Zooey Claire Deschanel is an American actress and musician. She made her film debut in Mumford (1999) and had a supporting role in Cameron Crowe's film Almost Famous (2000). Deschanel is known for her deadpan roles in comedy films such as The Good Girl (2002), The New Guy (2002), Elf (2003), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), Failure to Launch (2006), Yes Man (2008), The Happening (2008), 500 Days of Summer (2009) and Our Idiot Brother (2011). She has also ventured into dramatic film territory with Manic (2001), All the Real Girls (2003), Winter Passing (2005), Bridge to Terabithia (2007) and The Driftless Area (2015). From 2011 to 2018, she starred as Jess Day on the Fox sitcom New Girl, for which she received nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and three Golden Globe Awards.
All the Real Girls is a 2003 American romantic drama film written and directed by David Gordon Green, and starring Paul Schneider, Zooey Deschanel, Shea Whigham and Patricia Clarkson. It is about the romance between a young, small-town womanizer and his best friend's sexually inexperienced younger sister. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2003. It was well-received by critics and was nominated for several film festival awards, with Green winning a Special Jury Prize at Sundance.
The Gate is a 1987 supernatural horror film directed by Tibor Takács and starring Stephen Dorff in his film debut. The film follows two young boys who accidentally release a horde of demons from their backyard through a large hole in the ground.
Sahara is a 2005 American action-adventure film directed by Breck Eisner based on the best-selling 1992 novel of the same name by Clive Cussler. It stars Matthew McConaughey, Steve Zahn and Penélope Cruz, and follows a treasure hunter who partners with a WHO doctor to find a lost American Civil War Ironclad warship in the Sahara Desert.
Idlewild is a 2006 American musical drama film written and directed by Bryan Barber. The film stars André 3000 and Big Boi of the hip hop duo Outkast, and the film features musical numbers that were written, produced and chiefly performed by the group. Idlewild contrasts the group's hip-hop, funk, and soul sound against a story based on a juke joint in the fictional Depression-era town of Idlewild, Georgia in 1935.
The New Guy is a 2002 American teen comedy film directed by Ed Decter, written by David Kendall and starring DJ Qualls and Eliza Dushku.
Abandon is a 2002 American psychological thriller drama film written and directed by Stephen Gaghan in his directorial debut. It stars Katie Holmes as a college student whose boyfriend disappeared two years previously. Despite being set at an American university, much of the movie was filmed in Canada at McGill University's McConnell Hall. It is based on the book Adams Fall by Sean Desmond. The book was re-titled Abandon for the movie tie-in paperback printing. The film co-stars Zooey Deschanel, Gabrielle Union and Melanie Lynskey, with Benjamin Bratt playing the detective investigating the boyfriend's disappearance. It received generally negative reviews.
Winter Passing is a 2005 American comedy-drama film directed by playwright Adam Rapp and starring Ed Harris, Zooey Deschanel, Will Ferrell, Amelia Warner, Amy Madigan, and Dallas Roberts. Rapp's directorial debut, the film premiered at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival to mixed reviews and received a limited theatrical release in February 2006. The film was not released in the United Kingdom until 2013, when it was released under the new title Happy Endings.
The Go-Getter is a 2007 American independent road film directed and written by Martin Hynes. The film stars Lou Taylor Pucci, Zooey Deschanel, and Jena Malone. In the film, 19-year-old Mercer (Pucci) steals a stranger's car to embark on a road trip to find his estranged brother and tell him that their mother has died. He communicates with the car's owner, Kate (Deschanel), via her cell phone while he travels.
She & Him is an American musical duo consisting of Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward. It was formed in 2006 in Portland, Oregon. Their first album, Volume One, was released on Merge Records on March 18, 2008.
I Love You, Man is a 2009 American bromantic comedy film written and directed by John Hamburg, based on a script by Larry Levin. The film stars Paul Rudd as a friendless man looking for a best man for his upcoming wedding. However, his new best friend is straining his relationship with his bride.
