Zooey Deschanel

Actress and singer Zooey Deschanel has appeared in a range of independent and mainstream films, including Almost Famous, All the Real Girls, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Elf. She is the daughter of cinematographer Caleb Deschanel (The Passion of the Christ) and actress Mary Jo Deschanel (Twin Peaks).

inTouch Weekly reported on December 29, 2008, that Deschanel and Hunter Burgan were engaged.inTouch: Zooey Deschanel gets engaged! (December 29, 2008) Later in the day the website PerezHilton.com and People magazine printed the actress was actually engaged to Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard.People: Zooey Deschanel Is Engaged! (December 29, 2008)

Deschanel performs with singer-songwriter M. Ward as She & Him, and also as part of the jazz cabaret act If All the Stars Were Pretty Babies. She frequently sings in her film roles as well. She and Will Ferrell sang "Baby It's Cold Outside" together in Elf, and she reprised the song on the soundtrack with Leon Redbone. In 2007's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Deschanel recreated a mid-19th Century cabaret performance. She trained for several months to portray Janis Joplin in a biopic to be filmed by Wayne's World director Penelope Spheeris, but the project fell through.

• Note: The majority of the links in this timeline are to IMDb, which has pop-ups.

• Born: January 17, 1980

• 2000: Almost Famous

• 2002: The New Guy

• 2003: Elf

• 2005: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

• 2006: Failure to Lanch

• 2006: Weeds

• 2007: Bridge to Terabithia

• 2007: Raving

• 2007: Surf's Up

• 2007: Tin Man

• 2008: Gospel According to Janis

• 2008: Yes Man

• 2009: "500 Days of Summer"

• Stereogum: New M. Ward (Ft. Zooey Deschanel) "Never Had Nobody Like You" (January 15, 2009)

1. YouTube Video

• PerezHilton: Deschanel's Fiance Really Death Cab Frontman (December 29, 2008)
• Just Jared: Zooey Deschanel Engaged! (December 29, 2008)
• Hollywood Gossip: Engaged to Hunter Burgan! (December 29, 2008)
• Cinematical: Zooey Deschanel Posts
• Technorati: Zooey Deschanel Posts
• A Socialite's Life: Zooey Deschanel Posts
• Team Sugar: Zooey Deschanel Posts
• Spinner.com: M. Ward & Zooey Deschanel Make Beautiful Music Together (January 9, 2008)