"SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE" WELCOMES ROSARIO DAWSON AND MUSICAL GUEST FLEET FOXES ON JANUARY 17

New York, NY - January 9, 2009 - "Saturday Night Live" launches into 2009 with its second show of the month, featuring one of today's hottest film actresses, Rosario Dawson, along with musical guest Fleet Foxes, making their "SNL" debuts on NBC January 17 at 11:30 p.m. ET.

Dawson has garnered praise for her numerous roles as an actress, making her one of Hollywood's most sought after leading ladies. Dawson can currently be seen in the drama "Seven Pounds", in which she stars with Will Smith. Her moving performance in the film has gained her acclaim and praise from critics and fans alike, including a recent nomination for a NAACP Image Award. Dawson gained recognition in 2005 when she received a Satellite Award for her performance as 'Mimi Marquez' in the film "Rent". She was honored again in 2007 at the esteemed ShoWest where she received the award for "Supporting Actress of the Year." Dawson was recently awarded the "Half-Life" Award at the 2008 Cine Vegas International Film Festival alongside Don Cheadle, Viggo Mortensen and Sam Rockwell. Making her film debut in the highly acclaimed and controversial hit "Kids," Dawson has appeared in numerous feature films, including Quentin Tarantino's horror project "Grindhouse"; the acclaimed Spike Lee film, "The 25th Hour", opposite Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Barry Pepper; "Men In Black 2" alongside Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, and Spike Lee's "He Got Game" opposite Denzel Washington. Dawson also made a huge impact in the 2005 Robert Rodriguez/ Frank Miller film noir drama "Sin City" starring with Bruce Willis, Benicio Del Toro, Clive Owen, and Brittany Murphy. "Sin City" opened number one at the box office and was in dramatic competition at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.

Joining Dawson is the five-piece Seattle based Indie rock band Fleet Foxes, whose self-titled debut album ranked first on Billboard's (Critics' Choice) top albums of 2008. Billboard described it as a "shockingly gorgeous debut ... unlocked a subconscious desire in us for more vocal harmonies." The album also landed among the top five in Spin's year end rankings and finished 11th on Rolling Stones annual list. Spin declared that "on this haunting debut, Seattle's Fleet Foxes distinguish themselves from the vintage-vinyl crowd by infusing their rootsy retro-pop moves with a sense of mystery that no one's really summoned since Oh, Inverted World changed Natalie Portman's life. Like the Shins' James Mercer, frontman Robin Pecknold is more mood man than storyteller. But his eye for detail can devastate." Internationally, Fleet Foxes have beaten off competition from the likes of Radiohead and Elbow to be awarded the first-ever "UNCUT MUSIC AWARD". The band's eponymous debut album was unanimously hailed by a panel of industry judges as the most inspiring and richly rewarding album of the last 12 months. In early 2008, Fleet Foxes released the five-song EP, "Sun Giant" and followed in June with their critically acclaimed, self-titled debut full-length album.

"Saturday Night Live" is from SNL Studios in association with Broadway Video. The creator and executive producer is Lorne Michaels. Steve Higgins produces. Marci Klein produces. Seth Meyers is head writer. Don Roy King directs.