D'Angelo Jones

Just looking at him you would never guess that that D'Angelo Jones speaks Japanese fluently in a native accent. Interestingly enough, he does... Born in Denver, his roots are actually in Kansas City, Missouri. There, he was extremely fortunate to avoid becoming a statistic. Gang-violence at that time, gave Kansas City, MO the nation's highest murder rate. His mother had the opportunity to move him away from the gangs and after school dangers by taking a job in Japan, so she did. In Japan, D'Angelo attended public school in the city of Kurume located Fukuoka Prefecture (a rural town at the time). With the help of a private tutor and being immersed in Japanese culture, D'Angelo learned how to read, write and speak the language with a "native tongue." Being such a rarity in southern part of Japan as the only American youth the locals had ever seen, he was constantly approached for pictures and interview-type questioning which gave D'Angelo a glimpse of what celebrity life was like. The experience made him think about the pros and cons of celebrity. He had already wanted to be an actor. Constantly exerting himself while meeting knew people in Japan, gave him insight as to what goes along with it. After becoming the first American to graduate from his elementary school his mother took a higher paying job in the city of Fukuoka which enabled her to put him into the International School. There he joined a theater group called Gekidan Culture Shock headed by Craig Kingsley, a lifelong theater buff from the Midwest and his wife Hime. Recognizing D'Angelo's talent and ability, Kingsley chose D'Angelo to take the lead in a play called "Gojira," a three-act romantic-drama with all Japanese dialogue. At that time, D'Angelo was also the lead host on a popular weekend radio show called "Homeroom #2" on Fukuoka's Cross FM radio station. He realized that college life would soon be upon him. He decided that he wanted to do as his father had, and play college basketball in the United States. So, at the age of 15, he convinced his mother to let him move back to the United States on his own, to finish high school and get into college. He rented a room in a friend's father's house and worked several jobs through high school, along with being a three-sport athlete. He also transferred high schools for his senior year, where D'Angelo was able to help turn around a losing program and make it a winner. This helped D'Angelo gain the attention and interest of several major universities. Because it was his boyhood dream, he chose to attend Arizona State University. Like most people in the sports arena, D'Angelo was unaware of the hugely controversial story that preceded his arrival on campus. D'Angelo was shocked to learn (while being questioned by FBI Agents) that two former ASU players were being investigated for point-shaving. Because of all the confusion resulting from the "Point Shaving Scandal," D'Angelo had to beat out 132 young men just to make the Varsity Team as a freshman. In his first 14 months at ASU, he adapted to not just one but, three different systems as the basketball program had two coaching changes. It was in his freshmen season that his head coach was Don Newman, who went on to win two NBA Championships as an Assistant Coach with the San Antonio Spurs. By his junior year, D'Angelo realized that his life passion was for bringing people together to find truth and agreement in effort to create lasting peace. He realized best way for him to do so was through film. So, he decided to leave school and pick back up on his journey as an actor. He moved to Los Angeles shortly thereafter. Since moving to Los Angeles in 2001, D'Angelo Jones has worked on over 20 Independent Films as an Actor and/or Producer.