'New Girl' star Zooey Deschanel: 'Jess is not me'

Zooey Deschanel has denied that she is exactly like her New Girl character Jess.

Deschanel plays the kooky teacher on Fox's hit sitcom, but told TVLine that only "parts" of the role reflect her real personality.



"There are parts of me that I put in her, but I throw myself into every character," she explained. "I find the truth by filtering it through my own emotions."

The 32-year-old actress admitted that she has previously described Jess as "like a teenage version of myself".

"That's maybe misleading in that it makes it sound like she is me - she's not," Deschanel argued. "She's this wonderful collaboration that I've had with [series creator] Liz Meriwether.

"Plus, the character evolved. I watch her every week and see what's working, and I adjust. It's nice to be able to do that."



Deschanel's co-star Jake Johnson recently admitted that he is often contacted by New Girl fans who want his character Nick to get together with Jess.

"I don't actually know [if that will happen], because the writing staff hasn't started breaking stories [for season two] yet," Deschanel added.

"But I hope Jake Johnson and I at least get more scenes together. [Early on, the powers that be] saw that there was good chemistry and were like, 'Oh, crap!' - they didn't want to throw us together and ruin something."

New Girl airs its second season on Fox in the fall. The comedy will also shortly return to UK screens, switching from Channel 4 to E4 later this month.

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Watch the New Girl writers answer fan questions below: