PITTSBURGH — At first, Simone Joy Jones aspired to be Beyonce. But after seeing Leslie Odom Jr. and Renee Elise Goldsberry in "Hamilton," she found a new career goal and a path to get there.
"I want to know how to build and affect people just like they do," the 22-year-old San Antonio native recalled thinking. "And I went into a rabbit hole of who they are and what they did, and a common denominator was Carnegie Mellon."
Jones graduated from CMU in May of last year and has kicked off her acting career by landing two high-profile roles as Megan in "What If?," fellow CMU alumnus Billy Porter's Pittsburgh-shot directorial debut, and as Lisa in "Bel-Air," a reimagining of the classic Will Smith sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" premiering Sunday on Peacock.
As a big fan of the original 1990s "Fresh Prince," Jones was a bit hesitant to take on this modern update of such a beloved show. But after deciding to take on the challenge, she quickly found that "Bel-Air" had gone from "a daunting task to a passion project."
"It really has a life and a universe of its own," she said. "It's a testament to the team and everyone working on it. Everyone has their heart and soul in it. They've just got people who take care in their art working on this."
At first, Jones was afraid that she wouldn't be good enough to hang with all the other aspiring thespians at CMU. Eventually, though, she found community in her fellow Tartans and began forming friendships with local artists and musicians that helped her feel more deeply connected to Pittsburgh as a whole.
She credited CMU with helping her in developing the stamina to handle a "Bel-Air" shooting schedule that sometimes included 5 a.m. starts and late finishes.
"Coming to CMU was so incredible," Jones said. "There are ups and downs, but the biggest thing about CMU was its intensity. It has a reputation for being so intense and rigorous, and I was intimidated by that. ... I thank God for that, because my work ethic is so solid now."
Jones certainly took advantage of the Hollywood productions filming in Pittsburgh during her last year at CMU. In addition to "What If?," Jones was able to snag some light acting work in Showtime's "American Rust" and Netflix's "The Chair." She played a student in a class taught by Sandra Oh's character in "The Chair" and said she learned quite a lot just from watching Oh work.
On "What If?," Jones recalled shooting at landmarks like Pittsburgh CAPA and one of the inclines that she thinks will make the final movie feel "like the Pittsburgh you know and love, not a pamphlet." She appreciated that Porter brought in industry veterans he had worked with on Broadway and in the FX series "Pose," as well as him giving plenty of CAPA students opportunities to be extras in the film.
There was a night during the filming of "What If?" when Porter took her and others out to 5801 Video Lounge & Bar in Shadyside that Jones will never forget.
"We drank, we danced, we laughed, he spoke life into us," she said.
Long before being cast in "Bel-Air," Jones remembered bonding with her family over the "Fresh Prince" reruns that used to air on Nick at Nite.
"We ate it up," she said. "It's so cool because it's a common language with your family because my parents grew up watching it and it was something we could all laugh about. It proves how timeless and priceless that show is."
In the original "Fresh Prince," Lisa was Will's most serious love interest and was portrayed by Nia Long. Jones tried to channel the "strength, tenacity, wit and grace" Long brought to the part while still making this Lisa "a whole new character in a way with the same name and life."
The new version of Lisa is younger than the college-aged woman Long played and, without getting into too much detail, has slightly different relationship dynamics with Will (Jabari Banks) and Carlton (Olly Sholotan). Jones credited those two and the rest of the cast for calibrating their performances in a way less conducive to audiences "having the other character in your head to compare side by side."
"It's so cool because this show tells Black stories from different perspectives in the same place," she said. "We have someone coming across the country into a new economic world. We have a Lisa who's in this mostly white world. That was kind of my experience growing up too in the suburbs where you don't always feel like you fit in completely. ... It's a lot of individual journeys, and that's what I love about this show."
"Bel-Air" will also feature one of Jones' songs from her album "Divine Mistakes" that she put out under the name "S!mone." Most of those songs were recorded while she was attending CMU, and she performed her original music for the first time at Spirit in Lawrenceville.
If you enjoy her music and work in "What If?" and "Bel-Air," give Pittsburgh at least some of the credit.
"Just to be surrounded by such a well-rounded community," Jones said, "was really a huge platform for me to jump off of and seek more that I can give to the world."
