Jon Jon Briones


Ernesto Cloma Briones, Jr., known as Jon Jon Briones is a Filipino-American actor, best known for his work in musical theatre. He was born in Quezon City, Philippines and became a United States citizen in 2010.

Career

While an engineering student in the Philippines Briones became involved with the original 1989 London production of Miss Saigon. Briones had a friend who was a producer in the Philippines who asked Briones to help "facilitate an audition" for the Cameron Mackintosh team who were holding auditions in the Philippines for Miss Saigon. In addition to helping with the organization of the auditions, Briones himself auditioned for and then became a member of the ensemble.
He has been involved with various touring productions of Miss Saigon, as a swing and covering other roles, finally playing the Engineer. In 2014 he joined the original cast of the Miss Saigon West End revival, playing the Engineer. He was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical for playing this role and won the Whatsonstage.com Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He remained in the role until the production closed on February 27, 2016.
In 2017, Briones transferred with the production to Broadway at the Broadway Theatre. Previews started on March 1, 2017, with an official opening on March 23.
On April 30, 2019, Briones was received the Visionary Award from East West Players during their annual awards dinner and silent auction. The award is given to celebrate individuals that are able raise the visibility of Asian Pacific Americans through their work. During his acceptance speech, Briones said that his "vision is that we change hearts and minds in Hollywood and in the theatre community so they see that we have a voice and a story – beautiful stories – to tell, and we are the ones who can and should tell it."
In 2018, he appeared in ', as Modesto Cunanan, father of Gianni Versace's murderer, Andrew Cunanan, and in ' as Ariel Augustus.
In January 2019, it was announced that Briones will star in the upcoming Netflix drama series Ratched.

Filmography

Film

Television