Bruce Jones | |
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Jones in 2007.
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Born |
Ian Roy Jones 24 January 1953 Collyhurst, Manchester, Lancashire, England, UK |
Nationality | British |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1993–2014 |
Television |
Coronation Street (1997–2007) Celebrity Big Brother 12 (2013) |
Spouse(s) |
Sue Bailey (m. 1971–82) Sandra Jones (m. 1984) |
Children | 4 |
Parent(s) | Bruce and Irene Jones |
Bruce Jones (born Ian Roy Jones on 24 January 1953) is an English actor, best known for his role as cab driver Les Battersby in Coronation Street. He left the role in 2007. Jones's real name is Ian Roy Jones, but he took the name of his father for professional purposes.
Jones was born to Bruce and Irene Jones in Collyhurst, Manchester, Lancashire. He was brought up in a typical working class household before he went to live with his grandmother in Wales where he joined his school drama group at the age of eleven and dreamt of becoming an actor.
On the morning of 9 October 1977, Jones discovered the mutilated body of 20-year-old prostitute Jean Jordan on an allotment in Chorlton, Manchester - a victim of the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe.
Jones' first introduction into show business was when he formed a comedy duo with a friend and went on to work the club circuit as Clarke and Jones for many years.
It was during this time that Bruce decided he would like to try his hand at acting and his first big break came in 1993 when he was cast as the lead of Bob Williams in the feature film Raining Stones by director Ken Loach; the film went on to receive great critical acclaim and won the Evening Standard Awards for Best Film and Best Screenplay. Bruce was presented with the European Actors Award.
In 1995, Jones had a role as a prostitute's client in Band of Gold. In 1997, he had a small part in the hit film The Full Monty. He played one of the males who auditioned to be one of the strippers, and he received the Stage Actor's Guild Award, (SAG). He also appeared in the Shane Meadows film Twenty Four Seven with actor Bob Hoskins in 1997, before joining the cast of the ITV soap Coronation Street, playing the role of Les Battersby.