Ron Cephas Jones, Emmy-winning ‘This Is Us’ actor, dead at 66

Ron Cephas Jones, the award-winning actor best known for his role as William Hill on This is Us, has died at age 66, according to multiple reports.

A representative for the actor confirmed to multiple outlets, including People and EW, that he died of a “long-standing pulmonary issue.”

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“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 statement obtained by People read in part.

Jones was best known for his role on This Is Us, playing the biological father of Randall Pearson (played by Sterling K. Brown). Brown mourned Jones’ passing on Instagram Saturday saying, “Life imitated art today, and one of the most wonderful people the world has ever seen is no longer with us.”

Mandy Moore, who also starred with Jones on This Is Us, took to social media and called him “pure magic as a human and an artist.”

“Getting to know and work with Ron on the wild ride of ‘This Is Us’ was the greatest gift,” Moore wrote.

Jones won two Primetime Emmys for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series in 2018 and 2020 for his role on This Is Us. In 2020, he and his daughter, Jasmine Cephas Jones, made Emmys history by becoming the first father-daughter winners in the same year.

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Jones’ other acting credits include television series such as Truth Be Told (2019-2023), Law & Order: Organized Crime (2021-2022), and Luke Cage (2016-2018). He also starred in films such as He Got Game (1998), Half Nelson (2006), Glass Chin (2014), Dog Days (2018), and Dolemite Is My Name (2019), People reported.

Off-screen, Jones appeared on and off Broadway several times. He made his Broadway debut in the 2004 production of August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean. More recently, he earned a Tony nomination and a Drama Desk Award in 2022 for his work in the play Clyde’s, Playbill reported.

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