ZOOEY DESCHANEL

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

Contents

Biography

Early life

Career

Film

Television

Singing

Personal life

Filmography

References

External links

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 hence her typical French last name (meaning "from the channels" or "from the little jugs" depending of the patronymists; it is from the Ain region) and the remainder of her ancestry is Irish^[1]. Her sister revealed in a recent French interview that when they were little they spent lots of summers near Lyon, France where they still have family. ^[2] 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.
She attended the Crossroads School in Santa Monica California

Career

Film

She made her film debut in Lawrence Kasdan’s (1999) comedy ''Mumford''. Deschanel then appeared as Patrick Fugit’s rebellious older sister in Cameron Crowe's semi-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) followed after that. Her next starring role was in ''All the Real Girls'' (2003), as a sexually curious 18-year-old virgin who has a life-changing romance with an aimless 22-year-old man (Paul Schneider). For the role, Deschanel was voted Best Actress at the Mar del Plata Film Festival and also nominated for a 2004 Independent Spirit Award.^[3]
Deschanel played a department store elf opposite Will Ferrell in the comedy ''Elf'' (2003), and a lead role in the 2004 film ''Eulogy''. Later that year, she worked again with Ferrell, starring opposite Ed Harris in the dark, off-beat dramedy ''Winter Passing''. She also starred as Trillian "a rather nicely descended ape-person," in the movie adaptation of Douglas Adams's science fiction series ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (2005). Recently, she appeared as Sarah Jessica Parker's neurotic roommate in ''Failure to Launch'' (2006). She has also appeared as Ms. Edmunds in ''Bridge to Terabithia'' (2007). Deschanel was also costar to voice Lani Aliikai in the recent penguin hit ''Surf's Up'' (2007). Most recently, she has signed on to star opposite Mark Wahlberg in M. Night Shyamalan's ''The Happening'' (2008). ''Gospel According to Janis'', a biographical film starring Zooey as Janis Joplin was scheduled to begin shooting in early 2007, but was postponed indefinitely.

Television

Deschanel has appeared as a television actress on the programs ''Veronica's Closet'' and ''Frasier'' and in various music videos, including The Offspring's "She's Got Issues." She also appeared in a TV commercial for Gap clothing "Down on Khaki Street" in 2002^[4]. She has most recently been on Showtime's ''Weeds'', as Andy Botwin's quirky ex-girlfriend, Kat. She will play DG, the lead in the new Sci Fi Channel miniseries ''Tin Man'', a re-imagining of the ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz''.

Singing

Deschanel appears with fellow actress Samantha Shelton in the cabaret act ''If All the Stars Were Pretty Babies''. As well as performing vocally in several of her films, including ''Bridge to Terabithia'', ''Elf'', ''Once Upon a Mattress'', ''The New Guy'', and ''Winter Passing'', Deschanel has performed live with a number of musicians, including M. Ward and The Citizens Band ^[5] Her piano composition "Bittersuite" was used thematically in ''Winter Passing'', in which she starred. She has also recorded a version of the song "Hello Dolly" from the musical of the same name. Deschanel recently appeared on a Seattle radio talk show along with M.Ward to promote their upcoming album which is a mixture of country and rock and roll. While on the show Deschanel and Ward performed four songs ("You Really Got A Hold Of Me," "Change is Hard", "Magic Trick", and "Send it to Me"). In March 2007, Jason Schwartzman's band Coconut Records released an album titled ''Nighttiming'' which featured Zooey on two songs ("Slowly" and "Ask Her To Dance").

Personal life

A friend of actor Jason Schwartzman since childhood, she dated him for several years before breaking up in 2005. She also dated British actor Martin Freeman, playwright Jeff Smeenge, and Hunter Burgan, the bassist from AFI for a time. According to the June/July Issue of Jane Magazine she is currently in a long distance relationship with Richmond, Virginia-based singer / songwriter Brandon Peck, a romance that began shortly after she ceased dating cultural journalist Scott Indrisek.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Other notes
1999	''Mumford''	Nessa Watkins
2000	''Almost Famous''	Anita Miller
2001	''Manic''	Tracy
2002	''Abandon''	Samantha Harper
	''Sweet Friggin' Daisies''	Zelda
	''The New Guy''	Nora
	''Big Trouble''	Jenny Herk
	''The Good Girl''	Cheryl
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
2004	''Eulogy''	Kate Collins
2005	''Once Upon a Mattress''	Lady Larken
	''Winter Passing''	Reese Holden
	''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''	Tricia McMillan/Trillian
2006	''Failure to Launch''	Kit
	''Weeds''	Kat
	''Live Free or Die''	Cheryl
2007	''Bridge to Terabithia''	Miss Edmunds
	''Flakes''	Miss Pussy Katz	Post-production
	''Raving''	Katie	Short Film
	''The Good Life''	Frances
	''Surf's Up''	Lani
	''The Go-Getter''	Kate
	''The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford''	Dorothy Evans
2008	''Gospel According to Janis''	Janis Joplin	Pre-production
	''The Happening''	TBA	Pre-production
2009	''Once On This Island''	Mama Euralie	announced

References

1. http://www.fedge.net/~zdeschanel/articles/latimes-2-16-03.html
2. http://tv.dna.fr/jsp/magazine/magazine.jspx;jsessionid=6CEC42040B7D07D41C0C8AB3F94487A5.frt3_1?acId=7&arId=28414
3. Spirit Awards
4. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0221046/otherworks
5. Youtube video of Deschanel performing with M. Ward

External links

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