Zooey Deschanel
Deschanel performing as part of She & Him at Mercy Lounge in Nashville, TN
Born	Zooey Claire Deschanel January 17, 1980 (1980-01-17) (age 30) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, model, singer-songwriter, musician
Years active	1998–present
Spouse(s)	Ben Gibbard (2009-present)

Zooey Claire Deschanel (pronounced /ˈzoÊŠ.i deɪʃəˈnÉ›l/; born January 17, 1980) is an American actress, musician and singer-songwriter. In 1999, Deschanel made her film debut in Mumford, followed by her break out role as young protagonist William Miller's troubled older sister Anita in Cameron Crowe's 2000 semi autobiographical film Almost Famous. Deschanel soon became known for her deadpan supporting roles in films such as Elf (2003) and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005). She then began playing lead roles in films, including Yes Man (2008) and (500) Days of Summer (2009).

Since 2001, Deschanel has performed in the jazz cabaret act If All the Stars Were Pretty Babies with fellow actress Samantha Shelton. She plays keyboards, percussion, banjo and ukulele. She has sung in several of her films, and her debut album Volume One (recorded with M. Ward under the moniker She & Him) was released on March 18, 2008. The follow up album Volume Two was released in the U.S. on March 23, 2010.

Early life

Zooey Deschanel was born in Los Angeles, California, and is the daughter of cinematographer and director Caleb Deschanel and actress Mary Jo Deschanel (née Weir). She is of French and Irish descent. She was named after Zooey Glass, the male protagonist of J. D. Salinger's 1961 novella Franny and Zooey. Her older sister Emily Deschanel is also an actress, and stars in the TV series Bones.

Deschanel lived in Lower Los Angeles, but spent much of her childhood traveling because her father shot films on location; she later said that she "hated all the traveling[...]I'm really happy now that I had the experience, but at the time I was just so miserable to have to leave my friends in Los Angeles and go to places where they didn't have any food I liked or things I was used to." She attended Crossroads, a private preparatory school in Santa Monica, California, where she befriended future co-stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Kate Hudson. She sang throughout high school, planning to pursue a career in musical theatre. She attended Northwestern University for seven months before dropping out to work as an actress.

Career

Acting

Deschanel appeared in a guest role on the television series Veronica's Closet before making her film debut in Lawrence Kasdan's 1999 comedy Mumford, and later in the year she appeared (non-singing) in the music video for The Offspring's single "She's Got Issues". In her second film, director Cameron Crowe's semi-autobiographical Almost Famous (2000), Deschanel played Anita Miller, the protagonist's rebellious older sister. The film received critical praise, but was not a box office success.

Deschanel played supporting roles in a series of films that included Manic (2001), with Don Cheadle and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Big Trouble (2002), with Tim Allen and Rene Russo, Abandon (2002) alongside Katie Holmes, Benjamin Bratt and Melanie Lynskey, and The Good Girl (2002) alongside Jennifer Aniston and Jake Gyllenhaal. In late 2002, The New York Times reported that Deschanel was "one of Hollywood's most sought-after young stars," and the Los Angeles Times wrote in early 2003 that Deschanel had become a recognizable type, due to "her deadpan, sardonic and scene-stealing [film] performances" as the protagonist's best friend. Deschanel objected to her typecasting, arguing, "A lot of these roles are just a formula idea of somebody's best friend, and it's like, I don't even have that many friends. In high school, I stayed home all the time, so I don't know how I'm everybody's best friend now."

Deschanel appeared in Frasier, starring as Roz's out-of-control cousin, Jen, in the Season 10 episode 'Kissing Cousin' in 2002. That year she also appeared in the film The New Guy as Nora, the guitar player in the lead character's band, Suburban Funk.

