Call Her Madam President

Lesbian actress Cherry Jones may be best known for her award-winning work on stage - she won Tonys for her lead roles in The Heiress and Doubt - and for her supporting roles on screen (Ocean's Twelve, The Village).

But she's done stints on TV, too, and now she's headed back to the small screen in a big way: On the next season of 24, Jones will boss around Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) in her role as president of the United States.

24 aficionados will note that the Fox action series has made its fictional Oval Office more equal-opportunity than the real one, having already featured Dennis Haysbert as an African-American commander-in-chief.

Jones' stint in the White House begins in January, when 24 returns for its seventh season.

Word on whether or not the United States will have a nonfictional female president won't come until later that year.