Rashida Jones
Rashida Leah Jones is an American actress and filmmaker. She is best known for her roles as Louisa Fenn on the Fox drama series Boston Public, Karen Filippelli on the NBC comedy series The Office, Ann Perkins on the NBC comedy series Parks and Recreation, and as the eponymous lead role in the TBS comedy series Angie Tribeca. Her accolades include a Grammy Award and nominations for a Golden Globe Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2025, she was named one of Time's 100 most influential people in the world.
Jones also appeared in the films I Love You, Man, The Social Network, Our Idiot Brother, The Muppets, Celeste and Jesse Forever, which she co-wrote, and Tag. Jones also co-wrote the story of Toy Story 4.
She worked as a producer on the film Hot Girls Wanted and the series Hot Girls Wanted: Turned On, directing the first episode of the latter. Both works explore the sex industry. In 2018, her documentary Quincy, about her father, Quincy Jones, debuted on Netflix; it won the Grammy Award for Best Music Film in 2019.
In 2025, Jones starred in the Black Mirror episode "Common People", earning a nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie at the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards.
Early life and education
Rashida Leah Jones was born on February 25, 1976 in Los Angeles to actress Peggy Lipton and musician/record producer Quincy Jones. She is the younger sister of actress and model Kidada Jones. Jones is also a half-sister to five half-siblings from her father's other relationships; those half-siblings include Kenya Jones and Quincy Jones III. Jones' father had Tikar roots from Cameroon and a Welsh paternal grandfather. Her mother had Ashkenazi Jewish roots from Latvia and Russia. Her maternal grandfather, Harold Lipton, a corporate lawyer and owner of the Boston Celtics and San Diego Clippers, changed his surname from Lipschitz to Lipton in the 1930s.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' first name derives from the Arabic word for "righteous". Jones grew up in Los Angeles's 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 an early age and can play classical piano. Her mother told Entertainment Tonight in 1990 that Jones was "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 in The Source. Shakur, who later apologized for these remarks, went on to be friends with Rashida and her family. Rashida's sister, Kidada, was dating Tupac at the time of his death.
Rashida attended Harvard University, where she lived in Currier House and Eliot House. She belonged to the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, the Harvard Radcliffe Dramatic Club, the Harvard Opportunes, the 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 black students as not being "black enough". She studied religion and philosophy and graduated in 1997.
Career
1998–2008: Early work and ''The Office''
Jones appeared in the 1997 miniseries adaptation of Mario Puzo's novel, The Last Don. 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. 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. 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. 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 the 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 three episodes in seasons four, five, and six. 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".
File:SegelJonesRuddILoveYouManMarch09.jpg|thumb|Jason Segel, Jones, and Paul Rudd at the Austin, Texas premiere of I Love You, Man
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 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, 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.
2009–2014: ''Parks and Recreation'' and film roles
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. In October 2009, before the first issue of Frenemy of the State, 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 had a small role in the 2010 Kevin Smith film Cop Out. She also appeared in The Social Network, alongside Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield, 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, 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'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. 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.
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 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". From 2013 to 2015, she provided the voice of Hotwire on the Hulu comedy series The Awesomes. In 2014, Jones was cast in the lead role of Angie Tribeca on the TBS comedy series Angie Tribeca, which premiered in 2016. The show was created by Steve and Nancy Carell and was cancelled in 2019.