Zooey Deschanel might shine in every movie she makes, but she’s got no interest in acting like a star.

Story by Jack Erwin; Photography by Kenneth Cappello; Styling by Jewels

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By pedigree, Zooey Deschanel is about as Hollywood as they come. Her dad’s a five-time Academy Award–nominated cinematographer, her mom’s an actress, and her sister is Emily Deschanel, the star of the Fox crime drama Bones.¹ When she was 19, Zooey dropped out of Northwestern University after seven months to work on 2000’s Almost Famous, her second movie role, and hasn’t looked back, acting in an average of three films a year since. She’s even got the requisite inside-Hollywood dating past.²

By temperament, though, Zooey’s about as far from Hollywood as you can get. She lives with said sis, doesn’t have a DUI or even a Klonopin bust (that we know of), and has yet to be photographed without her underwear (though our lens cap is always open). Her movie choices reflect a quirky and open-minded, if demure, sensibility: In 2003 she filmed a (totally chaste, thank God) shower scene with Will Ferrell in Elf and played a (regrettably chaste) small-town virgin in the indie fave All the Real Girls.³ Perhaps most anti-Hollywood of all, she released a rock album that a) was critically acclaimed, and b) didn’t feature a single Tom Waits cover or Scott Storch– or J.R. Rotem–produced track.⁴

So while outsiders might see her ascension to big-budget leading-lady status in 2008’s The Happening and Yes Man as some sort of Hollywood destiny, to Zooey it’s just the next thing to do. If you have to, tag her Hollywood’s indie–blockbuster–cult fave or whatever else the pigeonholers come up with. Just don’t tag her It.

First off, I’ve noticed a slight Southern accent slips out when you speak sometimes. Where does that come from?

Zooey Deschanel: [Laughs.] All my life people have thought I’m from every place that I’m not from. I’m from Southern California, and it has a weird accent that I had to get rid of. [Adopts robotic voice.] People talk like this where I’m from, and I was like, I am not going to talk like that.

Wise choice.

Zooey Deschanel: I don’t know where it comes from. We moved all over the place when I was forming my speech.

So between the album and a couple of big movies, 2008’s been a pretty busy year for you.

Zooey Deschanel: Yeah, I worked a year and a half straight without a day off.

Any New Year’s resolutions for 2009?

Zooey Deschanel: You’re talking to somebody who doesn’t make New Year’s resolutions.

Really? Never?!

Zooey Deschanel: Well, I stopped biting my nails.

That’s good. When did you do that?

Zooey Deschanel: That’s really good! I did it last year, but it wasn’t a New Year’s resolution. I’m kind of making resolutions all year long.

And how often are those successful?

Zooey Deschanel: Most of the time!

Damn, you should get an infomercial or something.

Zooey Deschanel: I’m not saying I’m conceited, but I’m that kind of person. If you say “don’t do this”—well, not you—but if I were to resolve to do something, I’d do it.

Which is why you’re successful and I cry myself to sleep. With your top-billed roles in The Happening and now Yes Man, people are looking at 2009 as the year you’re going “big” Hollywood.

Zooey Deschanel: [Laughs.]

I take it you’ve been hearing that a lot lately.

Zooey Deschanel: I’ve been an actress for so long that I’ve heard so many people say that so many times: “You’re this year’s It Girl!” And I’m like, “You said that to me in 2001 and 2004,” you know what I mean? You go in and out of style; I’ve had years where it’s definitely like I’m not that cool this year.

You don’t buy into the hype?

Zooey Deschanel: My philosophy is that art should be as pure as possible, and as much as there is a separate component of audience reaction, whatever creative things I do should be unaffected. I don’t ever want to do something in anticipation of someone. The more you guess what people are going to like and dislike, to me, that is corrupting the product. Home // GIRLS // COVER GIRLS // ZOOEY DESCHANEL