Thomas Jones

Thomas was born in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. His mother, Betty, worked the graveyard shift in a Virginia coal mine for nearly 20 years while raising seven children, including his younger brother, Julius Jones. While in Appalachia, Virginia, his father encouraged the children to learn five new words per day, and made them read the front page of the newspaper, before they could read the sports section. Jones credits his parents with instilling the ambition and strong work ethic that he is known for in professional football.

While playing for Powell Valley High School in Big Stone Gap, he led the team to back-to-back state championships in 1994 and 1995. He still holds the VHSL record for the most rushing yards in a season with 3,319. He broke his late uncle's (Edd Clark) single-game rushing record in 1994 (462 yards against John I. Burton High School). He also tied for most career touchdowns (104) with Terry Kirby. Thomas was featured in the January 22 (1996) issue of Sports Illustrated section, Faces in the Crowd.Jones attended the University of Virginia, and played for coach George Welsh's Virginia Cavaliers football team from 1996 to 1999. Through four years, he left his mark on the record books of both the team and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). He ended his career at Virginia with eight conference and fifteen team records, including finishing as the Cavaliers' all-time rushing leader with 3,998 yards, eclipsing the previous mark of 3,389 yards set by Tiki Barber. His rushing total was the fourth highest in conference history. Jones also set the conference and school record for single season rushing (1,798 yards) and single season all-purpose offense (2,054 yards). While becoming the first player in ACC history to attain 200 yards rushing and 100 yards receiving in a single game, Jones set a single game school record with 331 all-purpose yards against the University at Buffalo. Setting an ACC record for 200-yard games, Jones finished with six 200-yard rushing performances. He finished his college career with 4,698 all-purpose yards, fourth all-time at Virginia.

As a senior in 1999, Jones was voted as a consensus first-team All-American by The Associated Press, Football News, the Football Writers Association of America, Walter Camp Foundation, and The Sporting News. Finishing 8th in balloting for the 1999 Heisman Trophy, he was the first ACC consensus All-American running back since 1978 (Ted Brown, NC State) and third in league history. Jones led the conference running backs and receiving yards, amassed four 200-yard games, and finished third in the nation in rushing (163.5 yards/game) and all-purpose yards (186.7 yards/game).

While successful on the field, Jones also focused in the classroom, earning his bachelor's degree in psychology in three years.

Jones has said that he has decided to donate his brain to the Sports Legacy Institute, which studies the link between sports and brain trauma, for research upon his death. In January 2017, Jones stated that if he had to do it over, he would not play football due to the physical consequences.

Jones is founder and CEO of technology company Castar Applications Inc.

Jones has since become a film and television actor, performing under the name Thomas Q. Jones.

Jones is the owner of the production company Independently Major Entertainment Films (IME Films), which produced A Violent Man (2019) for Sony Pictures, in which he starred and directed by Matthew Berkowitz. He headlined the independent film Runaway Island (2015) alongside Lorraine Toussaint and Aisha Hinds. He appeared in Straight Outta Compton the 2015 feature film based on the lives and careers of hip-hop group N.W.A.

In 2016, Jones produced and acted in a screen adaptation of the graphic novel Loyalty, with Lucien Laviscount, and acted in the independent short film project, Love and the Line, and the independent feature film 9 Rides, shot entirely using 4K video with an iPhone 6s.

In television, Jones is best known for his Marvel character "Comanche" on the Netflix series Luke Cage. He guest starred in the BET Network series Tales and in Seasons 2 and 3 of the BET hit drama series Being Mary Jane, in a multi-episode arc as "Brandon 'Cutty Buddy' Gibson," love interest to Gabrielle Union's title character. On the TV ONE comedy series Born Again Virgin, Jones guest-starred as commercial pilot Vince, a love interest of the series lead played by Danielle Nicolet. He also appeared in featured roles in the Showtime series Shameless and IFC's Comedy Bang! Bang!. Jones will be in a recurring role on the Starz series P-Valley (2020).