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Angela Jones

Angela Jones is an American film and television actor whose screen career was shaped by a striking chain of creative connections. Born on December 23, 1968, in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, she was raised in nearby Jeannette, where she graduated in 1986. She later graduated from Point Park College in Pittsburgh before attending graduate school at the Oslo Conservatory of Performing Arts in Sarasota, Florida. That training led to the project that changed the direction of her career. While in Sarasota, Jones was cast in Reb Braddock’s 1991 short film Curdled. Quentin Tarantino was impressed by her performance and created the role of Esmarelda Villalobos in Pulp Fiction for her, drawing inspiration from the character she had played in Braddock’s film. It is an unusual route into a major movie: a performance in a short leading directly to a part written with that actor in mind. The connection continued after Pulp Fiction. Tarantino served as executive producer on the 1996 feature-length remake of Curdled, with Jones returning to star. Her involvement in both versions gives this part of her film career a pleasing circular shape, moving from the original short to Tarantino’s film and then back to Braddock’s story in expanded form. Curdled also brought an unexpected musical footnote. In his 2007 biography, Slash wrote that Jones inspired “Obsession Confession,” a song he created for the film’s soundtrack. He said that he and his band had been fascinated by her after seeing her in Pulp Fiction. Jones’s best-known screen story is ultimately one of presence creating opportunity: one performance caught the right filmmaker’s attention, inspired a new role and remained connected to the work that started it all.