Inspirational Quotes by James Earl Jones (American Actor)

James Earl Jones (b.1931) is an award-winning American actor who has performed on television, stage, and screen. Considered the most exceptional African-American performer of his generation, he is best known for his resonant bass voice and commanding physical presence.

Born in Arkabutla, Mississippi, James is the son of actor Robert Earl Jones. James overcame an acute stammer to major in drama at the University of Michigan. After a brief stint in the U.S. Army, he went to New York City, studying at the American Theatre Wing with Lee Strasberg. He acted in his first Off-Broadway production in 1957 and subsequently with the New York Shakespeare Festival in 1961–73.

Jones made his Broadway début in Sunrise at Campobello (1958) and won a Tony award for his performance as the boxer Jack Jefferson in The Great White Hope (1968.) Other notable Broadway performances include the grumpy Norman Thayer in On Golden Pond (2005,) Southern patriarch Big Daddy in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (2008,) and the quiet chauffeur Hoke Colburn in Driving Miss Daisy (2010.)

Jones has taken voice-over roles in television advertising and films, both as a narrator and for animated characters. He is best known for giving voice to the villain Darth Vader in the Star Wars series of movies, which began in 1977. In 1994, he provided the voice of the wise Mufasa in Disney’s The Lion King (1994;) he was the only cast member to reprise his role in the 2019 remake.

Jones is a Hollywood fixture, acting in such films as Field of Dreams (1989,) and those based on Tom Clancy’s novels—The Hunt for Red October (1990,) Patriot Games (1992,) and Clear and Present Danger, 1994.)

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