Peter Lawson Jones is an attorney, business consultant, professional actor and master of ceremonies, dramatist and former elected official.

 

From February 2002, through December 2010, Jones, a graduate of Harvard College (magna cum laude in Government) and Harvard Law School, was a member of the Board of Cuyahoga County Commissioners, and its president for three of those years. He previously served two and one-half terms in the Ohio House of Representatives, where he was the ranking member of the House Finance and Appropriations Committee and second vice president of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus.  Jones was formerly the Vice Mayor and a Councilman in the City of Shaker Heights, Ohio.

 

Jones is the executive producer  of Fatherhood 101 a documentary on the critical importance of responsible fatherhood. He is a consultant in the areas of government relations, community engagement, event planning, fundraising, market development and fatherhood programming.

 

Jones, a member of SAG-AFTRA and Actor’s Equity, has appeared in well over twenty films (A Man Called Otto, WhiteBoy Rick, Alex Cross, The Assassin’s Code, Starve), on network television (NBC’s Chicago Fire and ABC’s Detroit 1-8-7), on stages throughout Northeast Ohio.  He received the 2016 Indie Gathering International Film Festival Best Ohio Supporting Actor Award for his work in How to Change the World. Jones’s drama, The Family Line, has been successfully produced at Karamu House, Harvard University and Ohio University.  His second play, The Bloodless Jungle, has enjoyed two full productions at Ensemble Theatre in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and has been added to Brooklyn’s Ryan Repertory Company’s 2021-2022 season.  Land of Cleve, an arts and culture blog, ranked the second production as one of the best in Northeast Ohio in 2017.  The play has enjoyed staged readings at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Dallas Convention Center, the National Black Theatre Festival, Duquesne University and in Harlem.  His most recent work, The Phoenix Society, enjoyed a successful premiere at Playwrights Local in Cleveland earlier this year.  The drama was commissioned by the Life Exchange Center, a Cleveland nonprofit that assists those in recovery from mental health and substance abuse challenges.  

 

Jones and his spouse Lisa are the proud parents of three children: Ryan Charles, Leah Danielle and Evan Cooke.