Jocelyn Jones was raised in Sneden's Landing, an artist's community on New York's Hudson River. Just 30 minutes north of Manhattan, this tiny hamlet is home to some of the most influential artists of our time. It was here that her life and interest in art, artists and their process began. She is the daughter of model Judy Briggs and Henry Jones, a character actor whose credits include some 40 films and over 300 televisions shows. Her father started out as a Broadway actor, most known for "The Bad Seed", "Advise And Consent" and his Tony Award-winning performance in "Sunrise at Campobello". Her mother, Judy Tomkins, was a published photographer before becoming a landscape architect, and a favorite choice among the artists of Sneden's to transform their often magical properties. Ms. Jones began her career at the age of 12, appearing with E.G. Marshall and her father in an episode of Les accusés (1961). Her work in motion pictures includes Clint Eastwood's L'inspecteur ne renonce jamais (1976), The Other Side of the Mountain (1975) with Beau Bridges, Al Pacino's Serpico (1973) as well as starring in the cult classics Le piège (1979) and Dynamite Girls (1976).
She has appeared on stage in both New York and Los Angeles, most notably at The Mark Taper Forum, playing Greta Garbo in the world premiere of Christopher Hampton's "Tales From Hollywood." She has also appeared with Joe Stern's Matrix Theatre Company, where she played the delightfully insane Violet in George M. Cohan farce "The Tavern" and as Constance Wicksteed, the spinster whose passion to have sizable breasts became a kind of religious calling, in Alan Bennett's farce "Habeas Corpus". She also received critical acclaim for her role as Lucy Brown in Ron Sossi's groundbreaking production of "The Three Penny Opera", which famously utilized all three theaters of The Odyssey Theatre Complex for that same production. Additionally, she is a much-in-demand acting teacher, and over her 25-year teaching career has shepherded hundreds of actors from novice to starring careers. Also known as a "secret weapon" to some of the biggest stars in the industry, she has served as a confidential Creative Consultant, working on some of the highest-grossing pictures of all time. Her work has included guiding artists on which projects to choose, working with writing teams to develop current and future projects, designing "immaculate" research, developing the stars' acting notes and rehearsing them prior to shooting. This 12-year career recently became known to the public when Forest Whitaker credited her as his "Dramaturge" in Lee Daniels' Le majordome (2013)
In addition, shed is an uncredited script doctor. Known as a "structure maven" and "character builder" she is trusted for her candid opinion; "This script is perfect, you don't need me" to "You have serious structure problems in the second act". She has served in every capacity, from page-one rewrites to final polishes, confidentially contributing to blockbuster films and television series alike. Her production company, Mind's Eye Pictures, is dedicated to producing plays and screenplays she has co-written with her husband, writer/director Miles Watkins. She divides her time between "creative consulting"--teaching 100 hand-picked actors, directors and writers at her acting studio in Los Angeles--and her work at Mind's Eye Pictures. She is working on a book about the genesis of creativity, and the responsibility of artists as the last catalysts of independent thinking and social change.
