Ron Cephas Jones, award-winning actor known for his television role in “This Is Us” and on stage work, has passed away at age 66.
“Beloved and award-winning actor Ron Cephas Jones has passed away at the age of 66 due to a long-standing pulmonary issue,” confirmed his spokesperson to People.
Jones was highly regarded for his roles, especially within the theater realm, as he was recently nominated for a Tony Award, and won the Drama Desk Award For Outstanding Featured Actor, for his performance in Clyde’s.
Beginning his career in the 1980s, he gained significant recognition for playing “William” in the NBC drama This Is Us. His heart-wrenching role on the show earned him four Primetime Emmy nominations, winning two. One of the years he won was especially groundbreaking, as his daughter, actress Jasmine Cephas Jones, won her first Emmy during the ceremony that year as well, making them the first father-daughter duo to do so.
He announced his battle with pulmonary disease to the New York Times in 2021, beginning his work on Clyde’s after receiving a double lung transplant in 2020. Cephas, a dedicated performer, expressed gratitude for the surgery as it allowed him to keep doing his passion.
“My whole life has been the stage,” he said in a interview with Entertainment Weekly. “The idea of not performing again seemed worse to me than death.”
As recently as last December, Cephas Jones was revealed to be casted as Nation of Islam Leader Elijah Mohammed in Disney+ and NatGeo new series Genius:MLK/X, but whether or not he has completed filming for the show has yet to be confirmed.
His passing is a great loss to the acting community, but his presence and timeless work will be long remembered, as also relayed in the statement,
“Throughout the course of his career, his warmth, beauty, generosity, kindness and heart were felt by anyone who had the good fortune of knowing him.”
The late actor is survived by his daughter, who has yet to speak publicly on the heartbreaking news.