Overview (3)

Mini Bio (1)

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

Spouse (1)

Trivia (30)



Older sister of Zooey Deschanel

Graduated from Boston University's professional actors training program with a B.F.A. in Theatre.





Is good friends with Melanie Lynskey and Jorja Fox ; both are supporters of PETA and the Humane Society.

Lives in both Los Angeles and New York.



Interview magazine named her one of "6 Actors to Watch" in their annual "Young Hollywood" issue. [October 2004]



Her paternal grandfather was French. Her ancestry also includes English, German, Irish, Northern Irish (Scots-Irish), other French roots, Swiss, and Dutch.





Was bridesmaid at wedding of best friend Melanie Lynskey to Jimmi Simpson (14 April 2007).

While attending Boston University, she lived on Hooker Street in Brighton, which she calls a "cool neighborhood.".





She attended Boston University with fellow actress Ginnifer Goodwin

She studied theatre at Boston University's College of Fine Arts.





She is a member on the advisory board of the Adrienne Shelly Foundation, which supports female actors, writers, and directors in honor of the late filmmaker.



She owns a duplex and lives with her sister, Zooey Deschanel

She owned a dog, a female Wheaten terrier, who now lives with her ex-boyfriend.





She is real-life best friends with Michaela Conlin who plays Angela Montenegro, her best friend on their show 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.





When she was young, her father Caleb Deschanel used to film her and her sister Zooey Deschanel all the time. While Zooey loved being in front of the cameras, Emily hated it.

Is a progressive Democrat.





Good friends with David Boreanaz



(September 25, 2010) Married her boyfriend of 3 years David Hornsby in a small private ceremony in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. Her younger sister Zooey Deschanel was her maid of honor.



Has two sons with her husband David Hornsby - Henry Lamar Hornsby (b. September 21, 2011) and Calvin Hornsby (b. June 8, 2015).



Her son Henry was born two weeks prematurely - on her father Caleb Deschanel 's 67th birthday.



Was pregnant with her second son at the same time that her younger sister Zooey Deschanel was pregnant with her daughter. Emily gave birth to her son Calvin a month before Zooey had her daughter Elsie.



Her Bones (2005)' character Dr. Temperance Brennan named her second child Hank (nickname for Henry). Emily's real life son name is also Henry.



Both her pregnancies were written into Bones (2005).

Jaime Bergman.

She uses and supports the company Chrome Girl nails David Boreanaz

In September 2014, she joined the board of directors of Farm Sanctuary.



Personal Quotes (11)



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.



I'm definitely a people person. I love socializing and being around people and having a good conversation.





[about the relationship with David Boreanaz ] We have open communication, which is something we've had from beginning. Like he said, we just tell each other if we're in a mood or if the other one is annoying you or something. [laughter] We accept that we're not perfect. I think one thing, too, is that we both know how important this relationship is -- both on-screen and off -- and how important it is for us to get along together on-screen and off. We both have a commandment to the show. Like David said, for six seasons we would meet on every weekend and work on stuff together. Now, we do stuff on our own. Our families have expanded and lives have changed, but we have that foundation. We're really committed to making the show as good as it can be, and part of that is getting along on-screen and off, like I said. David's a really fun guy to work with. He's not like a dark person. He can play that -- he can do deep, serious stuff -- but we both believe in having a good time. We're not doing brain surgery here. We're not curing cancer. We're entertaining people. We absolutely can have fun while we're doing that and have fun together and with everybody else on our crew and cast. I'm really lucky that David is such a fun person to work with -- and a great guy.



[about wedding in Bones (2005) Booth and Bones and her husband's role as a priest in the Bones (2005)] I have two major Davids ( David Boreanaz )and David Hornsby ) in my life, and I married both of them.



[on relationships with David Boreanaz during her directing] He's so supportive of me. He's the first person to say how much he supported me directing and he's been really lovely that way. I really have a great partner. I think it'll be great. He'll give me a hard time, but I wouldn't expect anything less of him.



[about friendship with David Boreanaz ]There are times where we can't stand each other. But our friendship is strong, and we don't have a problem telling each other when things aren't going well. Our friendship is based on honesty.