January Kristen Jones (born January 5, 1978) is an American actress. She is best known for playing Betty Draper in Mad Men (2007–2015), for which she was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress – Television Series Drama and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.
She has portrayed Melissa Chartres in The Last Man on Earth (2015–2018) and starred in films such as American Wedding (2003), We Are Marshall (2006), The Boat That Rocked (2009), Unknown (2011), Seeking Justice (2011), and X-Men: First Class (2011).
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Early life
January Kristen Jones was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on January 5, 1978, the daughter of store manager Karen Cox and exercise physiologist Marvin Jones. She was named after January Wayne, a character in the 1973 Jacqueline Susann novel Once Is Not Enough. She has two sisters, Jina and Jacey. Her family moved to Hecla, South Dakota, in 1979 but in 1986 returned to Sioux Falls, where she graduated from Roosevelt High School.
Career
Modeling
Jones began her modeling career in New York at 18, after a modeling scout expressed interest while she was in high school. She has said that modeling was not her passion and she never took it seriously. Her first agency claimed she owed them money when she decided to move to Los Angeles. Jones has modeled for Abercrombie & Fitch, Versace, Clearasil, and Kérastase. She has been on the covers of numerous magazines, including Interview, Allure, Rolling Stone, Town & Country, The Hollywood Reporter, GQ, and W in the United States; Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire, Tatler, Glamour and Red in the United Kingdom; Cosmopolitan in Germany; Grazia in Italy; and Tu Style in Italy.
Acting
Jones appears in the video "Love is Blind" from David Coverdale's 2000 album Into the Light and had supporting roles in Anger Management (2003), Love Actually (2003), and Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004). She had a leading role in the made-for-TV film Love's Enduring Promise (2004) as a pioneer family's eldest child who falls in love with a mysterious man who saves her father's life. In 2005, she played a U.S. border guard's wife in the film The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, directed by and starring Tommy Lee Jones. She has said it was one of the most creative experiences of her career. In We Are Marshall (2006), she played Carol Dawson, wife of American football coach William "Red" Dawson. She also starred in Good Kill (2014), opposite Ethan Hawke.
Jones appeared in the AMC original television drama series Mad Men (2007–2015) for seven seasons as suburban housewife and mother Betty Draper. 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 installment of the American Pie film series. She played a con artist in the Law & Order episode "Quit Claim" who, as the lone surviving suspect connected to a real estate scam involving organized crime, frustrates the efforts of Assistant District Attorney Michael Cutter to convict her. 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.
Jones was ranked 82nd 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 with musical guest The Black Eyed Peas.
In 2011, Jones starred in two thriller films: Unknown and Seeking Justice. She portrayed Emma Frost in X-Men: First Class.
Jones appeared as Melissa Chartres in the Fox television comedy series The Last Man on Earth (2015–18). In 2019, she joined the cast of Netflix's comedy-drama series The Politician, playing bored, rich housewife Lizbeth Sloan. In 2020, Jones joined the cast of the Netflix series Spinning Out as Carol Baker, a former figure skater and single mother who has bipolar disorder. The series concluded after one season.
Charity work
In 2009, Jones joined the marine conservation organization Oceana 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 public service announcement for the group. She served food with fellow actress Malin Åkerman at the Los Angeles Mission's annual Thanksgiving event on November 24, 2021.
Personal life
Jones dated Ashton Kutcher when they were both models for Abercrombie & Fitch in the late 1990s.
One of Jones's favorite actors is Robert Stack. During her relationship with Jim Carrey in 2002, Carrey gave her Stack's autograph as a birthday present.
She was in a relationship with singer Josh Groban from 2003 to 2006.
She dated actor Jason Sudeikis in 2010. In January 2011, People reported that they had split. In September 2011, she gave birth to a son whose father's identity was not publicly disclosed.
Jones has an interest in unsolved mysteries and believes she has seen a UFO. She has a tattoo that says "Bellatrix", the Latin word for female warrior.
In 2025, Jones disclosed that she has experienced misophonia since she was a teenager and that the condition has worsened over time.
