• Faith: Agnostic
• Career: Actress
• Birthday:  January 05, 1978

January Jones is an actress and former model best known for playing Betty Draper on the acclaimed AMC drama Mad Men. Her portrayal of the complicated 1960s housewife brought her Golden Globe and Emmy nominations and established her as one of television’s most recognizable actresses. She has also appeared in films including X-Men: First Class, Unknown, American Wedding and Love Actually.

January Kristen Jones was born on January 5, 1978, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Her mother, Karen Cox, worked as a store manager, while her father, Marvin Jones, worked in physical education and fitness. Jones has two sisters, Jacey and Jina.

Her unusual first name was inspired by January Wayne, a character in Jacqueline Susann’s novel Once Is Not Enough. Jones spent part of her childhood in the small South Dakota town of Hecla before her family returned to Sioux Falls. She later attended Roosevelt High School.

After graduating, Jones moved to New York City at 18 to pursue modeling. She worked for brands including Abercrombie & Fitch, Versace and Clearasil, but has said modeling was never a particular passion. She eventually relocated to Los Angeles and began pursuing acting.

Jones began landing small television and film roles around the end of the 1990s. Her early credits included Get Real, The Glass House and Bandits. Her profile increased in 2003 with appearances in the comedies Anger Management, American Wedding and Love Actually.

She continued building her résumé with Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada and the 2006 sports drama We Are Marshall. Her career changed significantly when she was cast as Betty Draper, wife of advertising executive Don Draper, in Mad Men.

Jones appeared on the series from 2007 to 2015. Her performance as Betty, whose polished suburban life concealed frustration and unhappiness, earned Jones two Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama and a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.

During Mad Men, Jones continued working in film. She appeared opposite Liam Neeson in Unknown and played mutant Emma Frost in X-Men: First Class, both released in 2011. Other film credits include Seeking Justice, Sweetwater, Good Kill and God Is a Bullet.

Following Mad Men, Jones returned to series television as Melissa Chartres on the Fox comedy The Last Man on Earth, which ran from 2015 to 2018. She later appeared in The Politician and played Carol Baker in the Netflix figure-skating drama Spinning Out.

Jones has had several high-profile relationships. She dated actor Ashton Kutcher early in her career and was later romantically linked to Jim Carrey. She dated singer Josh Groban from 2003 to 2006 and actor Jason Sudeikis in 2010.

In September 2011, Jones gave birth to her son, Xander Dane Jones. She has chosen not to publicly identify his father and has generally kept her son out of the spotlight. Jones has also spoken positively about being single and raising her son independently.

Outside acting, Jones has supported marine conservation. She has worked with Oceana on shark conservation efforts and participated in a public service campaign highlighting the importance of sharks to ocean ecosystems.

January Jones' Religious Beliefs

Jones has been identified as agnostic, meaning she does not publicly claim certainty about the existence or nature of God. Unlike some celebrities who frequently discuss religion, Jones has said relatively little publicly about organized faith or personal religious practice.

Jones has expressed an interest in unexplained phenomena. She has said that she believes she witnessed a UFO when she was younger and has discussed the experience publicly. That interest, however, should not be interpreted as evidence of a particular spiritual or religious belief.