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@WorkYOUR GETAHEAD GUIDE FOR CAREER, STYLE & SUCCESS HOLLYWOOD’S TRIPLE THREAT RASHIDA JONES THE ACTRESS, WRITER, AND PRODUCER STEPS INTO THE SPOTLIGHT THE NEW GUARD 50 BADASS INNOVATORS, MOGULISTAS, AND SHOT CALLERS TOP $550, PANTS $695, Sportmax; EARRING Jones’ own. The NEW GUARD SO LONG, HOLLYWOOD MAKE WAY FOR TINSELTOWN’S NEW SHOT CALLERS. A GENERATION BOYS’ OF WHIPSMART, GUTSY YOUNG WOMEN IS REWRITING THE RULES OF THE GAME IN TV CLUB AND FILM. THEY VANITY SH INGLE, for the Only this was no vanity project. Jones, ARE DIVERSE, uninitiated, is a production 38, and her partner and best friend, Will OUTSPOKEN, AND company overseen by a McCormack, had already cowritten the famous actor that gives a stu- smart 2012 indie anti-romance Celeste & UNAPOLOGETIC dio first dibs on whatever Jesse Forever, starring Jones, and Warner IN THEIR MISSION crazy ideas he or she happens Bros. saw real potential. Together, the pair RASHIDA Ato conjure up en route to the gym or day founded their own production outfit, TO SEIZE THE spa. It’s a venerable Hollywood status dubbed Le Train Train (slang for “the daily JONES SPOTLIGHT AND symbol—right up there with an infinity grind” in French), which is currently in the EXECUTIVE SHATTER SOME pool or a signature fragrance—and an easy midst of a major Hollywood hot streak. Of way for a studio to keep a prized talent con- the nine programs they’ve pitched to net- PRODUCER GLASS CEILINGS. tent and engaged. works so far, all have been snapped up for OF NBC’S SMASH AWAY, Which is why the announcement last further development. True, only a precious A TO Z, STAR year that Rashida Jones—the lovely, unas- few may make it past the pilot stage, but the LADIES suming, eminently sensible actress best frenzy of sales represents an unheard-of bat- OF TBS’ ANGIE known for playing lovely, unassuming, emi- ting average for a fledgling company. On Edited by TRIBECA LEA GOLDMAN nently sensible characters on The Office and October 2, their first series, the rom-com Parks and Recreation—had signed an agree- A to Z, premiered on NBC in a cherished Photographs by Rashida Jones at ment with Warner Bros. to develop televi- Thursday-night time slot. They’ve got two the of ices of her DAN MONICK production Shirt, $890, sion comedies and dramas was met with the more shows with solid chances of debuting company, Le Train skirt, $1,100, Train, on the shoes, $1,495, industry equivalent of a gentle pat on early next year. Warner Bros. lot. Altuzarra; cuff, price upon the head. The trades dutifully made note Jones is characteristically modest about request, David Yurman. of the deal, and everyone promptly moved on. the feat. “We’ve been really, really lucky,” she MATTINGLY TRACEY AT LANCÔME FOR SCALI VANESSA MAKEUP: AGENCY. CELESTINE AT SHOULDERS & HEAD FOR BROOK SUNNIE HAIR: KNIGHT. SEAN EDITOR: FASHION 112 MARIECLAIRE.COM November 2014 November 2014 MARIECLAIRE.COM 113 The NEW GUARD Coat, $1,080, Marina Rinaldi; dress, $395, Theory; belt, $40, Ann Taylor; bracelets, from says. “We have a show on the air, and Later, while attending Harvard, she of the pile. You rely on everybody else to $3,450 each, Bulgari; tights, $35, Wolford. that’s insane. It never happens. I think we fell into a depression and turned to the allow you to do what you do.” That’s why, surpassed expectations, which now, of performing arts for relief, writing for though she stars in the title role of Steve pregnant with Cristela—Alonzo grew up course, makes our job a little bit harder.” the college’s musical comedy club, Carell’s police satire Angie Tribeca, which in the Texas-border town of San Juan. In a town crowded with overprivileged Hasty Pudding Theatricals, and appear- premieres on TBS early next year, she’s “My mother ended up finding this aban- scions, Jones is exceedingly mindful ing in a production of For Colored wary about relying on acting as her pri- doned diner where she moved and had about surpassing expectations. Her Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/ mary source of income. “The business is me. The first seven, eight years of my life, mother is Mod Squad actress Peggy When the Rainbow Is Enuf. After that, tough on women,” she says. “I don’t want my family lived as squatters in that Lipton; her father is legendary producer she was hooked. to think of the way I look as some com- diner,” says Alonzo. “As a kid, I really and composer Quincy Jones, who also Her success was hardly a sure thing. modity that’s slipping away.” wanted to have my own show. But