Julia Jones (born January 23, 1981) is an American actress, known for playing Leah Clearwater in '' The Twilight Saga'' films and Kohana in the HBO series ''

Westworld ''Westworld'' is an American science fiction-thriller media franchise that began with the 1973 film ''Westworld'', written and directed by Michael Crichton. The film depicts a technologically advanced Wild-West-themed amusement park populate ...

''. She also co-stars on '' Dexter: New Blood''.

Early life and education

Julia Jones was born in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

to Frank Jones and Penny Wells. She has a younger brother named Cody. She has stated that her mother is of English descent, and that her father "is part Choctaw, Chickasaw, and African-American". She was raised in the

Jamaica Plain Jamaica Plain is a neighborhood of in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Settled by Puritans seeking farmland to the south, it was originally part of the former Town of Roxbury, now also a part of the City of Boston. The commun ...

neighborhood of Boston, and frequented the first JP Licks ice cream store, which was close to her home. Jones studied at the

Boston Ballet School The Boston Ballet is an American professional classical ballet company based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1963 by E. Virginia Williams and Sydney Leonard, and was the first professional repertory ballet company in New England. ...

from the age of 4. She began working in commercials and local theatre when she was eight. In 1999, Jones graduated from the historic

Boston Latin School The Boston Latin School is a public exam school in Boston, Massachusetts. It was established on April 23, 1635, making it both the oldest public school in the British America and the oldest existing school in the United States. Its curriculum f ...

, the oldest public school in the United States. She subsequently attended

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

where she earned her bachelor's degree in English in 2005.

Career

Jones has modeled in catalogues for Levi Strauss & Co.,

Gap Inc. The Gap, Inc., commonly known as Gap Inc. or Gap (stylized as GAP), is an American worldwide clothing and accessories retailer. Gap was founded in 1969 by Donald Fisher and Doris F. Fisher and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The c ...

Esprit Holdings Esprit Holdings Limited () is a publicly owned manufacturer of clothing, footwear, accessories, jewellery and housewares under the Esprit label. The company is headquartered in North Point, Hong Kong, and Ratingen Ratingen ( li, Rotinge) is a to ...

, and

L'Oréal L'Oréal S.A. () is a French personal care company headquartered in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine with a registered office in Paris. It is the world's largest cosmetics company and has developed activities in the field concentrating on hair color, sk ...

. She appeared in

Chuck Wicks Charles Elliott Wicks (born June 20, 1979) is an American country music artist and radio personality. He was one of the participants on the American reality series ''Nashville (2007 TV series), Nashville'', which aired on Fox Broadcasting Compa ...

's music video for "Hold That Thought". Jones appeared in a number of independent films before being cast in the

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-lin ...

-produced biker remake ''

Hell Ride ''Hell Ride'' is a 2008 American action/neo-outlaw biker film written and directed by Larry Bishop and starring Bishop, Michael Madsen, Dennis Hopper, Eric Balfour, Vinnie Jones, Leonor Varela and David Carradine. It was released under the "Que ...

'', which premiered at Sundance in 2008. She played Dr. Kaya Montoya on '' ER'' in its final two seasons. In 2009, she appeared in the Culture Clash play ''Palestine, New Mexico'', at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. In 2010, Jones was cast in ''

Jonah Hex Jonah Woodson Hex is a fictional antihero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer John Albano and artist Tony DeZuniga. Hex is a surly and cynical bounty hunter whose face is scarred on the ...

'' and in the last three installments of '' The Twilight Saga''. In 2015, she played the female lead opposite

Adam Sandler Adam Richard Sandler (born September 9, 1966) is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, producer and singer. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1990 to 1995, before going on to star in numerous Hollywood films, those of wh ...

in ''

The Ridiculous 6 ''The Ridiculous 6'' is a 2015 American Western action comedy film directed by Frank Coraci and written by Tim Herlihy and Adam Sandler, and starring Sandler, Terry Crews, Jorge Garcia, Taylor Lautner, Rob Schneider, and Luke Wilson. As Happy ...

'' and Gab on the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

series '' Longmire''. She guest-starred on the 2019

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and deligh ...

series ''

The Mandalorian ''The Mandalorian'' is an American space Western television series created by Jon Favreau for the streaming service Disney+. It is the first live-action series in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, beginning five years after the events of ''Retur ...

'' in the episode " Chapter 4: Sanctuary".

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards

* (2004) FAITA Award for Best Actress for '' Black Cloud''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Julia 21st-century American actresses Actresses from Massachusetts American film actresses American television actresses American people who self-identify as being of Native American descent Actresses from Boston Boston Latin School alumni Columbia College (New York) alumni Living people African-American actresses 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 1981 births