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Blü Beverly Hills on Wilshire Boulevard is a lovely backdrop for any event.

The sun-soaked streets of L.A.’s most glamorous district buzz as the hills stand sentry in the distance. The only sight more beautiful than the picturesque geography on this bright summer day, is the charming beauty having her picture taken at the top of the building. Television and film star Jill Marie Jones radiates confidence and beauty, so much so that it’s unclear if her bright smile and caramel skin complement the gorgeous day or it’s the other way around. Soaking in the ambience of the day, Jones is both engaging and playful, laughing with the cameraman and chatting up the crew.

While some of the more cynical members of the screen starlet sorority may complain about the constant fawning that goes along with a major photo shoot, Jones is happily absorbing the attention. She can’t think of why anyone would complain. “You get to wear pretty dresses, [you] get your hair and makeup done— it’s fabulous!” she says with a laugh. Watching Jones in what for many would be an opportune time to switch into full-on diva mode, it’s easy to forget that she
first came to prominence as the tart, opinionated Toni Childs. As Childs on the UPN/CW hit “Girlfriends,” Jill Marie Jones continued in the tradition of sassy, smart sirens of the small screen. On a weekly basis, the exploits of Childs and her three sisters-in-arms were fodder for chat rooms and watercooler conversations.

But Jones’ departure from the show in 2006 was controversial for fans, and the show appeared to lose a bit of its following after she left.

Every move she’s made since then has been about moving forward, not rehashing the past. While many thespians in Hollywood are content to ‘play-totype,’ Jones is driven by a desire to continue to challenge herself and grow in her craft. “I’m an actor, first and foremost, I like to challenge myself and I like to play characters that I’ve never played before,” she notes. She acknowledges that Jill does tend to surface in whomever she may be playing in a particular project, but what gets her attention is the vitality of the character. “Every single character that
I’ve played [contains] a little bit of me, but they’re all so different,” says Jones.“If it turns me on, that’s what I want to do.”

Growing up in Dallas, the future starlet took the long way to Hollywood. No stranger to hard work and unafraid of risk-taking, Jones started modeling shortly after studying at Texas Women’s University, and her striking features and charming personality soon caught the attention of the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, Dallas Mavericks dancers, and the USO. It was with the USO that Jones got her first taste of international travel, which would ultimately pique her interest in following her dreams outside of the Lone Star State. “Travel is very important to me,” she says. “The first place I traveled outside of the country was Korea.” Exposing herself to various cultures prepped her for making the transition from Texas to the glitz and glam of Hollywood. “It wasn’t a huge change going from Dallas to Los Angeles, it wasn’t like a culture shock for me,” Jones shares. “It’s coming up on 10 years for me [here]. L.A. is beautiful — [although] I miss home, you know, I love everything that California has to offer aesthetically and I’m just really happy to be here.” “I never made a decision based on money in my life …” There are countless stories of burgeoning stars coming to Los Angeles to pursue their dreams only to end up distraught, devastated and destitute. Jones’ determination and faith kept her from becoming a casualty or a cliché.

She adapted to the city quickly, developed her own rituals for maintaining sanity in what can be an infamously uncharitable town, and surrounded herself with people that she could count on to be her support system. “I definitely read and I meditate, but [I love] just having my good friends around,” she says. “[Living] in Los Angeles, I have no family here, [so] my friends are like my surrogate family.” She adds with a laugh, “Getting together with my girls and having drunken lunches — that’s how I do it.” “Girlfriends” was a phenomenon and continued a new tradition of television shows featuring young, professional women learning about life and love while balancing the private with the professional. Like its predecessors“Living Single” and “Sex In the City,” the show touched a nerve with young women of all backgrounds, and Jones and her co-stars (Tracee Ellis Ross, Golden Brooks and Persia White) became female icons for a new generation.

The experience on the show was truly a blessing for Jones. She told BlackFilm. com in 2007, “ ‘Girlfriends’ was my third audition. I booked my first. I booked my second. I booked my third. ‘Girlfriends’ was my third. I was learning throughout the whole process. If you look at seasons 1–6 when I was on, you can see the growth.”

Being open to growth is essential to who Jill Marie Jones is, and it remains a big factor in how the little girl from Big D made it all the way to the beaches of St. Tropez and the waters of the Far East. Being open to change is what pushed Jones to make the leap from the small screen to the silver screen. “The cool thing to me about movies is ... the research, breaking down the character,” Jones shared with BlackFilm.com. “But after two months, I get to do a new character, and that’s cool. Sometimes when you are on a TV show — and if you are blessed to go for six years like I was — it’s the same character. The difference … is that my character — from [when] you met her [to] where she ended on the show — they [the writers] challenged me all the time. I felt as if I was able to play different characters.”

Being able to play different characters and work on films that you’re passionate about are certainly pluses for any actress, and Jones latest project, a film calledLong Shots with Ice Cube and Keke Palmer, is a movie that the actress poured her heart and soul into. “It’s actually a true story about a 12-year-old girl who was the first girl to play in Pop Warner football [and] to take her team to the Super Bowl,” Jones explains. “It’s such a great movie — very heartfelt. It’s a lighthearted drama, it kind of reminds me of a modern Rudy.” “Ice Cube is the best, he’s very professional, but he’s so fun,” she says. “He was very emotionally giving. Cube is very vulnerable in the film. It’s a very sweet, sweet movie.”

Jones doesn’t randomly chase projects in search of the next blockbuster, she decides on roles based on her instincts and that has been her approach from the beginning. Fans, critics, and the blogosphere ran rampant with speculation as to why Jones left“Girlfriends” when her contract ended in 2006, but Jones is adamant in keeping money last on her priority list when it comes to her career. “[Don’t] let your life be driven by financial gain, I never made a decision based on money in my life,” assures Jones. Ever the polite Southern girl, she pauses mid-sentence to say ‘bless you’ to a bystander after a sneeze.

“Success has nothing to do with financial gain, to me, [leaving] the world a better place than when you got here is success.” She continues, “My mother is the most amazing woman I know and for me to be able to walk through the world and be a great representation of her, that’s successful for me.” As the sun begins to lower over the Hollywood Hills, Jones readies herself for her next triumph. She smiles as she prepares to leave, and she has the look of a woman fulfilled by a hard day’s work, a woman unafraid of the challenges tomorrow may bring. Jones welcomes that new day, and for her the greatest fear lies in not trying. We should all be so fearless.

Story by Todd Williams Images by Hiltron Bailey for Steed Media Service

Story by Todd Williams
Images by Hiltron Bailey for Steed Media Service