Peter Lawson Jones, who can currently be seen in A Man Called Otto, starring Tom Hanks, is a member of both Actors’ Equity and SAG-AFTRA.  Peter has appeared in over twenty films (White Boy Rick, Alex Cross, The Assassin’s Code, Starve), on network television (NBC’s Chicago Fire as a guest star and on ABC’s Detroit 1-8-7) and on stages throughout Northeast Ohio, including the Cleveland Play House, Karamu, Ensemble Theatre and Weathervane Playhouse.  Among his theatrical credits are Picnic, Inherit the Wind, The Great White Hope, The Member of the Wedding, Ruined, The Amen Corner, The Exonerated, and Ceremonies in Dark Old Men.  He has performed in staged readings off-Broadway at the Cherry Lane and Ensemble Studio theatres.

Peter’s drama, The Bloodless Jungle, has enjoyed two full productions at Ensemble Theatre in Cleveland Heights and has had staged readings at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Dallas Convention Center, the National Black Theatre Festival, Duquesne University and in Harlem.  Land of Cleve, a Northeast Ohio arts and cultural blog, ranked the 2017 production as one of the area’s best that year and honored it with an Achievement Award. His most recent work, The Phoenix Society, successfully premiered in 2022 at Playwrights Local in Cleveland, Ohio.  The drama was commissioned by the Life Exchange Center, a nonprofit agency that assists those recovering from mental health and substance abuse challenges.  Peter’s first play, The Family Line, has been produced at Karamu, Ohio University and Harvard University, where he received his bachelor’s (magna cum laude) and law degrees.

Peter is co-executive producer of Fatherhood 101, a documentary on the importance of responsible fatherhood that has screened in numerous venues across the country.

Peter received the 2016 Indie Gathering International Film Festival Best Ohio Supporting Actor and the 2012 African American Playwrights Exchange Artist of the Year Awards.  (Please log on to www.peterlawsonjones.com for more information on his work as an actor and playwright.)

Peter is also an attorney and business consultant in the areas of government relations, community engagement, event planning, fundraising and fatherhood programming.  He formerly served as a councilman and vice mayor in Shaker Heights, a member of the Ohio General Assembly and as a Cuyahoga County commissioner.  His spouse, Lisa, and he are the proud parents of three children, Ryan Charles, Leah Danielle and Evan Cooke Jones.