Zooey Deschanel

Zooey: (On her greatest fear) I don't know what my greatest fear is. It's hard to say. I mean there's a lot of things out there that you say 'Oh God that'd be awful!' And somebody says that or something else. I'd have to agree that'd be awful. I don't think I have a greatest fear per se. There are definitely certain things that could create anxiety in me, if you wanted to. If you just felt like making me anxious, you could say all kinds of different things. What would make most people anxious? No, I try to not be too anxious because then you destroy the life that you have.

Zooey: (On horror movies) I'm more of a classic thriller/Hitchcock kind of gal myself. I don't watch a lot of new horror films, but I like The Ring. I haven't seen a horror movie since that. I'm not a genre-oriented person, I'm not like 'Oh I'm into this genre or that genre'. I like anything as long as it's well made and the acting's good and has an interesting thing it's saying, then I'm interested.

Zooey: (On Christmas in New York) It seems like New York's a really Christmasy place. People walk down the street and they act like they don't care but I think deep down inside, New Yorkers really care about Christmas. New York is way more Christmasy than LA. LA is like it's not cold, there's no gigantic Christmas tree, and no one is ice-skating. You have to drive to an indoor rink to go ice-skating.

Zooey: (On how she balances singing and acting as her career goes on) I just sort of follow my bliss, so to speak, and then I see where that takes me.

Zooey: (On her taste in music) My music taste is mostly stuff before 1975. I just find that, part of my attraction to it is I like a lot of old films, I like a lot old music, and a lot of it has to do with the fact that I like the idea of knowing what happens before, so that I can understand it. I feel like I can't fully understand what's happening now until I really understand what's happened before. But you do get sort of bogged down a little bit when you're trying to study so many years' worth of music. It can be a little bit overwhelming.

Zooey: I can't even remember the first time I started singing.

Zooey: (about her parents) They give me advice all the time. At first it was like, 'So now you've decided to be an actress, and I'm gonna give you this piece of advice.' But I don't have any tales; it's always sort of a collection of advice. It doesn't have any rules of thumb. They've encouraged my sister [Emily] and I do to what we love to do and do what we want to do, so that sort of started us off having a sense of 'Do this because you love it,' not 'Do this because you want to be famous.'

Zooey: (about co-star Will Ferrell in "Elf") He's great! He's a funny man. He's so nice, and actually he's totally unaware of his celebrity, which is funny.

Zooey: I wasn't really the most charming person, socially - it took me a long time to develop my people skills - but the one place I was always comfortable was onstage, acting or singing.

Zooey: I'm writing a script with a friend. We'll write for a while and then procrastinate for long periods of time - play chess, play pool, have some coffee.

Zooey: If I'm trying to please every craze fan, then I can't. Of course, we all want to please the fans.

Zooey: (On believing in Santa Claus and elves) I didn't think much about elves because I was trying to think about the man in charge, the one that was going to bring me presents. I believed in Santa Claus until I was like 14. I believed I'm more likely to get better presents no matter if there's a Santa Claus or not, if I say I believe in Santa Claus. Then if my parents think I do, then they'll give me two sets of presents. Then if Santa Claus really does exist, then he'll appreciate my support.

Zooey: As an actor you want time at home, what amounts to half a year of working and half a year at home.

Zooey: I don't know about royalty. Maybe aristocracy. But I do love LA. There are certain aspects that are cheesy. You know, plastic surgery, fake blondes. But they're easily avoidable.

Zooey: I think the people who become the most famous aren't necessarily these genetic products of the weird American beauty ideal. I mean, all those Playboy bunny types. They're not filling seats in the theater.

Zooey: I don't really like to go out very much. I'm not scandalous. I'm not, like, in this to be famous. I also find it so embarrassing when you read about people and it's like they were so trashed at Skybar and stumbling around. I don't want to be that person. That's just so embarrassing to have that written about you.

Zooey: Certain aspects of my personality are always going to come out on-screen. I guess that's just me - if they say I'm quirky, I'm quirky. It's better than being boring.