(500) Days of Summer is a 2009 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Marc Webb from a screenplay written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, and produced by Mark Waters. The film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel and employs a nonlinear narrative structure, with the story based upon its male protagonist and his memories of a failed relationship.
Yes Man is a 2008 American romantic comedy film directed by Peyton Reed, written by Nicholas Stoller, Jarrad Paul, and Andrew Mogel and starring Jim Carrey and co-starring Zooey Deschanel. The film is based loosely on the 2005 memoir of the same name by humorist Danny Wallace, who also makes a cameo appearance in the film.
Gigantic is a 2008 independent comedy film directed by Matt Aselton and starring Paul Dano, Zooey Deschanel, John Goodman, Edward Asner and Jane Alexander. The script, written by Aselton and his college friend Adam Nagata, tells of Brian (Dano), a mattress salesman who wishes to adopt a baby from China, but finds himself sharing his passion with the quirky, wealthy Harriet (Deschanel) when they meet in his store. The story was based on Aselton's childhood wish for his parents to adopt a Chinese baby. The film was shot in New York and Connecticut. It had its world premiere at 2008's Toronto International Film Festival and was released in the United States on April 3, 2009.
Winnie the Pooh is a 2011 American animated musical comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is based on the book series of the same name written by A. A. Milne and illustrated by E. H. Shepard. The film is a revival of Disney's Winnie the Pooh franchise and the fifth theatrical Winnie the Pooh film released, and the second in the Disney Animated Canon. It was directed by Stephen Anderson and Don Hall, and produced by Peter Del Vecho and Clark Spencer, based on a story that Anderson and Hall conceived with Clio Chiang, Don Dougherty, Kendelle Hoyer, Brian Kesinger, Nicole Mitchell, and Jeremy Spears.
"Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?" is the debut single by American duo She & Him, released on November 17, 2008 by Double Six Recordings from their first album, Volume One. The song was written by Zooey Deschanel and produced by M. Ward.
New Girl is an American television sitcom created by Elizabeth Meriwether and produced by 20th Century Fox Television for Fox that originally aired from September 20, 2011, to May 15, 2018. The series revolves around a kooky teacher, Jess Day, after she moves into a Los Angeles loft with three men, Nick Miller, Schmidt, and Winston Bishop ; their former roommate Coach, Jess's best friend Cece Parekh and Cece’s friend and pharmaceutical rep, Reagan Lucas are also part of the series. The show combines comedy and drama elements as the characters, who are in their late 20s and early 30s, deal with relationship issues and career choices. New Girl is a joint production between Elizabeth Meriwether Pictures and 20th Century Fox Television and is syndicated by 20th Television.
Dallas Buyers Club is a 2013 American biographical drama film written by Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack, and directed by Jean-Marc Vallée. The film tells the story of Ron Woodroof, a cowboy diagnosed with AIDS in the mid-1980s, a time when both the etiology and the treatment of HIV/AIDS are poorly understood and its sufferers subject to stigmatization. As part of an ongoing experimental AIDS treatment movement, Woodroof smuggles unapproved pharmaceutical drugs into Texas to treat his symptoms. Here, he distributes them to fellow people with AIDS by establishing the "Dallas Buyers Club", all the while facing opposition from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Two fictional supporting characters, Dr. Eve Saks, and Rayon, were composite roles created from interviews with transgender AIDS patients, activists, and doctors. Presidential biographer and PEN-USA winner Bill Minutaglio wrote the first magazine profile of the Dallas Buyers Club in 1992. The article, which featured interviews with Woodroof and also recreated his dramatic international exploits, attracted widespread attention from filmmakers and journalists.
The Driftless Area is a 2015 Canadian-American neo-noir dramedy film directed by Zachary Sluser and starring Anton Yelchin, Zooey Deschanel, and John Hawkes. Alia Shawkat, Aubrey Plaza, Frank Langella, and Ciarán Hinds also appear in supporting roles. The film is based on the 2006 novel of the same title by Tom Drury, who co-wrote the screenplay with Sluser.
