Despite being widely known in the early 2000s as an actress often typecast into playing a “manic pixie dream girl” trope, Zooey Deschanel was somehow able to conquer the hearts of many viewers almost immediately. All the actress had to do was show up on the screen and smile. Then boom — instant fan-favorite! Her insane charisma made it impossible for anyone to be indifferent about this geeky actress after the release of her hit comedy series “New Girl.”
Zooey’s debut was in 1999, where the 19-year-old girl played a cameo role in Lawrence Kasdan’s comedy “Dr. Mumford.” Next came a small role in a music video “She’s Got Issues” by The Offspring, as well as a few other unremarkable roles in 2002 movies like “Big Trouble,” “Tough Guy,” “Good Girl,” “Abandoned,” and more.
Later that year, The New York Times named Zooey one of Hollywood’s most wanted young stars for her dazzling performance as a manic pixie dream girl, which was 100% justified. In the following years, Zooey appeared in such comedies as “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” “Love and Other Troubles,” “Live Free or Die,” “Yes Man,” and “Your Highness.” However, without a doubt, the most memorable and impactful work in Zooey Deschanel’s career was the role of Jessica Day — an optimistic and slightly naive school teacher who moves into a new apartment with three guys in the TV series “New Girl.”
The show premiered in 2011 and ended in 2018 after seven delightful and heartfelt seasons. “New Girl” was a huge hit with viewers and received numerous awards, including a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress for Zooey and a TV Critics’ Choice Award. And that’s not even mentioning how funny it was!
In addition to her acting career, Deschanel is also known to have a voice of an angel, if angels sounded like rusty old door hinges. We’re not judging here, she’s amazing, but her voice is very hit-or-miss. Either way, you can hear her sing songs on the screen more than once, like in Tough Guy, Elf, and of course, the Trolls. She also wrote and performed the theme song for “New Girl.”
So what has Zooey been up to these past few years? Mostly she focused on her family, placing the acting career on the backburner. She married Jacob Pechenik in 2015, and soon after, they were already proud parents babysitting two lovely kids Elsie Otter and Charlie Wolf. Sadly their happy family didn’t last long, as in 2018, the couple got divorced, leaving the children with mommy. Not much is known beyond that, other than Zooey trying to dabble in some “healthy food” business with her app called Merryfield, which helps you pick better food and get bonus points or whatever. A mom, an actress, a singer, and now a business lady — is there anything Zooey Deschanel can’t do?
