Zooey Deschanel
About
Biography
Filmography
Notes
"Part of being an actor is having no fear, or at least having a lot of courage. My only fear is playing the same part over and over again."---Zooey Deschanel quoted in Interview, February 2000.
"I do change a lot. And I can look a lot younger or a lot older. I guess that's what a chameleon is. You put it on a branch and it turns brown. You put it on a leaf and it turns green."---Deschanel on being "chameleon-like" to Venice, February 2003.
Biography
It took little time for actress-singer Zooey Deschanel - a petite and enigmatic beauty - to gain a devoted audience. Taking up acting as a teenager in the late 1990s and moving into prestige projects such as "Almost Famous" (2000) and "All the Real Girls" (2003), Deschanel's off-beat projections of character made her cast-worthy before the Christmas comedy "Elf" (2003) did the trick. Over the next few years, Deschanel found her niche as a reliable supporting presence in both mainstream and art house works like "Failure to Launch" (2006) and "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" (2007). With the breakout indie hit romance "500 Days of Summer" (2009) opposite Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Deschanel moved from a quirky co-star to an undeniably talented and charming leading lady. Capitalizing on her special brand of geek-chic appeal, she was deemed "adorkable" in the marketing campaign for her well-received sitcom, "New Girl" (Fox, 2011- ). Waiting for Hollywood to gain an appreciation for her appeal, Deschanel's determination to follow her own path paid off with dividends that far exceeded her professional achievements.
Zooey Claire Deschanel was born on Jan. 17, 1980 in Los Angeles, CA. She and her older actress sister, Emily, were raised by their father, Caleb, an Oscar-winning cinematographer and their mother, actress Mary Jo. Deschanel, whose first name was taken from the male Zooey Glass character of J.D. Salinger's story Franny and Zooey, often spent her young years hanging out on film set locations, despite the fact that Deschanel wished for a typical, sedentary family home life. Despite this fact, by the time she was old enough to know what acting was, she wanted to be an actress, but her parents rejected the idea, telling her she would have to wait until she had a driver's license to get her around town. Deschanel attended the elite prep school Crossroads in Santa Monica, CA alongside future co-stars Kate Hudson and Jake Gyllenhaal, where she discovered an interest in singing and musical theater; at one point, considering a career in jazz singing on Broadway. At 16, she appeared as Little Red Riding Hood in the North Hollywood-based Interact Theatre Company's production of "Into the Woods." Driver's license firmly in hand, Deschanel started auditioning for onscreen parts, landing on an episode of NBC's "Veronica's Closet" (1997-2000) just days before her 18th birthday.
Frustrated by the industry politics of Hollywood, Deschanel left for Chicago to attend Northwestern University in the fall of 1998, but seven months into her first year, realized she wanted to be auditioning again and headed back to Los Angeles. Her first break came as a self-conscious teen on the psychiatrist's couch of Lawrence Kasdan's low-key comedy "Mumford" (1999). The fall release gave a wide audience a brief introduction to the actress, as did her appearance in the video for "She's Got Issues," a song from the popular punk quartet, The Offspring. The following year, she offered up a more formal introduction, knocking out audiences as the wise, world-ready flight attendant and older sister of Cameron Crowe's rock and roll epic "Almost Famous" (2000), a film which also served as classmate Kate Hudson's breakout project.
Following "Almost Famous," Deschanel's options broadened, enabling her to develop what would become an ongoing taste for independent films. Appearing in "Manic" (2001), she played the sullen, troubled resident of a mental institution and a fellow patient's object of affection. She just as easily switched gears to become the tart-mouthed, small-town counter girl of a different indie, "The Good Girl" (2002), starring Jennifer Aniston and Jake Gyllenhaal. Turning her attentions to a musical diversion that arose from an introduction at filmmaker Sofia Coppola's 2001 Jazz party, she and actress Samantha Shelton bonded over a common interest in old Jazz standards and decided to put together an act. With period outfits and a small backing band, the actresses would trek across Los Angeles in between acting gigs, performing in clubs under the moniker of If All the Stars Were Pretty Babies. When not onscreen, Deschanel would also spend her off time hanging with an equally musical boyfriend, Coppola's cousin, actor Jason Schwartzman, whom she dated until 2005.
