Gemma Jones (born Jennifer Jones; 4 December 1942) is an English character actress on both stage and screen. Jones was born in London, England, the daughter of Irene (née Isaac) and Griffith Jones, an actor. Her brother, Nicholas Jones, is also an actor. She attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Jones became known to television viewers after starring in the BBC serial Kenilworth (1967) as Queen Elizabeth I of England and in BBC2's 1970 dramatisation of The Spoils of Poynton. She was first recognised outside the UK in 1974, after playing the Empress Frederick in the BBC television drama series Fall of Eagles and Louisa Trotter in another BBC drama, The Duchess of Duke Street. In 1980, she played the role of Portia in the BBC Television Shakespeare production of The Merchant of Venice, opposite Warren Mitchell's Shylock. On stage, in 1986, she played the great soprano Giuseppina Strepponi in After Aida at the Old Vic Theatre. Jones played Mrs. Dashwood alongside Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson in the Academy Award-winning period drama Sense and Sensibility (1995).