Deschanel turned down several supporting roles and played her first lead role in All the Real Girls (2003). Deschanel's performance as Noel, a sexually curious 18-year-old virgin who has a life-changing romance with an aimless 22-year-old, received critical praise, and she received an Independent Spirit nomination for Best Actress. Later in 2003, Deschanel played a deadpan department store worker opposite Will Ferrell in the comedy Elf, which became a box office hit.

Zooey Deschanel with co-star Joseph Gordon-Levitt at a premiere for (500) Days of Summer in March 2009

In 2004, Deschanel starred in Eulogy, and in 2005 as Trillian in the film adaptation of Douglas Adams' science fiction novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Deschanel then played Sarah Jessica Parker's neurotic roommate in Failure to Launch (2006), and appeared on four episodes of the Showtime television series Weeds from 2006 to 2007, playing Andy Botwin's quirky ex-girlfriend, Kat. In September 2006, Variety announced that Deschanel would play 1960s singer Janis Joplin in the film The Gospel According to Janis, to be co-written and directed by Penelope Spheeris. Deschanel planned to sing all of Joplin's songs, and took four months of singing lessons "to approximate Joplin's gritty vocals." The film, scheduled to begin shooting on November 13, 2006, was postponed indefinitely. However, the project is now back on track and will be released in 2012. [3]

In 2007, Deschanel appeared in two children's films, Bridge to Terabithia, in which she played Jesse's quirky music teacher and the animated film Surf's Up, in which she voiced a penguin named Lani Aliikai. She played DG, the lead in the Sci Fi Channel miniseries Tin Man, a re-imagined science fiction version of L. Frank Baum's children's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Tin Man aired on Sci Fi in December 2007. Deschanel also narrated the children's book Players in Pigtails.

On April 27, 2008, she performed on The Simpsons, playing the role of Mary, Cletus's daughter, and in June that year, she starred opposite Mark Wahlberg in M. Night Shyamalan's poorly received environmental thriller The Happening.

In 2008, Deschanel starred in Gigantic, and later that year in the comedy film Yes Man, opposite Jim Carrey.

Deschanel was next seen as the title character in the 2009 award winning romantic-drama-comedy (500) Days of Summer, opposite Joseph Gordon-Levitt (for a second time after Manic). The film, about the development and demise of a relationship, received widespread praise and was directed by long-time commercial and music video director Marc Webb. The film received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical), but was ultimately defeated by The Hangover.

Deschanel guest starred in a Christmas 2009 episode of Bones as Brennan's never-before-seen cousin In the first-ever on-screen pairing of the Deschanel sisters, Zooey portrayed Margaret Whitesell, a distant relative of Emily's Dr. Temperance Brennan. Brennan's father, Max Keenan (guest star Ryan O'Neal), invites Margaret to spend Christmas with him and his daughter.

In 2010, Deschanel secured the role of Belladonna in the upcoming fantasy comedy film Your Highness alongside Natalie Portman and James Franco. Deschanel will star in the pilot for the HBO series I'm with the Band: Confessions of a Groupie, in which she plays the role of Pamela Des Barres, who wrote a memoir based on her own experience as a former groupie.

Deschanel will play Ada Lovelace in the film Enchantress of Numbers directed by Bruce Beresford. Filming will start in Fall 2010.

Film-related music

The New Guy was the first of Deschanel's films in which she sang onscreen; in Elf she duetted with Ferrell in the bathroom shower scene on "Baby, It's Cold Outside", and was also heard singing it on the soundtrack with Leon Redbone. Subsequently, Deschanel has sung in Winter Passing ("My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean"), the 2005 television musical Once Upon a Mattress ("An Opening For a Princess", "In a Little While", "Normandy", and "Yesterday I Loved You"), an old cabaret song in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and the 2007 short film Raving ("Hello, Dolly!"). Her piano composition "Bittersuite" was used thematically in the dark, off-beat 2004 dramedy Winter Passing, in which she starred alongside Ferrell and Ed Harris.

