Rashida Jones Biography

Birth Name : Rashida Leah Jones

Date of Birth : 25 February 1976, Los Angeles, California, USA

Height : 5' 4" (1.63 m)

Profession: Actress

Born in Los Angeles on Feb. 25, 1976, this product of a racially mixed family was raised in the swanky enclave of Bel Air, along with her older sister, Kidada. Not surprisingly, the youngster - whose name, Rashida, was Arabic for "wise" - was artistically and academically inclined from the start. While she was an avid reader by age five, she learned music primarily by ear. She would later say that while her photographic memory served her well when it came to listening to music and playing it back to near-perfection, she consequently did not learn to read music as well.

In her Harvard days, Jones acted in plays such as For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf, Dancing at Lughnasa, The Odd Couple: The Female Version and H.M.S. Pinafore. She also appeared in Pitching to the Star with her mother Peggy Lipton at the Lee Strasberg Theatre. She made her onscreen debut in Mario Puzo's TV miniseries The Last Don (1997), and went on to star in TV series Boston Public (2000-2002) and TV movie Wanted (2005).

Other television appearances include Freaks and Geeks (2000), Chappelle's Show (2003-2004),NY-LON (2004), Unhitched (2008), and Parks and Recreation (2009). She also played saleswoman Karen Filipelli in NBC's The Office (2006-2009), the love interest of the character Jim (played by John Krasinski). Jones dated Krasinski in real life, but their relationship ended before her appearance on the show.