As it stands, the name Cherry Jones is arguably not particularly well known in the pop culture zeitgeist. The actor has, however, become a staple supporting player on screens big and small in recent decades, earning one of his first big-screen credits in 1987 alongside Michael J. Fox and Joan Jett in the musical drama Paul Schrader’s hard-rock “Daylight.” That same year, she shared the screen with Matt Dillon, Diane Lane and Tommy Lee Jones in the underrated thriller “The Big Town.”
Jones spent most of the next decade working on the fringes of Hollywood. But in 1998, she showed up for a lead gig in Robert Redford’s acclaimed drama “The Horse Whisperer,” and a year later landed a role in Tim Robbins’ period play “Cradle. Will Rock”. A remarkable turn in “Erin Brokovich” further raised Jones’ profile, as did one of the real-life 2000s blockbusters “The Perfect Storm.” In 2004, Jones actually shared the screen with his future “Black Mirror” co-star, Bryce Dallas Howard, playing one of the old secrets from M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Village.”
The actor joined the cast of the hit drama “24” in 2009, then starred as US President Allison Taylor in seasons 7 and 8. And in the years following her “Black Mirror” gig, Jones made equally notable appearances in “Boy Erased,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and “Poker Face.” But she’s perhaps best known these days for her three-episode arc on “Succession,” where she starred. played PGN’s clever and perpetually hesitant big boss, Nan Pierce.