Zooey Deschanel

Zooey Deschanel

Zooey Claire Deschanel is an American actress, model, and singer-songwriter. She made her film debut in Mumford and next obtained a supporting role in Cameron Crowe’s film Almost Famous. From 2011 to 2018, she played Jess Day on the Fox sitcom New Girl, for which she received an Emmy Award nomination and three Golden Globe Award nominations. In 2006, she teamed up with M. Ward to form She & Him, and subsequently released their debut album, Volume One, in 2008. She is also a co-founder of the female-focused website HelloGiggles, which was acquired by Time, Inc. in 2015.

About Zooey Deschanel in brief

Summary Zooey DeschanelZooey Claire Deschanel is an American actress, model, and singer-songwriter. She made her film debut in Mumford and next obtained a supporting role in Cameron Crowe’s film Almost Famous. From 2011 to 2018, she played Jess Day on the Fox sitcom New Girl, for which she received an Emmy Award nomination and three Golden Globe Award nominations. In 2006, she teamed up with M. Ward to form She & Him, and subsequently released their debut album, Volume One, in 2008. She received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Song Written for Visual Media for \”So Long\”, which was featured in the 2011 film Winnie the Pooh. She is also a co-founder of the female-focused website HelloGiggles, which was acquired by Time, Inc. in 2015. She was named after Zooey Glass, the male protagonist of J. D. Salinger’s 1961 novella Franny and Zooey. Her paternal grandfather was French, from Oullins, Rhône, and her paternal grandmother came from a Quaker family; she also has Swiss, Dutch, English, Irish, and French ancestry. Her older sister is actress Emily DesChanel, who starred in the Fox crime comedy-drama series Bones. She has a daughter with actor Jake Gyllenhaal, and a son with actor Matthew Broderick, who appeared in The Good Girl, The New Guy, and All the Real Girls. She also has a stepdaughter with actress Emma Watson, and an adopted daughter with actress Amy Poehler, who appears in The Big C and The Big Lebowski, among other films.

Her father is cinematographer and director Caleb Deschanels, and she is the younger daughter of actress Mary Jo Deschanes. She grew up in Los Angeles, California, but spent much of her childhood traveling because her father shot films on location. She attended Crossroads, a private preparatory school in Santa Monica, where she befriended future co-stars Jake Gyllaal and Kate Hudson. She sang throughout high school, planning to pursue a career in musical theatre and attending French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts. She had a guest appearance on the television series Veronica’s Closet in 1998. In 1999, she appeared in the music video for The Offspring’s single \”She’s Got Issues\”. She appeared in the independent drama Manic, as the love interest of a troubled teen. The film was screened at the Sundance Film Festival and received a limited theatrical release. In the 2002 comedy Big Trouble, she took on the role of a devoted and reluctant woman, Tim Allen and Rene Russo. She starred as a guitar player in the band The Good Guy, playing the out-of-control woman involved in her boyfriend’s disappearance. The New York Times reported that she portrayed a cynical, plain-spoken young woman working in a big-box store in the black dramedy The Good Girls.