Jasmine Cephas Jones

Jasmine Cephas Jones is an American actress and singer born on July 21, 1989, in London, England, who grew up in the Midwood neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. She is the daughter of actor Ron Cephas Jones (1957–2023), who was of African American heritage, and British-born jazz singer Kim Lesley. Jones attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts and Berklee College of Music before completing her formal training at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre, from which she graduated in 2011.

Jones began her screen career with small roles in independent films, including Titus (2013) and Fairfield (2014), and made episodic television appearances on Blue Bloods and Unforgettable. Her breakthrough came when she originated the dual roles of Peggy Schuyler and Maria Reynolds in Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton, first in the Off-Broadway production at The Public Theatre in 2015 and then on Broadway, where she remained with the production through December 8, 2016. Her contributions to the original cast album, which included solos in "Schuyler Sisters" and "Say No to This," earned her a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album in 2016. A live stage recording of the production was later released on Disney+ in 2020. During the run of the show, Jones also appeared alongside Hamilton castmates Renée Elise Goldsberry and Phillipa Soo to perform "America the Beautiful" at Super Bowl LI.

On film, Jones appeared in Mistress America (2015), Monsters and Men (2018), Dog Days (2018), The Photograph (2020), and Origin (2023). She portrayed a mother named Ashley in the drama Blindspotting (2018), a role she reprised in the Starz spin-off series of the same name, which premiered on June 13, 2021, and was renewed for a second season on October 14, 2021. In addition to leading the cast, Jones served as a producer on the series. Her television credits also include Girls (2017) and Mrs. Fletcher (2019). Her performance as Tyisha in the short-form series FreeRayshawn (2020) earned her the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series, making her the first Black woman to win in that category. Her Emmy win that year was also historic in that she and her father Ron Cephas Jones became the first father-daughter pair to win Emmy Awards in the same year.

On July 13, 2021, Jones and her father jointly announced the Primetime Emmy nominees on behalf of the Television Academy. In October 2021, she signed with CAA (Creative Artists Agency). Jones also appears on the 2024 concept album Warriors, created by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis, in the role of Swan. She became engaged to fellow original Hamilton Broadway cast member Anthony Ramos on December 24, 2018, having met him during rehearsals for the Off-Broadway production in 2014; the couple was reported to have separated in November 2021.