Native New Jerseyan Ron Cephas Jones fell in love with acting in college, and lived in California for a time before coming back East and starting his performing career at the Nuyorican Poets Café. From there, Jones maintained a steady string of stage, film, and TV roles, including turns in “NYPD Blue,” “He Got Game,” “Sweet and Lowdown,” and “Across the Universe.” (He is now one of the “Law & Order” actors we’ve sadly lost.) But it was his role in “This Is Us” that made him a beloved presence on screen. Jones told Today that he was impressed by the series’ intelligent and layered script. “I’ve learned that over the years and the way I’ve worked is that words are so important,” Jones explained.
Returning to work after his 2020 double lung transplant, especially a career as physically active as acting, seemed unlikely. But Jones had been offered a tempting role in the Broadway play “Clyde’s,” about a group of parolees rebuilding their lives as short-order cooks. He took the chance and worked on regaining his strength and voice so he could go back to the stage. Even then, the work was risky, with COVID-19 still affecting Broadway productions. Yet Jones willingly practiced isolation between performances so he could keep doing what he loved.
Among the friends expressing their sorrow at Jones’s passing is Octavia Spencer: “Ron was an incredibly talented actor and, most importantly, a wonderfully kind human being,” she eulogized on Instagram.
Post source: The List