Peter Lawson Jones

Peter Lawson Jones is a professional actor, former elected official, acting instructor, master of ceremonies and dramatist.

Jones, a member of SAG-AFTRA and Actor’s Equity, can be seen later this year playing the lead in the feature-length indie, “The Last Shop on Walnut.” Jones has appeared in well over twenty films including “A Man Called Otto,” “White Boy Rick,” “Alex Cross,” “The Assassin’s Code” and “Starve.” On network television he can be seen on NBC’s “Chicago Fire” and ABC’s “Detroit 1-8-7.” He received the 2025 Hard Faith Fest NYC Best Actor Award for his performance in the short film, “Unexpected,” and the 2016 Indie Gathering International Film Festival Best Ohio Supporting Actor Award for his work in the feature-length film, “How to Change the World.” He has also been inducted into the Karamu House Hall of Fame, the oldest multicultural theatre in the country.

From February 2002, through December 2010, Jones 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’s play, The Bloodless Jungle, enjoyed a regional premiere last year at the Black Repertory Group Theater in Berkeley, California and two full productions at The Ensemble Theatre in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. The drama 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. Jones’s most recent play, The Phoenix Society, enjoyed its world premiere in 2022 at Playwrights Local in Cleveland, Ohio. Jones is a graduate of Harvard College with a degree in government, and Harvard Law School.