Appearances: White House dinner & mentoring program

3/30: 'Remarkable Women' dinner celebrating Women's History Month in the East Room of the White House.

High school-age girls from first lady Michelle Obama's leadership and mentoring program attended the dinner along with women leaders from the theater, film, politics, military, music, journalism, sports and science.

Earlier in the day the women attended panels at local high schools to serve as mentors, share their experiences and encourage students to pursue their dreams. Rashida visited Woodson High School in Washington DC with Air Force General Dana Born, Olympic gold medalist Dominique Dawes and TV network executive/Vice President Nina Lederman.
First Lady Michelle Obama to Host Mentoring Events with Renowned Women to Celebrate Women's History Month, Chicago Sun-Times

 

---At Washington's Woodson High school, the four mentors included an Air Force general, a TV network executive, an actress and a gymnastics champion who all answered questions for more than 20 female students.
"Good, old-fashioned hard work, that is the only thing that separates you from the crowd," said actress Rashida Jones, currently starring in the television series "Parks and Recreation."
"Don't feel like you have to be defined by your circumstances," she added.---
First lady leads mentoring program for DC-area students, CNN Politics: 1600 Report

Misc: The Word XXII

MOVIES: Celeste and Jesse Forever

After a few setbacks Celeste and Jesse Forever, the movie Rashida has co-written and will star in, is finally coming together. Andy Samberg (love him!) will play Jesse and Lee Toland Krieger (The Vicious Kind) will direct. The LA Times doesn't specify but pretty sure Team Todd is producing.
-- Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg will get married and divorced (in the movies), Los Angeles Times
 
Celeste and Jesse Forever is a romantic dramedy about a divorcing couple trying to maintain their friendship while pursuing other people. An early draft of the script was voted =16th/20th overall in the 2009 Black List of Hollywood's "most liked" screenplays.

4th of July Pool Party &
MTV Movie Awards Promos

TV: Parks and Recreation

In other news, Parks and Recreation has been renewed for a 4th season. Awesomesauce!

NBC Renews The Office, Community and Parks and Recreation, tvline

INTERVIEWS
A couple more promoting Monogamy and Parks & Rec

Rashida Jones is the perfect catch. She's beautiful, talented, smart (she went to Harvard, people!) and her parents are music maestro Quincy Jones and model turned actress Peggy Lipton.
But there's one hitch, fellas—Rashida may not be the marrying kind.

Rashida Jones: Why I May Never Get Married, e online
(via The Huffington Post)

With Natalie Portman off the market, it feels like the Web needs another brainy Harvard beauty with whom to fall in love. To that end, Internet, may we humbly suggest Vanity Fair Hollywood Issue cover girl Rashida Jones? The actress first made us laugh as Karen, Pam’s adversary for Jim’s affection on The Office, and added fresh tension by being a rival you actually rooted for. Since then, the understated, wry, and approachably cool Jones has been making her own bid for the public’s affection with plum roles in Parks and Recreation, I Love You, Man, and The Social Network, where she had the film’s memorable last words. Now, she’s starring opposite Chris Messina in Monogamy, directed by Dana Adam Shapiro. The film follows a seemingly happily engaged couple whose relationship is tested when Messina starts obsessively photo-stalking a blonde exhibitionist. Little Gold Men sat down with Jones to discuss Jedi mind-tricks, why Parks and Recreation is like a hot girl with glasses, and the general awesomeness of working with muppets.

Q&A: Rashida Jones on Parks and Rec: “We’re Like the Sexy Girl Who’s Wearing Glasses”, Vanity Fair

Images: Complex Ultimate Archive: 26 Hottest Pics

A 26-picture gallery via Complex

The Ultimate Archive: Rashida Jones' Hottest Pics

 Check out 20 more pics at Complex.com

 

News: Rashida did not date Garrett Hedlund (or Seth Meyers)

Update #2:
Rashida herself told New York magazine the rumor isn't true - and joked about the age difference. It did seem pretty unlikely, her being 8 years older and all.

