January Jones was born on January 5, 1978, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She is named after January Wayne, a character in Jacqueline Susann's potboiler novel turned film, Once Is Not Enough. She is the daughter of Karen Cox, a store manager; and Marvin Jones, an exercise physiologist. Her family moved to Hecla, South Dakota, in 1979, but they moved back to Sioux Falls in 1986. She graduated from Roosevelt High School there.
Career
Acting
Jones has had supporting roles in Anger Management, Love Actually, and '. In 2005, she appeared as a U.S. border guard's wife in the film The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, directed by and starring Tommy Lee Jones. In We Are Marshall, she played the role of Carol Dawson, wife of American football coachWilliam "Red" Dawson. Jones also starred in Good Kill, opposite Ethan Hawke. She played the lead female role in the movie Love's Enduring Promise as a pioneer family's oldest child. Her character falls in love with a mysterious man who saves her father's life. She also appeared in the AMC original television drama seriesMad Men for seven seasons as young suburban housewife and mother Betty Draper Francis. She received two Golden Globe nominations and one Emmy nomination for her performances. Jones is also known for her role as Cadence Flaherty, the love interest of both Steve Stifler and Paul Finch in the 2003 comedy film American Wedding, the third instalment of the American Pie film series. She played a con artist in the Law & Order episode "Quit Claim" who, as a lone surviving suspect connected to a real estate scam involving organized crime, frustrates the efforts of Assistant District AttorneyMichael Cutter. She also appeared in The Boat That Rocked, a British film about offshore pirate radio in the 1960s, renamed Pirate Radio for North American release in 2009.By that time she had been successful into her career. Jones was ranked No. 82 on the Maxim Hot 100 Women of 2002. She appeared on the cover of "The Hot Issue" of British GQ magazine in May 2009. She appeared on the cover of the November 2009 issue of American GQ magazine, and has been a 'topic' in the magazine several times. On November 14, 2009, Jones hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live, which featured the musical guest The Black Eyed Peas. In 2011, Jones starred in two thriller films, first in Unknown alongside Liam Neeson and Diane Kruger, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, and later in Seeking Justice alongside Nicolas Cage and Guy Pearce. She portrayed Emma Frost in '. She appeared in the Fox television comedy series The Last Man on Earth, as main character Melissa Chartres. Jones joined the cast of Netflix's 2019 comedy series, The Politician, playing Dylan McDermott's wife. Jones had a leading role in the 2020 series Spinning Out, playing a bipolar single mother of two.
Modeling
Jones began her modeling career in New York at the age of 18, after a modeling scout expressed interest while she was in high school. Jones has modeled for Abercrombie & Fitch, Versace, Clearasil and Kérastase. She has graced the covers of numerous international fashion magazines, including Interview, Allure, Rolling Stone, Town & Country, The Hollywood Reporter and W in the United States; Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire, Tatler, Glamour and Red in the United Kingdom; Cosmopolitan in Germany; Grazia in Iran; and Tu Style and GQ in Italy.
Personal life
In 2009, Jones joined the marine conservation organizationOceana, as a celebrity spokesperson, working to save endangered sharks and to inform others about sharks' vital importance in nature. She has gone swimming with sharks for a PSA for the group. Jones gave birth to a son in September 2011. She dated singer Josh Groban from 2003 to 2006.
