'24' Star Cherry Jones Explains Her Removal From Emmy Consideration

It was recently reported that last year's Emmy Award winner of best supporting drama actress, Cherry Jones ("24"), had taken her name off the Emmy ballot. The news was reported by the Los Angeles Times. The popular theatre performer has written an email to Tom O'Neil, the article's author, to explain The Situation:

Hey Tom,

Cherry Jones here writing from balmy Manhattan. I wanted to clear up the mystery surrounding my not submitting myself for Emmy consideration.

I love and adore everyone I worked with on 24 and am actively missing them.

I relished playing poor old Allison Taylor's descent into Logan Hell. Like all actors on 24 who realize their characters are being sent to the Dark Side, I resisted at first and then of course realized what a seductive playground the Dark Side presents for a dramatic actor.

This job has offered me time with my elderly parents, given me new lifelong friends, a bank account, and the memory of last year's Emmy night which was one hell of a delicious ride. So honestly it never occurred to me (or my two dear agents who know me well) to submit me this year. One of the lessons in life is to know when to leave well enough alone and be grateful.

I will however be watching the Emmy's from New York this year and rooting for all my 24 team and the other actors I've had the pleasure to get to know in Hollywood during my West Coast baptism.

I genuinely appreciate your interest and hope you will find the space to clear up the assumption which was being made....which, as my old movement teacher used to say, was "exactly wrong".

Thanks so much Tom.

Warmly,
Cherry

 

At the time of the LA Times piece, Jones' representative, Scott Henderson at William Morris Endeavor, referred the Times to a publicist at Fox TV. That rep said that "the network submits "24" only in the race for best drama series. Actors submit themselves in the performance categories, so only Henderson or Jones can explain why she quit the Emmy derby just 10 months after winning."

Added the Times, "Jones' refusal to explain her snub will inevitably fuel speculation that she's upset with "24" producers over how her role evolved as U.S. president. While she told Entertainment Weekly that she's satisfied with how her character played out, she also confessed that producers dangled her throughout the final season, not mapping out a clear story arc for the part, dismissing her from the show, then bringing her back willy nilly. When asked if she thought there will be an opening for her in the "24" feature film, she replied, "I can't imagine that would be the case."

To read the entire article, click here.

Established among the theater elite, Cherry Jones is quickly becoming the small screen's up-and-comer. Best known for originating the role of Sister Aloysius in John Patrick Shanley's "Doubt" in 2004, she won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as President Allison Taylor on the Fox series 24.

Her inspiration for her character is Eleanor Roosevelt, whom she also played in 'Amelia Earhart' with Hillary Swank.

Cherry Jones has done extensive stage work, including her Tony-winning lead performances in Lincoln Center's 1995 production of The Heiress and John Patrick Shanley's play Doubt, a role which earned her the 2005 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Play. The play opened at the Walter Kerr Theatre in March 2005. Other Broadway credits include Nora Ephron's play Imaginary Friends (with Swoosie Kurtz); Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and Perestroika, the 2000 revival of A Moon for the Misbegotten, and Timberlake Wertenbaker's Our Country's Good, for which she earned her first Tony nomination.

She is considered to be one of the foremost theater actresses in the United States. She also narrated the audiobook adaptations of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series including, "Little House in the Big Woods", "Little House on the Prairie" , "Farmer Boy","On the Banks of Plum Creek" , "By the Shores of Silver Lake" , "The Long Winter" and "Little Town on the Prairie." In recent years, Jones has ventured into the film industry, in which she has played mostly supporting roles. Her screen credits include Cradle Will Rock, The Perfect Storm, Ocean's Twelve, Signs, and The Village.

Photo Credit: Monica Simoes