The daughter of cinematographer
Caleb Deschanel and actress Mary Jo Deschanel, Zooey Deschanel made her film debut as the conflicted, rebellious patient of a small-town psychologist in
Lawrence Kasdan's
Mumford (1999). Prior to her debut, Deschanel -- who spent much of her childhood on location with her parents -- acted in a number of stage productions and made her professional debut on an episode of the sitcom Veronica's Closet. A year after making her film debut in
Mumford, the young actress appeared in
Cameron Crowe's
Almost Famous as the sister of an aspiring rock journalist who becomes caught up in the parallel universe of '70s rock. After turning up in the Dogma 95-style
Manic in 2001, Deschanel would join the strong cast of director
Barry Sonnenfeld's long-delayed comedy
Big Trouble before re-teaming with that film's
D.J. Qualls for the loser-turned-smooth operator teen comedy
The New Guy in (2002). After following up with a role in the equally ill-recieved teen-thriller
Abandon the same year, Deschanel earned positive nods for her role as the virginal teen who falls for a reformed womanizer in critical darling
David Gordon Green's
All the Real Girls. Though her next few film roles remained relatively low-key, the latter half of 2003 found the emerging young actress appearing in both the independent black comedy
Eulogy and wide-release Will Ferrel family comedy
Elf.