NY: What is it like to know that when you do date someone, it can be a very public thing where paparazzi take your photo or it's discussed online on gossip blogs?
RJ: Honestly, for me, I try to keep really private. The outcome of that, and it's kind of funny, is that everybody I'm talked about dating is someone I'm not actually dating, so I don't really care. ...

NY: At least you've been falsely linked to handsome men. There's that.
RJ: By the way, the last fake boyfriend I had was 26. Like, cougar town!

NY: It was Garrett Hedlund, right?
RJ: Right, Garrett Hedlund, who's also my friend. I can call him and we can laugh about it, but also, I look awesome. [Laughs.]

On a related note, she also cleared up another long-standing rumor: she never dated Seth Meyers, despite what her Wikipedia entry might say. It was all based on this appearance together in 2005. [Disappointed about this one, to be honest. They look cute together!]

RJ: Like Seth Meyers has been my friend for ten years, and it's on my Wikipedia page that we dated because we went to one thing together and took a picture. I think it's funny and hilarious and I love him because he's my friend, but we never dated. So, my advice is to just be seen with people you're not dating, and stay at home with people you are dating.

-----------------------------------------------------
Update
Garrett fan A- has kindly sent this update:

"FYI he has done some radio interviews and debunked the rumor. Garrett and Rashida are not dating - they have known each other for years and were simply catching up at a NYE party like friends do. Garrett says they both just laughed and joked about the Just Jared story (like "What? Wow. But we should totally fake date now" and "Yeah, you can take me to fake dinner and a fake movie") and decided to ignore it."

Listen to the Seattle interview here: Garrett Hedlund Is Starstruck By Nashville (94.1 KMPS)

Thanks very much for the info :)
-January 10
=========================

Rumors, rumors...
So she hasn't been linked to anyone in over a year; not since Jon 'The Speechwriter' Favreau (so dreamy), that one time to John Mayer (such a douchebag, and was quickly denied) and then Favreau again. Now it's to the just-turned-26 year old guy from Tron and Country Strong, Garrett Hedlund.

Not much of a sighting and seems pretty unlikely, not least because she is almost 9 years older than him, but stranger things have happened. Since Rashida is a classy chick and doesn't like to discuss her private life wait and see on this one.

Music: Childish Gambino's Not Going Back

Childish Gambino (AKA Donald Glover) has a verse about Rashida in 'Not Going Back', the 5th track on his latest EP

---
Ran into Rashida Jones, told me that she heard my song
When I called her mixed like the crowd at my last show
She said to write her somethin’ nice on the next track
But she cute, so I wrote her ass a whole rap
Man, I threw that shit away, it felt dumb
Believe me, it was bad, we’re better off, you’re welcome
I worked hard on that song like day and night
That whole song made this one verse crazy, right?
---

Download link: Download the entire EP for free via his tumblr

Interviews: Print & video interviews for Monogamy

Lots of interviews came out over the past week while Rashida and co-star Chris Messina were promoting Monogamy.



'Monogamy' co-stars Rashida Jones and Chris Messina open up about their frank new film, love scenes with friends, and their worst audition experiences.
Singular Couple, Backstage



Jones, known for both ‘The Office’ and ‘Parks And Recreation,’ and Messina who played Julie’s hubby in the Meryl Streep film, ‘Julie and Julia,’ and had a reoccurring role in ‘Six Feet Under,’ do some of their most interesting work in this subtle almost documentary like indie film by director Dana Adam Shapiro (the Oscar-nominated ‘Murderball’). In speaking with Blackfilm.com, both actors spoke about working together on this film. ...
Monogamy: Rashida Jones & Chris Messina Interview, BlackFilm



In person, Rashida Jones reminds you of a best friend: smart, witty, friendly and grounded. In her new film, Monogamy, she plays a down-to-earth, aspiring musician; a coolest-girlfriend-in-the-world. So why does her fiancé (played by Chris Messina) want to leave her?
Rashida Jones Is "Down With Nietzsche", Elle Magazine



