- Born
- Birth nameGrace Beverly Jones
- Nickname
- The Queen of Gay Discos
- Height1.73 m
- Grace Jones was born on May 19, 1948 in Spanish Town, St Catherine, Jamaica to Marjorie Jones (née Williams) and Reverend Robert W. Jones. When she was 12 she moved to Syracuse, New York, joining her family who had already moved there. She studied acting at Syracuse University and appeared in her first musical; halfway through college, she was approached by a drama professor who proposed that she work with him in a play he was putting on in Philadelphia, she accepted.
Jones later moved to New York City and signed on as a model with Wilhelmina Models, but when her looks weren't successfully received, she moved to Paris, France, where her androgynous, bold, dark-skinned appearance was so highly visible, she began to model for Yves Saint-Laurent, Claude Montana, Kenzo Takada, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, Hans Feurer, and Azzedine Alaïa, and she appeared on the covers of "Elle", "Vogue", and "Der Stern."
Disillusioned with modeling, and since she always wanted to be an actress, she began her movie career playing small parts, her first being in the blaxploitation flick Gordon's War (1973) followed by an uncomfortable cameo in the unwatchable French sex comedy Attention les yeux! (1976). It wasn't until the the '80s that Jones' on-screen career really soared, when she appeared in three supporting roles: Zula, the amazonian warrior in the American sword and sorcery/adventure film Conan le Destructeur (1984); May Day, the secondary antagonist in the 14th James Bond film Dangereusement vôtre (1985); and Katrina, a bloodthirsty Egyptian vampire queen in the comedy horror Vamp (1986). Leaving audiences with only the resonance of unique and tantalizing movie performances, Jones hasn't acted in a feature film since the '90s.
In recent years, Jones's primary focus is sharing the vulnerability behind her larger-than-life persona. Jones and director Sophie Fiennes released the documentary La vie en Grace Jones (2017). According to Fiennes, the documentary is not a retelling of what can easily be found in books and magazines, but an intimate portrait of Jones in recent years as she returns to Jamaica, the country of her birth and childhood, for a family reunion.- IMDb mini biography by: Anthony Ronald Vario
- SpousesAtila Altaunbay(February 24, 1996 - 2004) (divorced)Chris Stanley(1989 - 1991) (divorced)
- ChildrenPaulo Jones
- ParentsRobert W. Jones
- RelativesNoel Jones(Sibling)
- Her slender physique.
- Bold intense facial structure.
- Deep, authorative vocals
- Speaks English, French, Spanish, Japanese, Italian and German.
- Shocked audience members in 1998 when she exposed her breasts during a Disney World performance. She was banned from the park.
- Lived with Swedish actor Dolph Lundgren for four years, who appeared with her in the Bond film Dangereusement vôtre (1985), though contrary to popular rumor they were never engaged. He was also once her bodyguard.
- While modeling in Paris, she was roommates with fellow models Jerry Hall and Jessica Lange. They have remained lifelong friends.
- Turned down the role of Zhora in Blade Runner (1982), a decision she later regretted.
- [on drug use] Use, don't abuse.
- [on her gay following] The fact that I get in there and perform during this political time, and have a great time doing it helps. Gays are my best audience.
- [on her film career, or lack thereof] After the doing the first big film (Conan le Destructeur (1984)), I realized there was so much time, so much empty space -- always, you know... waiting to be called. Thank God, I've got the music because in all that space, I was writing music.
- [on how she became to be a singer] I never thought I was going to be a singer. That was an accident.
- [on her stage persona] When I perform on stage I become those male bullies, those dominators from my childhood. That's probably why it's so scary, because they scared me.
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