Us Weekly - 22 January 2001

Going Public

Boston Public's Rashida Jones gets advice from father Quincy and strength from her religious beliefs.

Age: 24

Hometown: Jones was raised in Los Angeles with her sister, Kidada (now 26, also an actor), by their mother Mod Squad star Peggy Lipton, and Quincy Jones, their legendary music-producer father. Her parents divorced when she was 10, and Jones lived with lipton, a few miles from their father's home.

Taking office: As a teenager at the private Buckley School in California's San Fernando Valley, Jones set high expectations for herself. " I told my Dad I wanted to be the first black Jewish woman president!"

Acting Out: Jones graduated from Harvard in 1997, where she majored in religion and philosophy and discovered acting. " I had a big depression in college," she says, " And theatre was the only thing that kept me going. Acting was a way to channel all the angst and express myself in a set of circumstances where there were no real consequences." She currently plays Louisa, the assistent to the principal on David E. Kelley's new Fox series, Boston Public.

Choosing her religion: Her mother is Jewish, but when Jones was 13, she stayed in an ashram while visiting India and has been practicing Hinduism ever since. " At the risk of sounding lame, I pray every day. i definitely believe in a higher power."

Rules of the game: The single actor [she and her boyfriend Tobey Maguire recently broke up] says she has learned a lot about dealing with fame from her parents. Her top three rules: "Be friendly to everybody; protect yourself people sometimes want a piece of you for not good reason; and always do things out of love not fear."

By Deirdre Dolan
Source: US Weekly