Biography - Leslie Jones

Who is Leslie Jones?

Leslie Jones is a comedian, actress by profession, and American by nationality. She is well known as the former cast member and writer on Saturday Night Live and has starred in Ghostbusters.

Leslie Jones – Bio, Age, Parents, Siblings

Leslie Jones’ birth took place on September 7, 1967, in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. She was born Annette Jones and her father served in the United States Army. After her father took a job as an electronics engineer at Stevie Wonder's radio station, KJLH, the family moved to Los Angeles.

She is not the only child of her parents and has two siblings. Her sister Ta'Rhonda Jones is also an actress as well as a rapper. She also had a younger brother named Rodney Keith Jones, who passed away in 2009.

Education, Ethnicity

For education, Leslie Jones attended a high school in Lynwood, California where she was a basketball player. She went on to study at Chapman University on a basketball scholarship and transferred to Colorado State University. 

His ethnicity is African-American.

Leslie Jones – Boyfriend, Children, Husband

Like most of her personal life, Jones has maintained her privacy when it comes to romantic relationships. Not much has been revealed about her current or former boyfriends. She is yet to marry and take a husband. Leslie Jones also does not have any children and is much more focused on her career.

Leslie Jones – Career

Early Career

As she is six feet tall her father had suggested that she play basketball. In the later years, Leslie Jones intended to become a lawyer but changed her major a few times, including business accounting,  computer science, and eventually communications.

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In 1987, when she was still a college student, she started doing stand-up comedy after a friend signed her up for a "Funniest Person on Campus" contest. Jones went on to win the competition, which affected her so much that she dropped out and moved to Los Angeles to start a career in comedy and television. There she worked odd jobs to make ends meet.

After Mother Love and Dave Chappelle advised Leslie Jones to move to New York City to sharpen her comedy skills, she gladly followed their advice. However, her career path was not so easy. When she opened up for Jamie Foxx, she was booed by the audience and she stopped performing for three years.

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Shows, Films, Series

In late 2013 Leslie Jones was selected along with LaKendra Tookes as writers by Saturday Night Live (SNL). And on October 20, 2014, she was promoted to the cast as a featured player. Her official debut as a performer was on the October 25, 2014, episode hosted by Jim Carrey, making her the oldest person to join the show as a cast at the age of 47.

After years of working in the SNL, Leslie Jones left on August 27, 2019, making season 44 as her last season.

In addition to being a comedian, Jones is also an actress. Over the years, she has portrayed roles in numerous TV series including Mind of Mencia (2007), Workaholics (2014), The Blacklist (2016), and in the films National Security (2003), Top Five (2014), Trainwreck (2015), Ghostbusters (2016), The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019), Coming 2 America (2020), to name a few.

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Co-stars

On the set of Ghostbusters, Leslie Jones starred alongside Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig, Dan Aykroyd, and Ivan Reitman.

Leslie Jones – Awards, Nominations

She has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards (2017-2019) and a Writers Guild of America Award (2015) for her work with the SNL.

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Leslie Jones – Racially targeted

Leslie Jones has suffered a dark side of fame including racial attacks. After her appearance in 2016’s film Ghostbusters, numerous accounts on social media sites made racist attacks against her. 

Twitter responded by taking action against several users. The same year her personal website was hacked and its contents were replaced by pictures of her driver's license and passport and her alleged nude photographs.

Leslie Jones – Net Worth, Salary

Her net worth is estimated to be over $7 million while there have been no estimates on her annual salary.

Leslie Jones – Social media

On social media, Jones is active on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram with thousands of followers.

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