Tommy Lee Jones won an Oscar for his supporting role in
The Fugitive (1993), and got just as much attention as the movie's star,
Harrison Ford. After that came leading roles in
Oliver Stone's
Heaven and Earth (1993),
Cobb (1994),
The Client (1994, with
Susan Sarandon) and
Men in Black (1997, with
Will Smith). Jones grew up in Texas, studied English at Harvard (where he roomed with
Al Gore) and started his career on the stage. He got into the movies, debuting in 1970's
Love Story. He worked steadily in the movies in character roles, and in 1982 won an Emmy for the TV movie of
Norman Mailer's
The Executioner's Song. In the '80s his roles got bigger and better, and his supporting role in
JFK (1991) earned him an Oscar nomination. His turn as the worried dad of an American soldier in
In the Valley of Elah (2007) brought him another Oscar nomination (his first for a leading role). Jones's other movies include
Coal Miner's Daughter (1980, starring
Sissy Spacek),
Space Cowboys (2000, with
Clint Eastwood),
The Missing (2003, with
Cate Blanchett) and the
Coen brothers' 2007 film version of
Cormac McCarthy's
No Country for Old Men.
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