Tommy Lee Jones with wife Dawn Laurel-Jones and daughter Victoria Jones. | Source: Getty Images
Iconic actor Tommy Lee Jones is the proud father of two grown children, and they have followed in his footsteps into the world of show business.
"The Fugitive" actor Tommy Lee Jones' career is full of unforgettable roles that have garnered him numerous awards, including four Academy Award nominations and one Oscar. Still, his greatest role is that of father to his two children.
Tommy Lee Jones' children are son Austin Leonard Jones and daughter Victoria Jones. Even though the actor has been married three times, he only has kids with one of his wives.
Tommy Lee Jones, Austin Jones and Kimberlea Cloughley in 1995. | Source: Getty Images
Tommy Lee Jones was born on September 15, 1946, in San Saba, Texas, and from the time he was 24, he's been starring in major movies. He was raised in a poor family, but his academic ability earned him a brilliant education.
Tommy Lee is a Harvard graduate, attending the institution on a merit scholarship. His roommate at Harvard was the future vice president of the United States, Al Gore. He graduated from Harvard in 1969, and in 1970 he starred in "Love Story," one of the most-seen movies of the decade, with Ryan O'Neal and Ali McGraw.
Dawn Laurel became Dawn Laurel-Jones in 1997 in a small intimate wedding in Alamo Heights, Texas, and the couple has been inseparable ever since.
He has lived most of his adult life in the spotlight, and he has made certain that his family is kept out of public view. Tommy Lee refuses to talk about his kids in interviews, but he never forgets to acknowledge them when he receives an accolade or an award. His children, Austin and Victoria, are never far from his mind.
Austin Leonard Jones Works with His Father on His Movies
Tommy Lee's first child is Austin Leonard Jones, and he was born on November 9, 1982, in New Zealand. Austin was raised on his dad's Texas ranch, far from the glittery glamour and the lights of Hollywood.
Austin's mother is Kimberlea Cloughley, a Texas girl from a prominent San Antonio family -- her father, Phil Hardburger, was the Mayor of the city -- and a phenomenally gifted photographer.
In 2006, when Austin was in college, his dad revealed that he was thinking of buying the rights to an Ernest Hemmingway novel, "Islands In The Stream." He said:
“I might get my son Austin, who is twenty-two and studying writing at Vermont College, to help me write the screenplay.”
Austin isn't just a talented writer, he is a talented composer, and his father solicited his help and advice on his movie "The Homesman," a Western set in the 19th Century. Tommy Lee stated:
"Austin Leonard Jones, who is the banjo player on the barge at the end of the movie, found some very important, rare old songs for us and he worked at that very hard."
Austin has credits as a composer in the documentary "Metamorphosis: Junior Year," and the short film, "Frontera." A peek at Austin's social media reveals his passion for music and his reverence for his Native American heritage --Tommy Lee is part Cherokee.
Tommy Lee Jones with wife photographer Dawn Laurel-Jones and daughter Victoria Jones at the premiere of "Just Getting Started" in 2017 in Hollywood, California. | Source: Getty Images
Victoria Jones Once Almost Lost Her Role in Her Father's Movie
Victoria Jones is Tommy Lee's second child with Kimberlea Cloughley, and she was born when her brother Austin was nearly nine years old on September 3, 1991, in San Antonio, Texas.
Like her dad, Victoria is at home in the saddle and started playing polo with Tommy Lee when she was six years old. She is also an actress with credits in "Men in Black II" alongside her father, the popular TV series "One Tree Hill," and the film "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada."
In "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada," Victoria, who is fluent in Spanish, was hired by her father to play a Mexican girl. On the morning of the shoot, her dad fired her for not getting out of bed. Luckily, a sympathetic crew member got her on set on time.
Despite her work in movies, Victoria is low-key and rarely appears in public, except when she accompanies her father to red-carpet events. One such occasion was the 30th annual Tokyo International Film Festival in Japan, where Victoria stepped out in a pretty black and pink rose-print dress on the arm of her proud father.
Tommy Lee Jones and Kimberlea Cloughley at the 67th Annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles, California, in 1995. | Source: Getty Images
Tommy Lee Jones Never Had Other Children despite Being Married Thrice
Victoria and Austin's mother, Kimberlea Cloughley, was Tommy Lee's second wife. When he met Cloughley, Tommy Lee was a divorced man. He married his first wife, artist Katherine Lardner, in 1971 and divorced her after eight years of marriage.
Cloughley and Tommy Lee married in 1981 and divorced in 1996. By the end of the marriage, the actor had already met another photographer, Dawn Laurel, on the set of the 1995 film "The Good Old Boys." She is 18 years his junior and shares his passion for movies and playing polo.
Dawn Laurel became Dawn Laurel-Jones in 1997 in a small intimate wedding in Alamo Heights, Texas, and the couple has been inseparable ever since. Dawn and Tommy Lee live on their cattle ranch in Texas and have no kids together. Victoria and Austin are the actor's only children.
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