Movieline

Zooey Deschanel

The 19 year old actress with the funny boy's name identifies more with Franny.

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THE NAME: She's the 19-year-old daughter of Oscar-nominated cinematographer Caleb Deschanel (The Right Stuff, The Natural), which explains the surname. As for the first name, "I was named after J.D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey. I waited until last year to read it because I was afraid I wouldn't like it. I loved it! Although Zooey is a boy and I think I'm more like Franny."

THE HEAT: She has her first film role in writer/director Lawrence Kasdan's Mumford, which is about a small-town psychologist. "I play a pro bono patient. I'm 15, quite depressed and I'm acting out." Before that film even hit the screen, Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire) cast her in his highly touted, still-untitled '70s rock film ("No bell-bottoms. I'm all in miniskirts. Gotta work out for the next five weeks").

ON HAVING A FAMOUS CINEMATOGRAPHER FOR A DAD: "He takes a lot of pictures of my sister and me, but he always seems to pick the most inopportune times, like right when we wake up and we're at the breakfast table in our pajamas."

HIDDEN TALENTS: "I can do the Chipmunk voice, and impressions of Judy Garland, Debbie Reynolds and Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music. I could probably do the whole Von Trapp family."

CLAIM TO FAME AS A KID: "I made friends with the fish in the principal's office because I was there every day."

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Dennis Hensley