The renowned actor Ron Cephas Jones, best known for his Emmy-winning performance as William Hill on the critically acclaimed NBC series This Is Us, has passed away. Aged 66 years.
According to a statement sent to Entertainment Tonight by a representative for the late actor, Jones “passed away at the age of 66 due to a long-standing pulmonary issue.”
“The much-loved and award-winning actor Ron Cephas Jones has gone away at the age of 66 due to a lung condition that he had been battling for a very long time. His warmth, beauty, generosity, compassion, and heart were felt by anybody who had the good fortune to meet him during the course of his career, as it is said in the statement. “His love for the stage was evident throughout his entire career, including his recent Tony nominated and Drama Desk Award winning performance for his role in Clyde’s on Broadway,” A large audience was able to see the inner beauty and soul that Ron has as a result of the several Emmy awards that he won for his performance on This Is Us. His daughter Jasmine Cephas Jones is the last surviving member of his family.
As a result of Jones’ performance as the biological father of Sterling K. Brown’s character, Randall Pearson, he was nominated for an Emmy award for four years in a row, and he ended up winning two of them. In September of 2020, Jones and his daughter Jasmine made history by being the first father-daughter team in the history of the Emmys to win awards in the same year. Jasmine grabbed an Emmy on her first nomination, earning the award for Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series for her compelling portrayal as Tyisha on the Quibi series #FreeRayshawn. This was Jones’ second award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series, and he won it for the second time this year.
On Saturday, Brown paid an homage to Jones by sharing it with the world.
“Life imitated art today, and one of the most wonderful people the world has ever seen is no longer with us,” he said in his letter. “Life imitated art today.” “Unfortunately, @cephasjaz has passed away, and the world will never be the same. Brother, please know that you are cherished. And our hearts will go out to you. I’ll see you in the next phase of life, so make sure everyone is still laughing in the one after that!
Mandy Moore, who also starred in This Is Us, paid tribute to her co-star Ron Howard on Instagram by writing, “Getting to know and work with Ron on the crazy journey of ‘This Is Us’ was the greatest gift- he was pure magic as a person and as an artist…Every single one of these moments will be in my heart forever. Even though he wasn’t on set as often as any of us would have liked, he was such an important part of the way the program was put together that it was almost as if he was there the whole time. I will never forget how meaningful it was to shoot this specific episode and to welcome him back so that he could properly say farewell to our TIU family and to the whole experience. I simply can’t help but feel miserable. All of Jasmine’s loved ones, including his family and friends, are in my thoughts and prayers. I love you so much, @cephasjaz.
Meanwhile, Chrissy Metz, who plays Beth on This Is Us, expressed her gratitude to Ron by writing, “Ron, thank you for brightening every room you walked into.” Your kind heart, incredible energy, unfathomable brilliance, and stunning smile have left an indelible impression on me, and I have been altered as a result. I wish for you a transition that is brimming with brightness and at ease. During this difficult moment, my thoughts and prayers are with Jasmine and all of his loved ones. You are without a doubt the hippest cat in the world.”
In an interview with ET from the year 2020, Jones described what it was like to see history firsthand while attending a simulated Emmys ceremony during the height of the epidemic.
In Jones’s recollection, “her mother and I were on the phone watching the event, and the name came up,” “We screamed together and shared a parental moment together, and then we got on the phone with those cats over in Hungary, and then we all kind of celebrated together via Zoom, on FaceTime, as a family, and that was beautiful,” she said. “We screamed together and shared a parental moment together.” We are all simply looking forward to being able to see each other again and to celebrate in the same manner that we always have, which is by gathering around the table to have a delicious dinner.
Mr. Robot, Luke Cage, Dog Days, Law & Order: Organized Crime, NYPD Blue, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, The Blacklist, Banshee, and Better Things are some of the other television shows in which Jones has appeared. The most recent role he has played is that of Octavia Spencer’s father in the original series produced by Apple+ called Truth Be Told.
The individual who was born and raised in New Jersey had previously come out with information on a chronic pulmonary ailment, revealing to The New York Times that he had undergone a double lung transplant in the year 2020. Nearly two months had passed since he had checked into the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center as a patient.