Rashida Leah Jones ( born February 25, 1976)is an American actress, writer, and producer. She is best known for starring as Ann Perkins on the NBCcomedy series Parks and Recreation (2009–2015).
Jones appeared as Louisa Fenn on the Foxdrama series Boston Public (2000–2002) and as Karen Filippelli on the NBC comedy series The Office (2006–2011). From 2016 to 2019, Jones starred as the lead eponymous role in the TBS comedy series Angie Tribeca.
Jones is also known for her roles in such films as I Love You, Man (2009), The Social Network (2010), Our Idiot Brother (2011), The Muppets (2011), Celeste and Jesse Forever(2012), which she co-wrote, and Tag (2018). Jones also co-wrote the story of Toy Story 4(2019).
As a filmmaker, she directed the first episode of Hot Girls Wanted, a series that focused on the sex industry. She was also executive producer of the series. In 2018, her documentary Quincy, about her father, Quincy Jones, debuted on Netflix; it won the Grammy Award for Best Music Film in 2019.
Jones was born in Los Angeles, California, to actress Peggy Lipton and musician/record producer Quincy Jones. She is the younger sister of actress and model Kidada Jones, and half-sister to five siblings from their father's other relationships, including Kenya Jones and Quincy Jones III. Jones's father is African American with Tikar roots from Cameroon, and a paternal Welshgrandfather.Her mother was Ashkenazi Jewish (a descendant of Jewish emigrants from Russia and Jones and her sister were raised in Reform Judaism by their mother; Jones attended Hebrew school, though she left at the age of ten and did not have a Bat Mitzvah.
Jones grew up in Los Angeles' Bel Airneighborhood. She has said of her parents' mixed-race marriage: "it was the 1970s and still not that acceptable for them to be together". In his autobiography, her father recalled how he would often find the six-year-old Jones under the covers after bedtime, reading five books at a time with a flashlight.She has said that she grew up a "straight-up nerd" and "had a computer with floppy disks and a dial-up modem before it was cool".
Jones displayed musical ability from a young age and can play classical piano.Her mother told Entertainment Tonight that Jones is "also a fabulous singer and songwriter".
Jones attended The Buckley School in Sherman Oaks, California, where she made the National Honor Society and was voted "Most Likely To Succeed" by her classmates. Jones was involved with theater at Buckley, with tutelage from acting teacher Tim Hillman.Jones's parents divorced when she was 14 years old; her sister subsequently remained with their father, while Rashida moved with their mother to Brentwood.
In 1994, Jones garnered attention with an open letter responding to scathing remarks made by rapper Tupac Shakur about her parents' interracial marriage. They managed to patch up their differences and Shakur eventually went on to be friends with Rashida and her family. Rashida's sister, Kidada Jones, was dating Tupac at the time of his death.
Rashida Jones attended Harvard University,where she lived in Currier Houseand Eliot House. She belonged to the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, Harvard Radcliffe Dramatic Club, Harvard-Radcliffe
Opportunes, Black Students Association, and the
Signet Society.
[25] She was initially interested in becoming a lawyer but changed her mind after becoming disillusioned by the
O. J. Simpson murder trial.
[21][26] She became involved in the performing arts and served as musical director for the
Opportunes, an
a cappella group,
[27] co-composed the score for the 149th annual
Hasty Pudding Theatricalsperformance, and acted in several plays.
[28] In her second year at college, Jones performed in
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf, which she said was "healing" because she had been seen by many blacks as not being "black enough".She studied
religion and
philosophy[30] and graduated in 1997.
Acting
Jones was considering leaving the acting profession and pursuing a graduate degree in
public policy before she was offered the part on
The Office. She joined the ensemble cast in September 2006, playing the role of
Karen Filippelli. She appeared regularly during the third season, returning as a guest star for three episodes in seasons four, five, and seven.
[33]
Jones's other 2011 films were
Friends with Benefits, starring
Justin Timberlake and
Mila Kunis;
The Big Year, with
Steve Martin,
Owen Wilson, and
Jack Black;
The Muppets, with
Jason Segel,
Amy Adams and
Chris Cooper; and
Our Idiot Brother, with
Paul Rudd,
Elizabeth Banks and
Emily Mortimer.
