Rashida Jones

Early life

Jones was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of 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. Jones' father, who is African American (with Tikar roots from Cameroon), also has distant English and Welsh ancestry. Her mother is Ashkenazi Jewish (a descendant of Jewish immigrants from Russia and Latvia). 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 Air neighborhood. 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 theatre at Buckley, with tutelage from acting teacher Tim Hillman. She went to the same school as socialites Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, and Kim Kardashian. Jones' 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. In 1996, Jones' sister--Kidada Jones--went on to become engaged to marry Tupac Shakur--the man who had criticized her parents' marriage; the couple was planning their wedding at the time of Tupac's death, which also occurred in 1996. After high school, she left California to attend Harvard University.

At Harvard, Jones was a resident of both Currier House and Eliot House, and belonged to the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, Harvard Radcliffe Dramatic Club, Harvard-Radcliffe Opportunes, Black Students Association, and the Signet Society. She was initially interested in becoming a lawyer but changed her mind after becoming disillusioned by the O. J. Simpson murder trial. She became involved in the performing arts and served as musical director for the Opportunes, an a cappella group, co-composed the score for the 149th annual Hasty Pudding Theatricals performance, and acted in several plays. 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 and graduated in 1997.

Career

Jones made her professional acting debut in The Last Don, a 1997 miniseries based on the novel by Mario Puzo. She next appeared in Myth America, East of A and If These Walls Could Talk 2. In 2000, she guest starred as Karen Scarfolli on Freaks and Geeks before landing the role of Louisa Fenn on Boston Public. Between 2000 and 2002, she appeared in 26 episodes, earning an NAACP Image Award nomination in her final year. Although she had a minor supporting role in the series, film opportunities quickly surfaced. She had a small role in Full Frontal, directed by Steven Soderbergh, and starred in Now You Know, written and directed by Kevin Smith regular Jeff Anderson. She also starred in the short film Roadside Assistance with Adam Brody.

After Jones left Boston Public, she appeared in Death of a Dynasty, directed by Damon Dash, and two episodes of Chappelle's Show on Comedy Central. In 2004, she was cast in Strip Search, an HBO film directed by Sidney Lumet, but her scenes were cut from the final broadcast version. Later that year, she played Dr. Rachel Keyes in Little Black Book and starred as Edie Miller in British drama series NY-LON. In 2005, Jones played Karen in the Stella pilot on Comedy Central and special government agent Carla Merced in the TNT police drama Wanted.

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 two episodes in season four and another in season five.

Jones also played Karen in the February 2007 Saturday Night Live episode hosted by Rainn Wilson, appearing briefly in the opening monologue's Office parody. Jones filmed cameo roles in The Ten and Role Models, both directed by David Wain, with the latter appearing on the Blu-ray release. She co-starred in Unhitched, the short-lived 2008 comedy series produced by the Farrelly brothers. She also appeared as the love interest in the Foo Fighters' music video "Long Road to Ruin".

In January 2009, Jones voiced several characters in an episode of the Adult Swim show Robot Chicken. She played Hannah in Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, an independent film by John Krasinski that screened during the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. She co-starred as Zooey Rice in I Love You, Man, a DreamWorks comedy with Paul Rudd and Jason Segel.

Jones accepted a role in Parks and Recreation, a mockumentary-style sitcom on NBC. The show was created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, with whom she previously worked on The Office. She played nurse Ann Perkins from the show's debut until midway through the sixth season, and reprised the role for the final episode of the series.

Jones had a small role in the 2010 Kevin Smith film Cop Out. She appeared in The Social Network (2010), alongside Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake, which is set at Harvard. She played Marylin Delpy, a second-year legal associate assisting with the defense of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Jones starred opposite Chris Messina in Monogamy (2010), a drama directed by Dana Adam Shapiro. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2010 and was released theatrically in March 2011.

Jones' 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. In the latter she played a lesbian lawyer named Cindy, the caring girlfriend of a bisexual character played by Zooey Deschanel. Jones also has a cameo in the Beastie Boys' short film Fight For Your Right Revisited, which premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Additionally, Jones appeared on an episode of Wilfred as Lisa, a hospice volunteer. The episode aired on July 21, 2011 on FX.

