The Oscar-winning actor Tommy Lee Jones and his family confirmed the death of his daughter, Victoria Jones, in a statement released on January 2.
“We appreciate all of the kind words, thoughts, and prayers,” the family said. “Please respect our privacy during this difficult time.”
Victoria, 34, was an actress who made her film debut at age 11 in Men in Black II. Reports indicate that she was found dead in a San Francisco hotel room in the early hours of January 1, according to law enforcement sources.
Emergency responders were dispatched to a medical incident at 2:52 a.m. on New Year’s Day. Upon arrival, paramedics pronounced the victim—whose identity was not disclosed—dead at the scene.
The official cause of death has not yet been released.
Following her appearance in the 2002 film starring her father and Will Smith, Victoria—daughter of Tommy Lee and his former partner Kimberlea Cloughley, and sister to Austin Jones—went on to feature in the 2005 neo-Western The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada and the 2014 film The Homesman. She also had a brief acting role in One Tree Hill.
Tommy Lee Jones, 79, previously spoke with pride about the dedication his daughter showed to her career from a young age, including her language abilities.
“She’s a good actress, has her SAG card, and speaks impeccable Spanish,” he said in a 2006 interview. “When she was a baby, I told Leticia, her nurse, to speak to her in Spanish.”
His close relationship with Victoria also helped inspire The Homesman, a Western that explores sexism in the 1800s and which he wrote, directed, and starred in.
“All of my closest influences are women—my grandmother, my mother, my wife, and my daughter,” he said in a 2014 conversation. “Many of my dearest friends are women as well. I’m interested in how they feel and what challenges they face. And if you want to understand what’s wrong today, looking at what was wrong in the past is often a good place to start.”
He continued by noting the deep-rooted history behind those themes, pointing to the longstanding tradition of sexism in the country that emerged alongside westward expansion and differing interpretations of Manifest Destiny beyond the Mississippi River. He added that understanding those struggles—and the forces that shaped them—has long been of personal interest to him.
