We wrote about the career and private life of Zooey Deschanel, who spent her childhood on film sets thanks to her director father, who was trained in this direction and became interested in acting, as well as attracting attention with her voice.
Her full name is Zooey Claire Deschanel, she was born on January 17, 1980 in Los Angeles, California. She was born the younger daughter of her father, cinematographer and director Caleb Deschanel, and her mother, actress Mary Jo Weir Deschanel. Deschanel has French, Swiss, Dutch, English, Irish and other French roots. It was named after 'Zooey Glass', the male protagonist of J.D. Salinger's short novel 'Franny and Zooey'. Fox has an actress sister named Emily Deschanel. Based in Los Angeles, Deschanel spent much of her childhood traveling as her father shot locations for movies.
Educated at Crossroads, a private prep school in Santa Monica, Deschanel sang throughout her high school life and planned to pursue a career in musical theatre. Later she participated in the French Woods Performing Arts Festival. Continuing her education at Northwestern University, Deschnael dropped out after nine months to pursue acting.
In 1998, Deschanel made a guest appearance on the television sitcom "Veronica's Closet". She made her film debut with Hope Davis, Jason Lee, Alfre Woodard, and Mary McDonnell in "Mumford" (1999), a comedy-drama film about neurotic residents of a small town written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan. That same year, she appeared in the music video for the rock band The Offspring song "She She's Got Issues", which premiered on September 27, 1999. In addition, Deschanel was a member of the jury at the ninth Independent Music Awards.
Later, Deschanel starred in "Almost Famous" (2000), a semi-autobiographical comedy-drama film written and directed by Cameron Crowe, in which she plays Anita Miller, the rebellious older sister of a young journalist. Despite a modest box office success, the film garnered critical acclaim and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Picture – Musical or Comedy. The following year, Deschanel co-starred with Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the independent drama "Manic"(2001) as the love interest of a troubled teenager. In 2001, Deschanel and her friend Samantha Shelton formed "If All the Stars Were Pretty Babies", a jazz cabaret show.
In 2002, she appeared with Tim Allen and Rene Russo in the surreal comedy "Big Trouble" based on a novel. She then starred as a guitarist in a band in the teen comedy movie "The New Guy" directed by Ed Decter. The film, which was met with generally negative reviews, enjoyed moderate commercial success at the box office. Later that year, she appeared in the comedy-drama film "The Good Girl" directed by Miguel Arteta, with Jennifer Aniston and Jake Gyllenhaal. The film, which was generally well received by the critics, also achieved modest box office success. Her last movie of the year was the role of a woman's roommate who is involved in her boyfriend's disappearance in the psychological thriller "Abandon," adapted from a book and directed by Stephen Gaghan. The New York Times magazine called Deschanel "one of the most sought after young stars in Hollywood" in 2002.
She made her lead role in the independent drama film "All the Real Girls" (2003), with Paul Schneider, Shea Whigham, and Patricia Clarkson. The film, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, was an art house success and was met with disapproval from critics. Deschanel received critical acclaim for her performance and earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Actress. Also in 2003, she played the love interest of a cold-blooded store clerk and a man raised by Santa's elves, alongside Will Ferrell in the Christmas comedy "Elf." Critics gave it generally positive reviews and the film was a success, grossing almost seven times its production budget.
The following year, Deschanel appeared in the comedy-drama film "Eulogy." In 2005, she played Trillian in the comedy "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" based on the science fiction novel by Douglas Adams. The film, which received positive reviews from critics, also achieved moderate success at the box office. In the same year came the comedy-drama film "Winter Passing" (2005), in which she co-starred with Will Ferrell. In 2005, Deschanel modeled for luxury fashion house Chanel and fashion house Clements Ribeiro, and in 2010 she signed on to represent cosmetics brand Rimmel.
Deschanel later appeared as the neurotic roommate of Sarah Jessica Parker's character in the romantic movie "Failure to Launch" (2006). She also had a recurring role as Kat in four episodes of the Showtime television series "Weeds" from 2006 to 2007.
In 2007, she starred in the fantasy drama "Bridge to Terabithia", in which she plays an interesting music teacher. The film, which was met with positive reviews after its release, was a huge box office success and won five awards for which it was nominated. She then appeared in the animated movie "Surf's Up", in which he voiced a penguin. The film, which received generally positive reviews, was also a healthy financial gain at the box office. She later starred as Dorothy Evans in the epic revisionist western "The Assassination of the Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford". That same year, she starred with Aaron Stanford in the B-comedy "Flakes," which was released in only one theater.