In the film Yes Man, Deschanel sings several songs featured in the film and on the film soundtrack, and is shown singing Uh-Huh and Sweet Ballad alongside San Franciscan all-girl electro soul-punk group Von Iva in a fictional band called Munchausen by Proxy.

(500) Days of Summer director Marc Webb also directed Deschanel and Gordon-Levitt in a music video, Bank Dance, with the She & Him song "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here".

Non-film music

Deschanel and M. Ward performing as She & Him at the Newport Folk Festival (August 2, 2008)

In 2001 Deschanel formed If All the Stars Were Pretty Babies, a jazz cabaret act with fellow actress Samantha Shelton. The pair performed around Los Angeles.

In March 2007, Deschanel contributed vocals to two songs "Slowly" and "Ask Her To Dance" on the album Nighttiming by Jason Schwartzman's band Coconut Records. In May 2007, singer/songwriter M. Ward, who had previously performed with Deschanel onstage, said that he was "just finishing work" on her debut album, which will feature songs written by Deschanel and produced by Ward. Fox reported that Deschanel and Ward were recording under the moniker She & Him, and that the album, titled Volume One, would be released by Merge Records on March 18, 2008.

An article on Pitchfork Media in December 2009 confirmed a March 23, 2010, release date for the second She & Him album, Volume Two. In spring of 2010, She & Him will be playing on tour in support of Volume Two, performing in the USA and in Europe.

In 2010, Deschanel and M.Ward will be featured on Snow Patrols member Gary Lightbody's side project, Tired Pony. They feature along side R.E.M's Peter Buck and The Editors Tom Smith.

Other areas

Cliché Magazine's March 2010 issue featured Deschanel as more than just an actress and a musician, but as a fashion inspiration as well. In 2009, her love for vintage fashion led to a collaboration with Oliver Peoples eyewear, where she launched a line of retro-inspired sunglasses available in five colors. A breath on the lenses will reveal a pair of puckered lips.

Deschanel is a judge for the ninth Independent Music Awards.

She has signed on to be the new face of Rimmel.

Personal life

Deschanel married Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie in September 2009. Deschanel â€”who is allergic to eggs, dairy, and wheat gluten—used to eat a vegan diet and was featured on the eighth episode of the first season of the Bravo show Top Chef Masters where she asked the chefs to cater a vegan lunch party for her family and friends using no eggs, dairy, soy, or gluten. However, according to a recent interview with "Health magazine", Deschanel broke with her vegan diet, because her food sensitivities made it difficult for her to stay healthy as a vegan.

Filmography

Television

Short films

Discography

Solo

• "Baby, It's Cold Outside" with Leon Redbone - Elf soundtrack
• "Fabric of My Life" - Cotton Incorporated Campaign
• "Sugar Town" - (500) Days of Summer soundtrack
• "Someday" - Bridge To Terabithia (sung in the film but not included on the soundtrack)

Munchausen By Proxy

Munchausen By Proxy is a fictional band that appears in the film Yes Man.

• "Sweet Ballad" featuring Zooey Deschanel & Von Iva - Yes Man soundtrack
• "Uh-Huh" featuring Zooey Deschanel & Von Iva - Yes Man soundtrack
• "Keystar" featuring Zooey Deschanel & Von Iva - Yes Man soundtrack
• "Yes Man" featuring Zooey Deschanel & Von Iva - Yes Man soundtrack

She & Him

Studio Albums

• Volume One (March 18, 2008) #71 US
• Volume Two (March 23, 2010)

Singles

• "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?" (January, 2008)
• "In the Sun" (February, 2010)
• "Thieves" (June, 2010)

Soundtrack

• "I Put A Spell On You" (January 30, 2009) Starbucks' Sweetheart CD
• "When I Get To The Border" (2007) on The Go-Getter soundtrack
• "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want" (2009) on (500) Days of Summer soundtrack

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Zooey Deschanel

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Zooey Deschanel

• Zooey Deschanel at the Internet Movie Database