Emily Deschanel is an American actress born on October 11, 1976 in Los Angeles, California. She is the daughter of Caleb Deschanel and Mary Joe Deschanel. Her mother is an actress, while her father is an Academy Award nominated director and cinematographer. She is of Irish, American and French descent. She has a sister, actress and musician Zooey Deschanel.

The acting bug caught up on Emily Deschanel back in 1994 when she was placed as an extra in the movie It Could Happen to You, starring Nicolas Cage and Bridget Fonda. While she wasn’t easily noticed in the said film, she continued to work on her acting skills by attending and eventually graduating from the Boston University’s Professional Actors Training Program with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Theater.

In 2000, she returned to look for acting jobs, but it was only in 2002 when she was first known to the audiences in the miniseries Rose Red. Later on she landed roles in films such as Cold Mountain, Glory Road, and The Alamo. Because of her acting skills, she was listed as one of the “six actresses to watch” by Interview magazine.

Emily Deschanel finally had her first starring role in the horror classic, Boogeyman in 2005. While the film didn’t do well in the ratings, she became known as a very good actress and was soon cast in the popular Fox investigation series Bones, where she received a Satellite Award nomination for her role in 2006, and a nomination in the 2007 Teen Choice Awards. She has also served as the show’s co-producer since the third season.

Emily Deschanel is an active member of PETA, an animal rights group. She is also a vegan, and has appeared in the video “Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals,” which was shown at the book launch event of Karen Dawn’s book of the same title.