In 2012, she starred opposite Andy Samberg in the film Celeste and Jesse Forever, which she co-wrote.

Along with Danny DeVito, she was a voice guest star in The Simpsons episode "The Changing of the Guardian" (season 24, episode 11).

In 2014, Jones was cast in the lead role of Angie Tribeca on the TBS comedy series Angie Tribeca, which premiered in 2016.

In 2015, Jones produced the documentary film Hot Girls Wanted, which examines the role of teenage girls in pornographic films. Netflix acquired the film after the film's premiere at Sundance Film Festival; it premiered on May 29, 2015.

Writing

Jones created Frenemy of the State, a comic book series about a socialite who is recruited by the CIA. The comics are published by Oni Press and co-written with husband-and-wife writing team Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir. In October 2009, before the first issue had been released, Jones sold the screen rights to Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment. Brian Grazer and Eric Gitter produced the film, and Jones co-wrote the screenplay with writing partner Will McCormack.

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. It was released in 2012.

In 2016, Jones co-wrote the teleplay of "Nosedive", an episode of the television anthology series Black Mirror with Michael Schur from a story by Charlie Brooker.

Jones and McCormack are writing Toy Story 4 for Pixar Animation and Walt Disney Studios for a prospective June 2019 release.

Jones has been published in Teen Vogue magazine, where she worked as a contributing editor. She wrote chapter 36 of her father's biography, Q: The Autobiography Of Quincy Jones (2001).

Music and related videos

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 Shakur tribute 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.

Jones contributed vocals to songs on The Baxter, The Ten and Reno 911!: Miami soundtracks. 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. 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.

In 2001, Jones appeared in the video to "More Than A Woman" by Aaliyah alongside her sister Kidada Jones and then-boyfriend Mark Ronson Jones has also appeared in music videos for The Boy Least Likely To song "Be Gentle With Me", and the Foo Fighters' single "Long Road to Ruin". In the latter she was credited as Racinda Jules and played the role of Susan Belfontaine. In 2013, Jones directed the music video for Sara Bareilles' song "Brave". It marked her debut as a director.

Online comedy series

Jones has appeared in several online comedy series projects. She starred in Funny or Die's Speak Out series with Natalie Portman 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 Wain in 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 Hulu comedy series The Awesomes.

Modeling and advertising

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.

In 2017, Jones became a spokeswoman for Almay.

Personal life

Jones became engaged to music producer Mark Ronson in February 2003. He proposed on her 27th birthday, using a custom-made crossword puzzle spelling out "Will you marry me?" Their relationship ended approximately one year later.

Though raised Jewish, Jones began practicing Hinduism in her early teens with her mother, after the two visited an ashram in India. As an adult, she practices Judaism. She told a reporter:

On her multi-racial identity, she has remarked "I have gone through periods where I only feel black or Jewish. Now I have a good balance."

Philanthropic efforts

Jones has worked to promote Peace First (formerly Peace Games), a nonprofit that teaches children to resolve conflict without violence. She has been a board member since 2004 and holds several annual benefits to raise money for the organization. Jones has participated in Stand Up to Cancer events, EDUN and ONE: The Campaign to Make Poverty History, and The Art of Elysium's volunteer program, which runs artistic workshops for hospitalized children. In 2007, she was honorary chair of the annual Housing Works benefit, which fights AIDS and homelessness in New York City. She has helped fundraise for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, the EB Medical Research Foundation, and New York's Lower Eastside Girls Club.

Political work

Jones has campaigned in the last four cycles for Democratic Party presidential candidates. Jones supported Barack Obama during the 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns. In 2008, along with Kristen Bell, she visited college campuses in Missouri to discuss the candidates and to encourage voter registration for the Democratic Party. In 2012, she campaigned in Iowa along with co-star Adam Scott. Jones previously campaigned for Democratic candidate John Kerry during the 2004 election, speaking at student rallies and a public gallery in Ohio. In the 2016 Democratic primary, she endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 US presidential election.