This petite auburn-haired sparkling-eyed British character player is best-known in her homeland for her acclaimed stage and TV performances. Gemma Jones is recalled by American audiences for her starring turn as the lower-class cook turned upper-crust hotelier in two series of "The Duchess of Duke Street" (PBS, 1976-78) and for her screen work as the often perplexed mother of the Dashwood sisters in Ang Lee's superior "Sense and Sensibility" (1995).

The daughter of British actor Griffith Jones, Gemma (born Jennifer) Jones found almost immediate employment after her graduation for RADA. Within a