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ZOOEY DESCHANEL BIOGRAPHY |
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Zooey Claire Deschanel (born 17 January 1980) is
an American actress.
Deschanel was born in Los Angeles, California, 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 and the remainder
of her ancestry is Irish American.] The name "Zooey" (pronounced
'zoh-ee') 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. Zooey
attended Northwestern University before dropping out to pursue
her acting career
Noted for her unconventional beauty and a chameleon-like ability
to change personas to suit a given role, Deschanel has steadily
expanded her Hollywood profile. After her film debut in Lawrence
Kasdan’s (1999) comedy Mumford, Deschanel drew attention with
eye-catching roles as Patrick Fugit’s hippie older sister in
Cameron Crowe’s acclaimed Almost Famous (2000) (a movie
featuring fellow Crossroads graduate Kate Hudson) and the gothy,
disaffected drugstore make-up clerk in the Jennifer Aniston film
The Good Girl (2002). She won high praise for her sensitive,
naturalistic portrayal of an innocent, self-assured, sexually
curious 18-year-old virgin who has a life-changing romance with
an aimless 22-year-old man (Paul Schneider) in David Gordon
Green’s acclaimed cult film All the Real Girls (2003); Deschanel
was voted Best Actress at the Mar del Plata Film Festival and
nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. More recently, she
played a department store elf opposite Will Ferrell in the
popular Christmas comedy Elf (2003), starred as Trillian in the
movie adaptation of Douglas Adams's science fiction series The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), and appeared as Sarah
Jessica Parker's neurotic roommate in Failure to Launch (2006).
Deschanel has appeared on the talk show circuit (including Jay
Leno and David Letterman) and presented film industry awards.
Her TV portfolio also includes Frasier and various MTV clips
including The Offspring's video "She's Got Issues".
She appears with fellow actress Samantha Shelton in a cabaret
act named If All the Stars Were Pretty Babies. She has performed
vocally in several of her films (Elf, Once Upon a Mattress, The
New Guy, Winter Passing) and her composition "Bittersuite" was
used thematically in Winter Passing in which she starred along
with Ed Harris, Will Ferrel and Amelia Warner. She is slated to
portray Liza Minnelli in the upcoming bio-pic Simply Halston
joining Brendan Fraser who is cast in the title role.
Deschanel is a huge fan of singer Ella Fitzgerald and actress
Parker Posey. One of her favourite songs is "Don't Stop
Believin'" by Journey. |
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