Zooey Deschanel stars in the new hit comedy ‘New Girl’.

Like her character, Deschanel comes across as quirky but ultimately sincere. She’s a singer too – though in a professional capacity with her band She & Him – rather than someone who randomly bursts into song like Jess.

But she insists show creator Liz Meriwether didn’t have her in mind when she wrote the character.

“No, no, no, no,” the 32-year-old says. “Liz and I have a lot of similarities, you know, it was a really perfect fit, but it wasn’t written for me.”

She says Jess’s habit of singing whatever’s in her head – and making up her own theme song – came from Meriweather’s past.

“Liz had a temp job and she would go on the subway and she’d come up with theme songs for herself in her head (and) pretended like she was on a show,” Deschanel says.