Nominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
2010	Gillian in Georgia	Gillian	10 episodes
2012	American Horror Story: Asylum	Pandora	Episode: "Spilt Milk"
2013–2015	Sleepy Hollow	Cynthia Irving	6 episodes
2015–2016	Ash vs Evil Dead	Amanda Fisher	10 episodes

References

1. "Jill Marie Jones - Biography - Movies & TV - NYTimes.com". Retrieved 20 February 2015.
2. http://www.blackfilm.com/20071214/features/jillmariejones_p2.shtml Black Film Interview
3. Morales, Wilson (December 18, 2007). "The Perfect Holiday: An Interview with Jill Marie Jones". Black Film. Retrieved March 27, 2009.
4. "Black News, Entertainment, Style and Culture - HuffPost Black Voices". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
5. "Drool". 22 January 2009. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
6. Philiana Ng. "'Sleepy Hollow': Jill Marie Jones Joins Season 1 - The Hollywood Reporter". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
7. Hipes, Patrick; "Jill Marie Jones To Co-Star In Starz’s ‘Ash Vs. Evil Dead’", Deadline.com, 19 February 2015 (retrieved 19 February 2015).
8. Tambay A. Obenson (19 February 2015). "Jill Marie Jones Scores Female Lead Role in Starz Original - Shadow and Act". Shadow and Act. Retrieved 20 February 2015.

External links

• Jill Marie Jones at the Internet Movie Database
• Jill Marie Jones on Twitter