Returning to bigger projects, Deschanel took on a role as Rene Russo's daughter in the ensemble comedy, "Big Trouble" (2002), as well as had a smaller part as D.J. Qualls' bandmate in "The New Guy" (2002) before trying her hand at a thriller with "Abandon" (2002), in which she played the best friend of a college classmate tormented by her boyfriend's mysterious disappearance. On a roll, the projects kept her working, but Deschanel really got a chance to shine under the promising young director David Gordon Green. With his 2003 effort, "All the Real Girls," she was his embodiment of first love, playing Noel, a small town 18-year-old on the cusp of a sexual awakening in North Carolina. Deschanel and co-star Paul Schneider won positive comments playing out the intimate, young romance between a virgin and the smitten town stud. By the summer, her status as one of Hollywood's freshest faces had been further verified with her role as the good-hearted department store elf, tentatively romancing Will Ferrell's lumbering real elf in "Elf" (2003). Deschanel even got to add her voice to the soundtrack, singing alongside Leon redbone in a rendition of "Baby, It's Cold Outside."
By 2004, her lead role in Green's film had netted her an Independent Spirit Award nomination, but with "Elf," Deschanel was now a sought out actress, picked to star in Disney's long-in-development screen adaptation of Douglas Adams' cult classic novel, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." As the alien love interest Trillian, Deschanel had serious fans of the sci-fi satire debating the merits of her casting well before the mid-2004 shoot had even begun. After wrapping production late in the year, she relaxed and watched the release of her indie ensemble comedy "Eulogy" (2004), for which her perplexed, grieving granddaughter provided the memorial. As "Hitchhiker's Guide" hit theaters in the summer of 2005 to mixed reviews, Deschanel continued to work steadily in different-sized projects. The somewhat delayed release of "Winter Passing" (2005) reteamed her with Ferrell in a more somber outing of family estrangement, but the actress got to put her singing to serious use on television as Lady Larken of ABC's musical movie, "Once Upon a Mattress" (2005), a raucous retelling of the classic fairy tale The Princess and the Pea." Deschanel's quirky sensibilities even managed to steal the show from Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew McConaughey in the by-the-books romantic comedy, "Failure to Launch" (2006), a high-concept comedy which showcased Deschanel's character Kit, an off-kilter, mockingbird-hating roommate.
Taking advantage of an increasing number of diverse onscreen opportunities, Deschanel found another interesting place to go on television. For Showtime's "Weeds" (2005-12), a series about a suburban mother dealing marijuana to make ends meet, Deschanel recurred as the wild girl Kat, coming in and out of her ex-boyfriend's life. By 2007, she had no less than half a dozen projects that stretched into independent and studio territory. Deschanel opted to mix things up as a former famous child actor bonding with a social misfit under their small-town malaise in "The Good Life," as well as the owner of a stolen car connecting with its thief in the small comedy, "The Go-Getter." Further into 2007, Deschanel shook the dust off the "Hitchhiker's Guide" reception for another go at fantasy filmmaking. To an ever expanding group of converts, her casting as the winsome music teacher and crush of a young farmboy in Disney's adaptation of the children's novel "Bridge to Terabithia" seemed ideal. She also expanded her résumé to include voiceover work, taking her distinct voice to the animation production of "Surf's Up." As Lani Aliikai, the sexy, exuberant penguin lifeguard of Pen Gu Island, the film was widely praised for its impressive story and CGI animation. Not wasting a moment's time, Deschanel reconnected with past co-star Paul Schneider as they both went to the gritty Old West to help tell the big screen story of "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" (2007), a movie starring Brad Pitt.
If any expectations about Deschanel's career remained, they were only of her abilities and the loftier challenges just ahead. On the heels of "Terabithia," Deschanel moved to the Sci Fi Channel, embodying a Dorothy-esque figure named DG in "Tin Man" (2007), a very twisted take on "The Wizard of Oz." Taking her own personal musical aspirations to the next level, she released her first music album Volume One as one half of the folk-pop band She & He, with musician M. Ward. Later cast in a Janis Joplin biopic, Deschanel spent many months in vocal training, looking to perfect Joplin's necessary trademark rasp. The subsequent "Gospel According to Janis" (2008) - one of several competing Joplin films - promised to usher the singer-actress into a new level of recognition. Before that project went into production, she starred in M. Night Shyamalan's "The Happening" (2008), a dark apocalyptic thriller about a family that flees a natural disaster threatening humanity's very existence.