when executive-produced The Fresh Prince of “I wanted to be noticed, I wanted to be The sentiment is, perhaps, a more dip- you grow up in poverty, people tell you Bel-Air. Jones attended the elite Buckley respected, and I felt jealous when other lomatic reproach of her industry—and nothing is possible. So I kind of gave up School in Sherman Oaks, California—her people had the opportunity,” Jones con- celebrities who exploit their sex appeal to on that dream.” get ahead—than the comments she made schoolmates included Kim Kardashian, fesses. “But I’m so happy that it took Alonzo eventually answered a want last year on Twitter, when she called out Paris Hilton, and Nicole Richie—where so long for anybody to really give me a ad for an office manager at a Dallas com- certain unnamed pop icons for basically she stood out for her academic diligence long-term job, because it made me edy club. Brassy and quick with a joke, letting it all hang out: “This week’s celeb and participation. “I was in every activ- appreciate what it’s like to be an out-of- she soon found herself onstage, where news takeaway: s he who comes closest to ity,” she recalls. “I got really good grades; work actor.” showing the actual inside of her vagina is the laughs came easily. She’d found her I was a mathlete. I wouldn’t say I have It also imbued in her an interest in most popular,” she wrote, tacking on the calling. A little over a year later, at age 24 , mastery in any one thing, but I’m pretty exerting more control over her career. hashtag: #stopactinglikewhores. she moved to Los Angeles, where she good at a bunch of stuff.” “As an actor, you’re kind of at the bottom The backlash was intense. Jones was scraped by touring and honing her mate- accused of sanctimony and “slut sham- rial. But the longer she spent on the road, JONES AND HER PARTNER ARE IN THE MIDST OF A ing.” But she remains unrepentant. “Let the more profane her material became. Alonzo on the By 2008, she realized she’d strayed far MAJOR HOLLYWOOD HOT STREAK. OF THE NINE it be said: I believe in a woman’s right to Los Angeles set express her sexuality … but are you of her ABC sitcom, outside her comfort zone. “I grew up in PROGRAMS THEY’VE PITCHED TO NETWORKS, ALL Cristela, which really being empowered by your sexual- the network a very Catholic household,” she explains. HAVE BEEN SNAPPED UP FOR DEVELOPMENT, WHICH ity, or do you just want to be liked, and initially passed on. “We were pretty conservative. I found IS UNHEARD OF FOR A FLEDGLING COMPANY. is it just an easy way to get attention?” myself doing raunchier jokes than I she asks. When it’s pointed out that for- student and her traditional family to ABC wanted to do.” mer schoolmates like Kardashian owe brass, who were so impressed that they For a year and a half, she cleaned up their celebrity in part to sex tapes, she reversed course and green-lit the series. her act. Her more mainstream material Jones is developing shows with more insists she doesn’t blame them for it. “It’s CRISTELA Clements, now an executive producer of helped land her a spot on Conan, and well-rounded depictions of not their fault that they’re famous Cristela, compares the program to The development deals soon followed. While women. because of it,” she says. “My problem is ALONZO Cosby Show and Roseanne. “Those shows early reviews for Cristela have been putting them in the same category with CREATOR AND had very specific winning people at the mixed, critics have praised Alonzo. anybody who has worked their asses off STAR OF ABC’S center of them. And I just recognized that (“Could not be more lovable,” gushed a to cultivate their talent. It just makes me in her,” she says of Alonzo. reviewer for E! Entertainment.) And sad. Why are we so obsessed with social- CRISTELA Alonzo’s star turn on a prime-time net- though current trend favors edgier, single- ites and girls who are amateur sex-tape work sitcom is a very big deal. Except for camera shows these days—like Veep and stars? Can we also be obsessed with ERE’S A SECRET trail- Ugly Betty’s America Ferrera and The The Mindy Project, for example—Alonzo women who have changed the world blazers don’t often share: CW’s recently debuted Jane The Virgin, is adamant that a traditional network and are really, really smart?” Breaking barriers usually adapted from a Venezuelan telenovela, multi-camera sitcom, with its studio Jones’ goal is to inject more nuanced requires bending a few Latinas—even superstars like Sofia audiences and laugh tracks, is the ideal portrayals of women into the zeitgeist.