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Zooey Deschanel

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Zooey Deschanel

Deschanel as Trillian in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

<tr><td style="text-align:left;">Birth name</td><td>Zooey Claire Deschanel</td></tr>

Born January 17 1980 (age 28)
Los Angeles, California USA
Height 5'5½ (1.66 m)
Notable roles Jovie - Elf
Trillian - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

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

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] 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 American<ref>http://www.fedge.net/~zdeschanel/articles/latimes-2-16-03.html</ref>. The name "Zooey" (IPA pronunciation: ['zo.i]) 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.

[edit] Career

[edit] 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).

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Filmography

Zooey Deschanel as Jovie in Elf.

Year Film Role Other notes
2008 Gospel According to Janis Janis Joplin Pre-production
Escape from Paris French Chef Pre-production
2007 Barry Munday Jennifer Pre-production
Bridge to Terabithia Miss Edmunds
Raving Post-production
The Good Life Frances Post-production
Simply Halston Liza Minnelli Pre-production
Surf's Up Lani Post-production
The Go-Getter Kate
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Dorothy Evans
2006 Failure to Launch Kit
Flakes Miss Katz
Live Free or Die Cheryl
2005 Once Upon a Mattress Lady Larken
Winter Passing Reese Holden
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Tricia McMillan/Trillian
2004 Eulogy Kate Collins
2003 Elf Jovie
House Hunting Christy
It's Better to be Wanted for Murder Than Not to be Wanted at All Gas station girl
All the Real Girls Noel
Whatever We Do Nikki
2002 Abandon Samantha Harper
Sweet Friggin' Daisies Zelda
The New Guy Nora
Big Trouble Jenny Herk
The Good Girl Cheryl
2001 Manic Tracy
2000 Almost Famous Anita Miller
1999 Mumford Nessa Watkins

[edit] References

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[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

fr:Zooey Deschanel ja:ズーイー・デシャネル ru:Дешанель, Зуи sv:Zooey Deschanel

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