Zooey Deschanel was born in Los Angeles, CA and is the youngest daughter of cinematographer and director Caleb Deschanel and actress Mary Jo Deschanel. She is mostly French but Swiss, Dutch, English and Irish. Her sister is actress Emily Deschanel, who stars in the Fox crime comedy-drama series Bones.Zooey got her start in the movie "Almost Famous" where she played Anita Miller, the rebellious older sister of a teenage journalist. It did poorly at the box office but received critical acclaim. The critics thought Zooey's performance was "spontaneous".
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From 2002 - 2007, Zooey appeared in a number of films including Big Trouble, with Tim Allen and Rene Russo and The Good Girl, starring Jennifer Aniston and Jake Gyllenhaal. She was also in a number of lesser known films. She started turning down a number of roles because she was worried about being typecast as "someone's best friend". In 2003, Zooey made her leading debut in "All the Real Girls" as Noel, a sexually curious 18-year-old virgin who has a life-changing romance with someone. Later in 2003, Deschanel co-starred opposite Will Ferrell in the Christmas comedy Elf, which of course was a very successful film.
From 2004 to 2006, Zooey starred in everything from "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" to "Failure to Launch". Not blockbusters by any stretch but successful nonetheless. Beginning in 2007, Zooey started starring in bigger films like "Bridge to Tarabitha" and "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford". She was also in the SyFy channel's "Tin Man", a sci-fi version of "The Wizard of Oz". That's where I first came across Zooey.
Since 2007, she has starred in some well-known films and some not-so-well-known films. Her latest film was "Trolls" in 2016, an animated comedy. Zooey also has a very extensive music background and has sung in a number of movies as well as quite a few albums.
Zooey resides in LA and was married to Jacob Pechenik in 2015. She has a prior marriage and was divorced in 2012. She has 2 children, a daughter and a son.
Last Modified: Mar 8, 2020
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