- Born
- Birth nameEmily Erin Deschanel
- Height5′ 8″ (1.73 m)
- Emily Erin Deschanel (born October 11, 1976) is an American actress and producer. She is best known for starring in the Fox crime procedural comedy-drama series Bones as Dr. Temperance Brennan since 2005.
Deschanel was born in Los Angeles, California, to cinematographer and director Caleb Deschanel and actress Mary Jo Deschanel (née Weir). Her younger sister is actress and singer-songwriter Zooey Deschanel. Her paternal grandfather was French, from Oullins, Rhône; her ancestry also includes Swiss, Dutch, English, Irish, and other French roots.
Deschanel attended Harvard-Westlake and Crossroads School in Los Angeles before graduating from Boston University's Professional Actors Training Program with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater.
In 1994, Deschanel made her feature film debut in It Could Happen to You. Her next notable role was in Stephen King's Rose Red in 2002. Then she appeared in Cold Mountain, The Alamo, and Glory Road and was named one of "six actresses to watch" by Interview Magazine in 2004.
In 2005, Deschanel won the role of Dr. Temperance Brennan with David Boreanaz as FBI agent Seeley Booth on the Fox crime procedural comedy-drama Bones, based on the novels and the career of forensic anthropologist and author Kathy Reichs that premiered on September 13, 2005. For her performance, she received a 2006 Satellite Award nomination and a 2007 Teen Choice Award nomination. Deschanel and Boreanaz served as co-producers at the start of the show's third season, before becoming producers in the middle of the show's fourth season.
Deschanel, with Alyson Hannigan, Jaime King, Minka Kelly, and Katharine McPhee made a video slumber party featured on FunnyorDie.com to promote regular breast cancer screenings for the organization Stand Up 2 Cancer. In recent years, her passion for animal welfare has led her to providing the narration for My Child Is a Monkey and serving as an associate producer on the documentary film How I Became an Elephant. Deschanel ranked number 72 in The 2012 Hot 100 on AfterEllen.
Deschanel is a vegan and a committed supporter of animal rights causes. She can be seen in an Access Hollywood video at the book launch event of Karen Dawn's Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way We Treat Animals, discussing how vegetarian and vegan diets help the environment, and a video on the homepage of the book's website talking about the importance of animal rights. She collaborated with PETA on a video encouraging mothers to raise their children as vegans. In September 2014, she joined the board of directors at Farm Sanctuary.
Deschanel was raised Roman Catholic, but is no longer practicing, and has expressed agnostic views, saying "I am more of a spiritual person, if anything, and I am of the belief that we don't know, and I'm not going to pretend that I do."
On September 25, 2010, Deschanel married It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia actor and writer David Hornsby in a small private ceremony in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. On September 21, 2011, Deschanel gave birth to their son Henry Lamar Hornsby. On June 8, 2015, she gave birth to their second son, Calvin.
Deschanel is best friends with her Bones co-star Michaela Conlin, who plays her best friend Angela Montenegro on the show; she is also friends with her Bones co-star David Boreanaz with whom she has a strong working relationship.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Akram Braham
- SpouseDavid Hornsby(September 25, 2010 - present) (2 children)
- ChildrenHenry Lamar HornsbyCalvin Hornsby
- Parents
- RelativesZooey Deschanel(Sibling)Elsie Otter Pechenik(Niece or Nephew)Charlie Wolf Pechenik(Niece or Nephew)
- She is real-life best friends with Michaela Conlin who plays Angela Montenegro, her best friend on their show Bones (2005).
- She owns a duplex and lives with her sister, Zooey Deschanel.
- Both her pregnancies were written into Bones (2005).
- She gave co-star David Boreanaz a belt buckle saying "The Man" with an arrow pointing up and "The Legend" with an arrow point down as a birthday gift.
- Emily grew up in Italy, Canada, France, Yugoslavia, England, and South Africa.
- I was in school with Ginnifer Goodwin; she's a couple of years younger than I am. She's super-sweet. She told me I gave her a pep talk once, even though I can't remember it. And Michael Chiklis - I love The Shield (2002) - he's so good. When I was in school, he came to speak to us about acting and told this story about how he had "As You Like It" on his resume; and a casting director asked if it were a soap opera. The casting guy said, "ABC? NBC?" and Chiklis said, "No, Shakespeare". I'll never forget it.
- I'm a vegan, but you can be really unhealthy as a vegan, too. Vegan just means that you don't use animal products, so you don't wear leather, you don't wear wool, and you don't eat animal products. But you can eat french fries and stuff like that all day long.
- (On similarities between her and her sister) We both tend not to pay much attention to what's socially acceptable, and we like to do crazy stuff. We both love to dance and will dance whenever, wherever, whether there's music playing or not. My whole family is very sarcastic and constantly making jokes.
- Everything I know about makeup, I've learned from my sister.
- (discussing her food as a child) No sugar cereal. Hot dogs with no nitrates. We weren't allowed to have McDonald's. When the babysitter came, we could have Kraft macaroni and cheese.
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