Zooey Deschanel | New Girl

Zooey Claire Deschanel is an actress, model, guitarist, and singer-songwriter who was born on January 17, 1980, in Los Angeles, California. She is the daughter of cinematographer and producer, Caleb Deschanel, and Mary Jo Deschanel, who is also an actress. Deschanel went to Crossroads, a prestigious Santa Monica preparatory academy, where she met future co-stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Kate Hudson. She planned to seek a career in musical theatre and attended the French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts during high school. She was enrolled at Northwestern University to complete her degree, but she dropped out after nine months to pursue acting.

In 1998, Deschanel made her TV debut in the sitcom Veronica’s Closet. Later, she played DG in the science fiction reimagining of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Tin Man. The miniseries had a first-night audience of more than 6.3 million viewers, making it the highest-rated cable miniseries of 2007. She then got a major role in the Fox comedy New Girl in 2011. She was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award for her role as goofy schoolteacher Jessica Day, and she won the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series.