After a string of strong film performances, Zooey Deschanel puts on the Ritz, enjoying a well-earned stint at Paris' most fashionable hotel.

There is an element of ludicrousness to many of the characters Zooey Deschanel has played: the flight attendant big sister in Almost Famous, a discount store makeup artist in The Good Girl, a department store elf who saves Christmas with a song in Elf. Her role as Trillian in April's sci-fi comedy The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is no different. "She's just an incredibly intelligent person who gets the opportunity to go on a spaceship. It sounds crazy," Deschanel admits, calling on her cell phone on the way to meet her boyfriend of a year and a half, actor Jason Schwartzman (I Heart Huckabees), in Paris, where he is filming Sofia Coppola's upcoming Marie-Antoinette. But it's to the 25-year-old actress's credit that she's always resisted the urge to send up these offbeat souls. Instead she's won critics' accolades for bringing a magnetic grace to the screen - even when she's dressed as Santa's little helper.
In real life Deschanel embodies the same "elegance is refusal" dignity. Despite a childhood spent on movie sets from Los Angeles to London - her father, Caleb, is a cinematographer (The Natural, The Passion of the Christ), and her mother, Mary Jo, and older sister, Emily, are also actresses - she exhibits none of the behavior typical of Hollywood offspring. She says she doesn't smoke or do drugs, and topless photos of Deschanel are unlikely to show up on Paris Hilton's Sidekick. "I'll have the occasional glass of wine," she allows, but on Saturday nights when she isn't on location or performing in a cabaret act of old standards, "If All the Stars Were Pretty Babies," in L.A. clubs, she's at the movies or home baking. "I bake a nice chocolate cake," she says in her rich voice, which in speech and song sounds a little like Judy Garland's - minus the barbiturate slur, of course.
For an actress so skilled at bringing out the pathos of comedy - her rendition of "Baby it's Cold Outside" in Elf could break your heart - she is winningly upbeat. "It's a treat to be around her. She's just this lovely little creature, always dancing and singing," says Garth Jennings, the director of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. "The rest of us sort of feel like the devil around her."
Indeed, Deschanel lists her bad habits as eating too much fruit, chocolate, and pastry. She still has dinner with her parents "at least twice a week." And one of her favorite things about Schwartzman? "My parents love him. They love him," she says. "They can't wait till he comes over. He'll have them in stitches for hours." As for a family of her own with Schwartzman, Deschanel is circumspect. "I think about it, but who doesn't?" she says. "But it's not for right now."
In the meantime, she is looking forward to some time off with Schwartzman. "I'm getting to know Paris, little places to go," she says. And she speaks French well enough to serve her purposes: "ordering in restaurants and trying on clothes," she says. On her last visit she fell in love with the designs of Vanessa Bruno - "I bought this beautiful blue dress," she says. "I never want to take it off" - and picked up her current favorite shoes, a pair of A.P.C. boots.
Deschanel describes her style as "simple and ladylike" and names Natalie Woods as her fashion icon. "She was a good mix of sexy, elegant, and pretty," she says. On these pages, shot in Paris at the Hotel Ritz, Deschanel wears some of her favorite designers (Chloe, Marni) paired with classic Cartier jewelry. The look is sensual but with a bit of reserve, much like Wood - or Deschanel herself.