Tommy Lee Jones

Born: 15th September 1946
Where: San Saba, Texas

The deadpan actor is probably best known for his Oscar-winning role opposite Harrison Ford in the thriller The Fugitive.

Other highlights the Academy Award-nominated role of Clay Shaw in JFK, the action thriller US Marshals and Agent K in the Men in Black franchise.

His career saw a creative resurgence in 2007 with an Oscar-nominated performance in the Coen Brothers' brooding thriller No Country for Old Men and Paul Haggis' anti-war drama The Valley of Elah.

Jones moved to New York in 1969 to pursue a career in theatre after graduation in English from Harvard (where he roomed with future vice president Al Gore).

Ten days after arriving, he landed his first acting job on Broadway in John Osborne's play, A Patriot For Me and landed a small party in 1970's Love Story.

In 1976, following a spell on the soap opera, One Life to Live, he gained greater attention when cast in the title role in the TV miniseries The Amazing Howard Hughes.

Tommy won an Emmy for his startling performance as murderer Gary Gilmore in The Executioner's Song, and spent the rest of the '80s working in both TV and film.

It was not until the early '90s that the actor became a substantial figure in Hollywood, a position catalysed by a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his role in Oliver Stone's JFK.

Two years later he won that very same award as well as a Golden Globe for his portrayal of US Marshal Sam Gerard in The Fugitive.

Varied roles followed: as an insane prison warden in Natural Born Killers, a troubled army captain in Blue Sky, a wily federal attorney in The Client, and a psychotic bomber in Blown Away.

He was also attached to a number of big-budget action movies like the disappointing Batman Forever, Men in Black, and US Marshals.

Space Cowboys gave him the chance to show his comic timing alongside fellow old-timers Clint Eastwood, Donald Sutherland and James Garner.

Jones reprised his role as Agent K opposite Will Smith in Men In Black 2 and starred opposite Benicia Del Toro in William Friedkin's The Hunted.

In 2003, he starred in Ron Howard's underrated The Missing alongside Cate Blanchett as well as the souffle light comedy Man of the House in 2005.

The same year he landed critical acclaim when he directed and starred in the dusty modern-day Western The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.

Jones enjoyed a career renaissance in 2007 when he played a careworn cop on the trail of Javier Bardem's sociopathic hitman in the Coen Brothers' No Country For Old Men.

He also earned rave notices for his portrayal of a Vietnam vet investigating the death of his GI son in Paul Haggis' The Valley of Elah.