'New Girl' cast 10 years later: How their lives have changed

By Neia Balao 2:22pm PDT, Sep 20, 2021

Has it really been a decade years since we first became acquainted with the roommates of Apartment 4D?! In honor of the 10-year anniversary of "New Girl" — which debuted on FOX on Sept. 20, 2011 — Wonderwall.com is taking a look at how the lives of its stars have changed. Keep reading to find out what Zooey Deschanel, Hannah Simone, Max Greenfield, Jake Johnson and Lamorne Morris have been up to…

Who's that girl? It's Jess! On "New Girl," Zooey Deschanel starred as Jessica Day, a quirky teacher who moves into a loft in downtown Los Angeles with three guys — and proceed to fall in love with one of them.

While Zooey Deschanel had already established herself in Hollywood before starring on "New Girl" in projects including "(500) Days of Summer," "New Girl" introduced her to a whole new audience. During the sitcom's 2011 to 2018 run, she continued to voice a character on "The Simpsons" until 2013 and appeared in films including "The Driftless Area" and "Rock the Kasbah." In 2016, she made a guest appearance (as her "New Girl" character, Jessica Day) on "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" and voiced Bridget in the first "Trolls" film (a role she reprised in the 2020 sequel, "Trolls World Tour"). Zooey — who's released four more albums with her music group, She & Him, since 2011 — ended her marriage to Death Cab For Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard the same year "New Girl" debuted. She then wed film producer Jacob Pechenik, with whom she has two kids, in 2015; they split in 2019. She's been in a serious relationship with "Property Brothers" star Jonathan Scott since the summer of 2019 after meeting him while filming a "Carpool Karaoke" siblings segment with her sister, "Bones" actress Emily Deschanel, and Jonathan's twin brother and co-star, Drew Scott.

Hannah Simone portrayed Cece Parekh, Jess's best friend — a model-turned-bartender-turned-modeling agency CEO. Cece engages in a long will-they-or-won't-they relationship with Jess's roommate Schmidt (Max Greenfield) before eventually marrying him.

After originating the role of Cece Parekh, Hannah Simone appeared in a handful of projects including the 2012 sci-fi series "H+" and the 2016 films "Folk Hero & Funny Guy," "Flock of Dudes" and "Odd Squad: The Movie." She's also lent her voice to characters on the shows "Hoops," "Loafy," and, more recently, 2021's "No Activity." Next up, Hannah is set to star on the CBS comedy series "Welcome to Georgia" alongside Elizabeth Hurley. After four years of dating, the Canadian beauty married musician Jesse Giddings in 2016. They welcomed a son in 2017.

On "New Girl," Jake Johnson played law school dropout-turned-bar-manager-turned-author Nick Miller. Despite initially failing to get his act together, Nick eventually finds success as a writer. Throughout the course of the show, Nick and Jess struggle to come to grips with their feelings for each other.

We all came to love Jake Johnson for his stellar (and hilarious) portrayal of Nick Miller — and he's only acquired more adoring fans as his career has progressed. In addition to lending his voice to a character in 2014's "The Lego Movie," Jake also appeared in some memorable films while on "New Girl" including "21 Jump Street," "Let's Be Cops," "Jurassic World," "Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates," "Neighbors," "The Mummy" and more. He's also done a bit of voice work: From 2015 to 2017, he was Oxnard on Netflix's critically acclaimed tragicomedy series "BoJack Horseman," in 2017 he voiced Grouchy Smurf in "Smurfs: The Lost Village," an in 2018, he voiced Peter B. Parker in the wildly successful Oscar-nominated animated Marvel flick "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse." Jake's acting accomplishments don't stop there: From 2019 to 2020, he starred on the short-lived ABC series "Stumptown" then voiced the lead character on the animated sitcom "Hoops" until its 2020 cancellation. The Illinois native has three television shows on the way — "Habata," "Lost Ollie" and "Minx." He's been married to artist Erin Payne, with whom he welcomed twin girls in 2014, since 2006.

Schmidt, who was portrayed by Max Greenfield, is the successful and micro-managing roommate of Apartment 4D. He needs everything to be done his way and struggles to relinquish control.

After making his debut on "New Girl" in 2011, Max Greenfield went on to appear on a handful of television shows like "The Mindy Project," "American Horror Story," "American Crime Story" and "Will & Grace." He reprised his role as Leo D'Amato in the 2014 "Veronica Mars" film and the 2019 Hulu reboot. In addition to appearing in 2021's Academy Award-nominated film "Promising Young Woman," Max lent his voice to characters on "BoJack Horseman" and "Bob's Burgers." The actor, who married former FOX casting executive Tess Sanchez — with whom he shares two girls — in 2008, has been starring on the CBS sitcom "The Neighborhood" since 2018.

On "New Girl," Lamorne Morris portrayed athlete Winston Bishop, who played pro basketball in Latvia before moving back to Los Angeles.

Lamorne Morris has gone on to land roles in films like "Black Rapunzel," "Jumanji: The Next Level," "Bloodshot," "Desperados" and "Death of a Telemarketer." In addition to appearing on the television shows "Call Me Kat" and "Unwanted," since 2020, Lamorne has starred on the Hulu Original Series "Woke." He'll next appear in the film "Night Shift" alongside Phoebe Tonkin and Patrick Fischler. His most high-profile romance to date was with E! News host Erin Lim, whom he dated for a few years as "New Girl" neared the end of its run in 2018.

Damon Wayans Jr. played Coach — Nick, Schmidt and Jess's former personal trainer roommate who ends up moving to New York City with his girlfriend.

Damon Wayans left "New Girl" near its 2011 start as another show he was on, "Happy Endings," had gotten picked up for a second season on another network. But he returned to the show as Coach in 2013 after "Happy Endings" was canceled and appeared on several seasons until it ended in 2018. On top of that sitcom work, he voiced Wasabi in Disney's "Big Hero 6,"and appeared on shows like "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair," "Happy Together" and "The Twilight Zone." In 2020, he starred in the Netflix rom-com "Love, Guaranteed" alongside Rachael Leigh Cook. Next up, Damon will star in the flick "Players" alongside Tom Ellis and Gina Rodriguez. The actor, who has two daughters with ex Aja Metoyer, married Samara Saraiva in 2016.