Jones was born in Chadderton, Greater Manchester, and attended a public drama club the Oldham Theatre Workshop, which Antony Cotton who plays Sean Tully on Coronation Street also attended.

Before playing Karen McDonald, Jones had a very small role in Coronation Street in April 1997 as Mandy Phillips, a girlfriend of Chris Collins. During this period she acted in the theatre, appeared in a short film called Punch opposite fellow soap opera alumnus Jeff Hordley and guest starred in episodes of series such as City Central.

She debuted as Karen in Coronation Street on 21 June 2000.

In 2003, Jones appeared on an edition of Celebrity Stars In Their Eyes as Catherine Zeta Jones and in May 2004 it was announced that she was to leave Coronation Street in November of that year after four years of playing Karen. Jones, who had just won the best actress award at the British Soap Awards left to "explore other roles" with Granada Television, the company that produces Coronation Street.

In Autumn 2005, Jones starred in an ITV's detective drama series Vincent, with Ray Winstone in the title role, this was Jones' first acting role since leaving Coronation Street the previous year. In the same year she starred on the West End stage in A Few Good Men opposite Rob Lowe and appeared in the musical special Celebrate Oliver! which was screened on BBC1. In 2006, she starred as Snow White in the pantomime Snow White and the Seven Dwarves at the Manchester Opera House alongside Justin Moorhouse and fellow Coronation Street alumnus John Savident. She also appeared in Kay Mellor's Strictly Confidential in which she played a bisexual sex therapist.

On New Year's Day 2007, Jones starred in a Yorkshire and London based black comedy, Dead Clever with Helen Baxendale and Dean Lennox Kelly on ITV 1. She has also been as a guest reporter on the long-running BBC travel programme Holiday alongside Anthony Crank and special guest on an edition of the BBC2 series A Taste of My Life with Nigel Slater which paid tribute to her friend, John Barrowman. In autumn 2007, Jones toured the UK extensively in the premiere stage run of the film Terms of Endearment opposite Linda Gray and she has recently appeared in a number of plays for BBC Radio 4 and the West End showcase of a new musical, The Lost Christmas by Laurence Mark Wythe.

In January 2009, she appeared in Unforgiven, a three-part drama on ITV1, where she plays Ruth Slater, a woman released from prison after serving a 15-year prison sentence for the murder of two policemen. In November 2009 she played the role of the Mona Lisa in the Sarah Jane Adventures.

In March 2010 Jones starred in Five Days on BBC1.