January Kristen Jones (born January 5, 1978) is an American actress and model, best known for portraying the role of Betty Draper in Mad Men (2007–2015), for which she was nominated for two Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. January Jones was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She is named after January Wayne, a character in Jacqueline Susann's potboiler novel turned film, Once Is Not Enough. She is the daughter of Karen, who manages a Scheels sporting goods store, and Marvin Jones, a coach, gym teacher, and fitness director. She is of Czech, Danish, English, Welsh, and German descent. She has two sisters, Jacey and Jina. Her family moved to Hecla, South Dakota, with a population of just 400 in 1979, when she was one year old; they moved back to Sioux Falls in 1986, and she graduated from Roosevelt High School. Jones has had supporting roles in Anger Management (2003), Love Actually, and Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. In 2005, she appeared as a U.S. border guard's wife in the film The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, directed by and starring Tommy Lee Jones. In We Are Marshall (2006), she played the role of Carol Dawson, wife of American football coach William "Red" Dawson. Jones also starred in Good Kill (2014), opposite Ethan Hawke.
She played the lead female role in the movie Love's Enduring Promise as a pioneer family's oldest child. Her character falls in love with a mysterious man who saves her father's life. Jones gave birth to her son, Xander Dane Jones, on September 13, 2011 in Santa Monica, California. Jones is also known for her role as Cadence Flaherty, the love interest of both Steve Stifler and Paul Finch in the 2003 comedy film American Wedding, the third installment of the American Pie film series.