[39] In the latter she played a lesbian lawyer named Cindy, the caring girlfriend of a
bisexualcharacter played by
Zooey Deschanel.
[40]Jones also has a cameo in the
Beastie Boys' short film
Fight For Your Right Revisited, which premiered at the 2011
Sundance Film Festival.
[41] Additionally, Jones appeared on an episode of
Wilfred as Lisa, a
hospicevolunteer. The episode aired on July 21, 2011 on
FX.
In 2014, Jones was cast in the lead role of Angie Tribeca on the
TBS comedy series
Angie Tribeca, which premiered in 2016.
[42]The show was created by Steve and Nancy Carrell and was cancelled in 2019.
[43]
In 2015, Jones produced the documentary film
Hot Girls Wanted, which examines the role of teenage girls in pornographic films.
[44]Netflix acquired the film after the film's premiere at
Sundance Film Festival; it premiered on May 29, 2015.
[45]
Jones sold her first screenplay, a comedy titled
Celeste and Jesse Forever, in March 2009. She co-wrote the script with McCormack and was attached to star in the film.
[48] It was released in 2012.
Jones and McCormack worked on the script of
Toy Story 4 for
Pixar Animation Studios. Jones left the writing assignment early due to feeling that Pixar is "a culture where women and people of color do not have an equal creative voice."
[50] The film was released in June 2019, with the pair being among those receiving a "story by" credit.
[51][52][53]
Jones was a contributing essayist to the 2017 book Courage is Contagious, a compilation of essays written about former First Lady Michelle Obama.
Music and related videosEdit
Jones in March 2009
As a singer, Jones has provided backing vocals for the band
Maroon 5. She appears on the tracks "Tangled", "Secret" and "Not Coming Home" from their debut record,
Songs About Jane, and on "Kiwi" from the follow-up album
It Won't Be Soon Before Long. Jones was a guest vocalist on the
Tupac Shakurtribute album,
The Rose That Grew from Concrete, released in 2000. The track, "Starry Night", also featured her father's vocals,
Mac Mall's rapping, and her half-brother
QD3's production. Jones also contributed vocals on the song "Dick Starbuck: Porno Detective" on
The High & Mighty's 1999 debut
Home Field Advantage.
[55][56][57]
Jones contributed vocals to songs on
The Baxter,
The Ten and
Reno 911!: Miamisoundtracks. She sang in some episodes of
Boston Public and for charitable events such as the What A Pair Benefit in 2002 to raise money for breast cancer research.
[58] In May 2015, Jones released a song titled
Wanted to Be Loved alongside Daniel Ahearn, the song was used in a documentary titled
Hot Girls Wanted which Jones produced.
[59]
In 2016, she featured in the music video "Flip and Rewind" by Boss Selection, with the video directed by Jones and McCormack.
[62]
Online comedy seriesEdit
Jones has appeared in several online comedy series projects. She starred in
Funny or Die's
Speak Out series with
Natalie Portman[63] and guest starred in two episodes in the first webseason
Web Therapy with
Lisa Kudrow. Due to other commitments, Jones was unable to reprise her role for the second, third and fourth seasons, provided voiceover work for an off-screen appearance in the show's first TV season (containing her appearance from the first webseason) and was able to make time to reprise her role on-screen for an exclusive appearance in the second-season finale of the show. She also played
David Wainin disguise for an episode of
My Damn Channel's
Wainy Days. In 2008, Jones appeared with several other celebrities in
Prop 8 – The Musical, an all-star video satirising California's
anti-gay marriage initiative, written by
Marc Shaiman From 2013 to 2015, she provided the voice of Hotwire on the
Hulucomedy series
The Awesomes.
Modeling and advertisingEdit
In 2011,
Dove selected Jones as its spokeswoman for its
Dove Nourishing Oil Care Collection. In 2015, she began starring in a series of commercials for
Verizon FiOS.
[64]In 2017, Jones became a spokeswoman for the
Almay brand of
cosmetics.
[65] In 2018, Jones became the first female ambassador for Maison Kitsune.
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