Jones, known for both her comic turns in The Office and Parks And Recreation, and Messina who played Julie's hubby in Julie and Julia and had a reoccurring role in Six Feet Under, do some of their most interesting work in this subtle and involving indie. I sat down with both rising talents at the Ace Hotel as part of a small intimate roundtable recently. ...
Actors Rashida Jones & Chris Messina Entangle in Monogamy, Huffington Post



Rashida Jones is best known for appealingly low-key comic turns in shows like Parks and Recreation and The Office, but in the indie film Monogamy she mines meaty drama as a woman whose fiancé (played by Chris Messina) begins to stray emotionally. First Jim left her for Pam, now this! Glimpsed briefly but pivotally in The Social Network, Jones also has several other projects coming up over the next year, including a role in The Muppets (where she plays a hard-ass network executive "who gets to manhandle Kermit") and the starry comedy My Idiot Brother. Last week, she chatted with Vulture about the famous names she's been erroneously linked to, feeding a baby lion on the cover of Vanity Fair, and her nerves about whether Parks and Recreation will get another season. ...
Rashida Jones on Monogamy, Parks and Recreation, and Dating Other Actors, New York Magazine


She stars on a hit TV series ("Parks & Recreation), was featured in an Oscar winning movie ("The Social Network"), spent weeks on end kissing Rob Lowe and gets to kick it with Kermit the Frog -- suffice it to say, Rashida Jones is having a great year. The latest jewel in her crown is "Monogamy," a dark but fascinating portrait of a couple on the verge of collapse, co-starring Chris Messina.
As a longtime fan of Rashida's (we're talking "Boston Public" days here, kids), I was excited to sit down with the actress to talk all about her turn towards the dark side only to find her more infectiously energetic than I could have anticipated.
Not only that, but I got the scoop on her role in Jason Segel's upcoming Muppets movie and found out why Ann Perkins (point) is about to enter, what Rashida calls, her empowered slut phase. ...
Rashida Jones preps for an empowered slut phase, New York Post



Rashida Jones doesn't mind going wacky.
"If it's funny, I will go to whatever place I have to go, no matter how gross and unattractive I seem," says Jones, who plays nerdy nurse Ann Perkins on NBC's increasingly popular sitcom Parks and Recreation. "The goofier and stupider you can be, the more fun it is." ...
A Pretty Girl Loves To Goof, Philadelphia Inquirer



Parks and Recreation’s cutest cast member on Monogamy, The Muppets and making out with Rob Lowe. ...
The Hot Seat: Rashida Jones, Time Out New York


The Today Show

Thanks to Jen and E for forwarding links :)

Appearances: Paley Festival Parks and Recreation Panel

March 9: Paleyfest 2011 Presents "Parks and Recreation" at the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills

 

wearing A.P.C. jacket, Stella McCartney top, Isabel Marant skirt and Derek Lam shoes

 

Galleries One Nine Eight Eight

Live at the Paley Festival: NBC's Parks and Recreation
--The Futon Critic

'Parks and Recreation' Cast, Producers Optimistic About Season 4
--The Hollywood Reporter

PaleyFest 2011: The 'Parks and Recreation' Cast Talk Romance, Charlie Sheen and the Return of Tammy
--TV Squad

Appearances: Monogamy Screening, NYC

March 7: Gotham Magazine Presents A Screening of Monogamy at the IFC Center in New York. The after-party was then held at Studio XXI.

 

Pictured with cast members Chris Messina & Meital Dohan, director Dana Adam Shapiro, Justin Long, Adam Yauch and Seth Meyers
Other guests included Aziz Ansari, Aubrey Plaza, Charlotte Ronson, Adrian Grenier and Sam Rockwell

wearing Thakoon Fall 2011 dress and Robert Clergerie for Opening Ceremony shoes