Busier than ever, Deschanel also played the free-spirited love interest of Jim Carrey in the comedy fable "Yes Man" (2008) prior to gaining strong notices opposite Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the coming-of-age romance "500 Days of Summer" (2009), as the girl who breaks Levitt's heart. The breakout indie hit of the year and overwhelmingly well-received by critics, the film earned both Deschanel and her co-star some of the best notices of their careers. On a lark, she also guest starred on a 2009 episode of her sister Emily's popular forensic crime drama "Bones" (Fox, 2005- ). In September of the same year, Deschanel married her fiancé since 2008, musician Ben Gibbard, the frontman for the popular alt-rock groups Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service. (The couple divorced in 2012.) After a brief hiatus, Deschanel returned to screens in the stoner comedy-fantasy "Your Highness" (2011) as the virginal maiden betrothed to the valiant Prince Fabious (James Franco), and as the sister of an eternally naïve and good-natured slacker (Paul Rudd) in "Our Idiot Brother" (2011). Back on television, she enjoyed favorable reviews with the premiere of her own TV sitcom as the "New Girl" (Fox, 2011- ), a bubbly, nerdy girl who moves in to an apartment with three single guys after breaking up with her boyfriend. Her much ballyhooed performance brought her a first-ever Emmy Award nomination for Best Actress in a Comedy Series in 2012, as well as a Golden Globe nod in the same category later that year. Other than her ongoing work on "New Girl," Deschanel focused on her music career during this period, releasing three more She & Him records on Merge Records, including 2011's best-selling A Very She & Him Christmas, before moving to the major label Columbia Records for the all-covers album Classics in 2014. Deschanel recorded a duet with Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson for his 2015 solo album No Pier Pressure. Deschanel next appeared on the big screen as a mercurial rock star in Barry Levinson's flop "Rock the Kasbah" (2015) before announcing that she was taking a maternity leave from several episodes of "New Girl" following the birth of her first daughter, Elsie Otter, with new husband Jacob Pechenik; Jess was temporarily written out of the series by being impaneled on a sequestered jury.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Music (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1998
Made her TV acting debut on an episode of NBC's "Veronica's Closet"
1999
Made film acting debut in Lawrence Kasdan's "Mumford"
2000
Appeared as the protagonist's rebellious older sister in Cameron Crowe's "Almost Famous"
2001
Formed If All the Stars Were Pretty Babies, a jazz cabaret act with fellow actress Samantha Shelton
2002
Cast as Jennifer Aniston's cynical co-worker in Miguel Arteta's "The Good Girl"
2003
Cast as Will Ferrell's love interest in Jon Favreau's "Elf"
2003
Landed first lead role in "All The Real Girls," playing a virgin who captures the heart of a womanizer; received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Actress
2004
Co-starred in the black comedy "Eulogy"
2005
Portrayed the daughter of a reclusive novelist (Ed Harris) in "Winter Passing"
2005
Starred as Trillian in the big-screen adaptation of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
2006
Played Andy Botwin's quirky ex-girlfriend Kat on four episodes of the Showtime series "Weeds"
2006
Played Sarah Jessica Parker's neurotic roommate in "Failure to Launch"
2007
Cast as DG in "Tin Man" (Sci Fi Channel), a six hour miniseries based on L. Frank Baum's book <i>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz</i>
2007
Cast as Robert Ford's (Casey Affleck) girlfriend in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
2008
Appeared with Mark Wahlberg in M. Night Shyamalan's "The Happening"
2008
Co-starred with Jim Carrey in "Yes Man"
2008
Collaborated with singer-songwriter M. Ward on her debut album <i>Volume One</i>, recorded under the moniker She & Him
2009
Played a quirky rich girl opposite Paul Dano in the independent film "Gigantic"
2009
Co-starred with Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the romantic comedy "(500) Days of Summer"
2010
Released second She & Him album, <i>Volume 2</i>.
2011
Played Paul Rudd's bisexual hipster sister in "Our Idiot Brother"
2011
Released holiday album <i>A Very She & Him Christmas</i>.
2011
Starred as a newly single woman who moves in with three male roommates on the Fox comedy series "New Girl"
2013
Voice-acted in "The Simpsons"
2013
Released third She & Him album, <i>Volume 3</i>.
2014
Moved to Columbia Records for fifth She & Him album, <i>Classics</i>.
2015
Sang a duet with Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson on his solo album <i>No Pier Pressure</i>.
2015
Starred alongside Anton Yelchin in "The Driftless Area"
2015
Was a co-star in the Bill Murray music-comedy "Rock the Kasbah"
2016
Voiced Bridget in "Trolls"
Family
Bibliography
Notes
"Part of being an actor is having no fear, or at least having a lot of courage. My only fear is playing the same part over and over again."---Zooey Deschanel quoted in Interview, February 2000.
"I do change a lot. And I can look a lot younger or a lot older. I guess that's what a chameleon is. You put it on a branch and it turns brown. You put it on a leaf and it turns green."---Deschanel on being "chameleon-like" to Venice, February 2003.
"... I can't rent videos anymore. I never return them. Blockbuster owns my soul. I get letters from a collection agency saying, 'You owe $10.98 to Blockbuster.' And I'm like, I could've bought the movie for that! Now I owe my first born to Blockbuster. I've ruined my life! I won't be able to buy a house!"---Deschanel on renting movies Interview, March 2003.
