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Zooey Claire Deschanel (born January 17, 1980) is an American actress.

Biography

Early life

Deschanel was born in Los Angeles, California, and brought up in various international locations because of her father's work. She is the daughter of Academy Award-nominated cinematographer Caleb Deschanel and actress Mary Jo Weir; her sister, Emily Deschanel, is also an actress. Her paternal grandfather was French and the remainder of her ancestry is Irish Americanhttp://www.fedge.net/~zdeschanel/articles/latimes-2-16-03.html. The name "Zooey" (IPA pronunciation: ) was inspired by the male character of the same name in J. D. Salinger's novel Franny and Zooey.

Zooey attended the French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts, an elite performance summer camp located in New York. She attended Northwestern University before dropping out to pursue her acting career.

Career

Film

She made her film debut in Lawrence Kasdan’s (1999) comedy Mumford. Deschanel then drew attention with her role as Patrick Fugit’s hippie older sister in Cameron Crowe's autobiographical Almost Famous (2000). Her next roles were in the small independent film Manic as a mental patient and in the Tim Allen movie Big Trouble. Next she co-starred in Abandon with Katie Holmes playing her best friend. Her role as a disaffected drugstore clerk in the Jennifer Aniston film The Good Girl (2002) captured a lot of attention. Her profile grew with her role in All the Real Girls (2003), as sexually curious 18-year-old virgin who has a life-changing romance with an aimless 22-year-old man (Paul Schneider). For her role, Deschanel was voted Best Actress at the Mar del Plata Film Festival and also nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. Deschanel played a department store elf opposite Will Ferrell in the comedy Elf (2003). She also starred as Trillian in the movie adaptation of Douglas Adams's science fiction series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005). Most recently she appeared as Sarah Jessica Parker's neurotic roommate in Failure to Launch (2006).

Television

Deschanel has appeared as a television actress on the show Frasier and in various music videos, including The Offspring's "She's Got Issues." She has most recently been on Showtime's "Weeds," as Andy Botwin's quirky ex-girlfriend, Kat.

Singing

Deschanel appears with fellow actress Samantha Shelton in a cabaret act named If All the Stars Were Pretty Babies. She has performed vocally in several of her films (Elf, Once Upon a Mattress, The New Guy, Winter Passing). Her composition "Bittersuite" was used thematically in Winter Passing, in which she starred along with Ed Harris, Will Ferrell, and Amelia Warner. She is slated to portray Liza Minnelli in the upcoming bio-pic Simply Halston, joining Brendan Fraser, who is cast in the title role. She has recently been chosen to play the lead role of Janis Joplin in Gospel According to Janis.

Private life

Deschanel is a fan of singer Ella Fitzgerald and actress Parker Posey. One of her favorite songs is "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey.

A friend of actor Jason Schwartzman since childhood, she dated him for several years before breaking up in 2005. She also dated Hunter Burgan, the bassist from AFI, for a time.

Filmography

References

External links

• Fansite: "The Nature of Zooey Deschanel"

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