Later that year, Deschanel appeared as 'DG' in the Syfy mini-TV series "Tin Man", a reimagined science fiction version of the children's novel. She also described the children's book "Players in Pigtails" and voiced Cletus' daughter Mary in three episodes of the animated sitcom "The Simpsons". In March 2007, Deschanel contributed vocals to two singles "Slowly" and "Ask Her to Dance" from Jason Schwartzman's band Coconut Records' 'Nighttiming' album.
The following year, they co-starred with Mark Wahlberg in the thriller "The Happening" (2008), directed by M. Night Shyamalan, as a couple trying to escape an unexplained natural disaster. The film, which received largely negative reviews, nevertheless garnered praise for the performances of Wahlberg and Deschanel and was a box office success. She then appeared in Matt Aselton's independent comedy "Gigantic" (2008), which screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and was distributed for a limited release only in certain regions of the United States.
Later that year, she starred in the romantic comedy "Yes Man" (2008) as an unorthodox singer and the girlfriend of Jim Carrey's character. Despite mixed reviews, the film was a success, grossing US$223.1 million worldwide. Together with Deschanel and M.Ward, their debut album titled "She & Him" and titled "Volume One" was announced by Merge Records on March 18, 2008. The album, which received a strong response from critics, was named the No. 1 Album of 2008 by Paste magazine.
The following year, Deschanel co-starred with Joseph Gordon-Levitt in "(500) Days of Summer" (2009), an independent romantic drama about the development and ending of a relationship. While the film was critically acclaimed, it grossed over $60 million worldwide at the box office and became a "sleeper hit". In December 2009, they guest-starred in the Christmas episode of the Fox crime comedy-drama TV series "Bones", which was Deschanel's first on-screen pairing with her brother. On March 23, 2010, her second album "Volume Two" with M.Ward was released.
Deschanel appeared in the comedy-drama film "Our Idiot Brother"(2011) as the independent and bisexual sister of a dumb but idealistic man (played by Paul Rudd). The movie received generally positive reviews. She then played Belladonna in the rock-hard fantasy comedy "Your Majesty"(2011), starring alongside Danny McBride, Natalie Portman and James Franco. The film was a bombshell at the box office as well as receiving negative reviews.
She next starred in the Fox sitcom "New Girl," created by Elizabeth Meriwether, as Jessica "Jess" Day, a bubbly and unconventional teacher. She also served as a producer on the sitcom she. Her performance in the series, which premiered in September 2011, garnered critical acclaim and earned one Emmy Award nomination and three Golden Globe Award nominations. Their third album, "A Very She & Him Christmas", was announced on Pitchfork.com in September 2011 and released under Merge Records on October 25, 2011. "Volume 3", the next album from "She and Him", was announced by Merge Records in May 2013. The band's next studio album, "Classics," was released in December 2014 by Columbia Records as a cover of 13 classical songs recorded live with a 20-piece orchestra.
In 2015, she played the role of the Los Angeles singer who was taken to Afghanistan by her former manager, along with Bill Murray, in the comedy film "Rock the Kasbah" (2015), directed by Barry Levinson. That same year, she appeared as a mysterious woman in the neo-noir drama film "The Driftless Area" (2015), which screened at the Tribeca Film Festival and aired on video-on-demand and home media. The following year, she voiced the character Bridget, a kindhearted Bergen, in the animated family comedy "Trolls" (2016), which grossed US$344 million worldwide. "Christmas Party", the second Christmas album and sixth album of "She & Him", was also released in 2016.
In December 2020, Deschanel appeared in the music video for Katy Perry's single "Not the End of the World". In 2021, she hosted the ABC television series "The Celebrity Dating Game" with Michael Bolton. In January 2022, she began hosting "Welcome to Our Show", the "New Girl" rewatch podcast featuring Hannah Simone and Lamorne Morris and distributed by IHeartRadio.
Personal life
In December 2008, Deschanel got engaged to lead vocalist musician Ben Gibbard. The couple married on September 19, 2009 in Washington. Two years later, the couple announced their separation on November 1, 2011 and divorced on December 12, 2012. Later, she announced her engagement to filmmaker Jacob Pechenik in January 2015. The couple got married in June 2015. The couple has a daughter born in July 2015 and a son born in May 2017. In August 2019, Deschanel met Jonathan Scott while filming a series. In September 2019, Deschanel and Pechenik announced their separation and divorced on 1 June 2020. They remained apart during this time and Deschanel started dating Scott.
Deschanel, who is allergic to eggs, dairy and soy, used to be vegan. Deschanel sang in many movies in which she appeared. In addition to this, she also sang her own soundtracks for the movies. In May 2011, following the success of the "HelloGiggles" YouTube channel, Deschanel, along with producer Sophia Rossi and writer Molly McAleer, launched the women's entertainment website "HelloGiggles.com". The site was launched in 2015 by "Time,Inc." Bought by.