Zooey Deschanel - a portrait of the actor

Zooey Deschanel stars in the new Fox film “THE HAPPENING” together with fellow actor Mark Wahlberg.

Zooey Deschanel is a versatile young actress who was already awarded in 2003 as best actress for her role in ALL THE REAL GIRLS at the Mar Del Plata Film Festival.

Deschanel was born on the 17th of January 1980 in Los Angeles, California. She is the daughter of camera man Caleb Deschanel and actress Mary Joe Deschanel. Her quite unusual first name was taken from J.D. Salinger’s Novel “Franny & Zooey”.

Deschanel studied at the Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences in Santa Monica where she met Kate Hudson and Jake Gyllenhaal. On a regular basis she visited the Camp for Performing Arts in New York and studied at Northwestern University.

In the meantime Zooey Deschanel hasn’t become well known as actor and comedian but as well as a singer and song writer.

In 1998 her career started with the tv series “Veronica”. She debuted in a movie in Lawrence Kasdan’s comedy DR. MUMFORD. Movie roles in ALMOST FAMOUS, THE GOOD GIRL, ABANDON, HOUSE HUNTING, THE HITCHHIKERS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, LIVE FREE OR DIE and BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA followed. You could see Zooey Deschanel recently in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

Deschanel is a member of the comedy troup “If All The Stars Were Pretty Babies” and performs with them in Los Angeles.

Furthermore she is - together with M. Ward - part of the indy duo She & Him. In March 2008 the debut album of the duo “Volume One” was released.