Grace Jones

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Birthday:

19 May 1948, Spanish Town, Jamaica

Birth Name:

Beverly Grace Jones

Height:

173 cm

Grammy-nominee and three-time Saturn Award-nominee, Grace Jones can claim a career in show business by birthright. Her grandfather (on her mother's side) was a musician who traveled with Nat 'King' Cole. She was born May 19, 1948 in Spanish Town, St Catherine - Jamaica, to Marjorie Jones (née Williams) and Reverend Robert W. Jones. Though she was born in Jamaica, Grace was raised in Syracuse, New York, where she later studied Spanish at Syracuse University. Halfway through college, she was approached by a drama professor who proposed that she come work with him in a play he was putting on in Philadelphia, she accepted. She was 18 when she moved back to New York, and signed on as a model with Wilhelmina Modeling agency. But, since her looks were not successfully received, she moved to Paris, France, where her androgynous, bold, dark-skinned appearance fostered her potential. She modeled for Yves Saint-Laurent, Claude Montana, Kenzo Takada, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, Hans Feurer and Azzedine Alaïa, and she appeared on the covers of "Elle", "Vogue", and "Der Stern". While modeling, she found herself acting, playing minor parts in film. Her debut film appearance was in Gordon's War (1973), she played the role of Mary, a drug smuggler. Grace started to work prolifically in the 1980s and became a successful American actress with her roles of Zula the amazonian in Conan the Destroyer (1984), and May Day in the 14th James Bond film A View to a Kill (1985). Other notable roles include: Katrina, the Egyptian queen vampire in Vamp (1986), Helen Strangé, the forceful and sex hungry model in the Eddie Murphy film, Boomerang (1992), and Christoph/Christine, an intersexed circus performer in the made-for-television film, Wolf Girl (2001). Show less «

[on drug use] Use, don't abuse.

[on her gay following] The fact that I get in there and perform during this political time, and have a great time doing it helps. Gays are m...Show more »

[on her gay following] The fact that I get in there and perform during this political time, and have a great time doing it helps. Gays are my best audience. Show less «

[on her film career, or lack thereof] After the doing the first big film (Conan the Destroyer (1984)), I realized there was so much time, so...Show more »

[on her film career, or lack thereof] After the doing the first big film (Conan the Destroyer (1984)), I realized there was so much time, so much empty space -- always, you know... waiting to be called. Thank God, I've got the music because in all that space, I was writing music. Show less «

[on how she became to be a singer] I never thought I was going to be a singer. That was an accident.

[on her stage persona] When I perform on stage I become those male bullies, those dominators from my childhood. That's probably why it's so ...Show more »

[on her stage persona] When I perform on stage I become those male bullies, those dominators from my childhood. That's probably why it's so scary, because they scared me. Show less «

[on her aggressive behavior] I think I am aggressive in a positive way, it protects me- it puts everyone on their guard-to be nice to me.

[on sexuality, and categorizing one's sexual preferences] Of course I find women attractive, I think that if I didn't - I wouldn't find myse...Show more »

[on sexuality, and categorizing one's sexual preferences] Of course I find women attractive, I think that if I didn't - I wouldn't find myself attractive. I think one has to begin first within themselves - then go from there, and for me to say that I don't find women attract would be saying that I don't find myself attractive. It doesn't make me anything, I think it is ridiculous trying to categorize people's feelings or to say what one person prefers, there's no comparison. You can't just say one is better than the other, or one is worse than the other - do what you feel, when you feel like it, if you feel like it. Show less «

[on her mothering] I have one formula that really works, and that is never use a negative word to him (her son), ever. I never said, "no", "...Show more »

[on her mothering] I have one formula that really works, and that is never use a negative word to him (her son), ever. I never said, "no", "don't", "never" - I said, "If you have any more sweeties, all your teeth either are not going to grow, or fall out" or, "if you want to go in the swimming pool - you'll drown". Show less «

[on preparing for the role of Katrina in Vamp (1986)] I read "Interview With a Vampire", my character was based on that character in a sense...Show more »

[on preparing for the role of Katrina in Vamp (1986)] I read "Interview With a Vampire", my character was based on that character in a sense, it wasn't taken from the book, but I did read that book in order to get the feeling of putting human feelings into it, and I guess I started smoking cigarettes as a habit, just to see what a habit feels like, because I haven't got any. Show less «

[on the misconception of her characters in Conan the Destroyer (1984), and Vamp (1986)] I do get hurt, I do cry, I do have feelings. I think...Show more »

[on the misconception of her characters in Conan the Destroyer (1984), and Vamp (1986)] I do get hurt, I do cry, I do have feelings. I think it is a nice surprise to see a vulnerable side to me in my music, I'm multifaceted, I think everybody is, I am developing my vulnerable side, and one day it will come out in film. Show less «

I was always really determined to look the way I wanted to look, and I wanted to cut my hair. I wanted to look different because I was used ...Show more »

I was always really determined to look the way I wanted to look, and I wanted to cut my hair. I wanted to look different because I was used to looking different. Because of my religious background, I'd always been encouraged to look different. Show less «