Yesterday we talked about Lisa Kudrow, (well, technically about her character Phoebe on “Friends”) because of her birthday and all, but the TV is full of awesome and inspiring ladies we’d like to talk about. Today we will focus on one such lady of a newer generation than Lisa: Zooey Deschanel. Admit it, there isn’t a lot you can do to resist the charms of this awesomely smart and funny and pretty lady. And there are a lot of reasons for it; here are just 5 of them.

1. She’s more than a talented actress and she stands up for ideals.

Whenever she’s involved in a debate where she feels like the values or ideals which she believes in are belittled, she stands up for them in a gracious, but firm manner. Her most recent such exploit was when she kindly explained to writer Mike Albo that “not every woman is dying to give birth” and he should stop putting people in such narrow boxes with his prejudice. To us, that raised her immediately to a feminist icon status, and the best thing about it is that she argues for what she believes in graciously and with an admirable understanding for the diversity of options and values.

2. She’s also a talented artist; very much so actually.

All this talk of how she’s more than just an actress shouldn’t make us forget her acting skills in any way. Sure, she didn’t win any Academy Awards yet, and she’s known mostly for sweet movies like romantic comedies and such, but that doesn’t mean she’s not playing her part(s) in a truly inspiring fashion. If you’ve seen 500 Days of Summer (2009) you can’t have not been moved by her initially cynical manic pixie dream girl kind of character. Also, if you’re watching the ongoing New Girl TV series, how can you not love her weird and goofy and insanely cute and attractive character, Miss Jessica Day? It would be impossible, really.

3. Her name is just so awesome: Zooey Deschanel.

Seriously, how can your name be Zooey Deschanel? Does no one see how ridiculously attractive and goofy and cute that name is, all at the same time? It sounds as if she isn’t a human being, but an alluring species of flower. I picture it being a dark and hypnotizing purple. The only other celebrity we know with a name which sounds as if he grew up in a planthouse is Orlando Bloom, but while he’s cute, he’s not nearly as fascinating as Zooey.

4. She has a few also famous look-alikes, but she’s still the best.

She’s often been compared to Katy Perry, or Krysten Ritter, or Lizzy Caplan, but she’s still the awesomest of the bunch (well, unless you’re a hardcore Katy Perry fan, in which case we apologize). It’s most interesting that her looks seem to be pretty distinctive and rare, with the brunette hair and white skin and enormous blue eyes, so the fact that there are a few other celebs that resemble her is actually kind of funny.

5. She has a lovely blog about cute and meaningful things.

Before she was as famous as she was now, Zooey Deschanel started a cute women’s blog together with a couple of her girlfriends, where they blogged about a whole bunch of cute things, but also debated serious issues like protests, feminist issues, relationships with the significant other or with family, body confidence issues and so on. Now, she doesn’t have the time to blog anymore, but is still an honorary member of the site. The site runs now mostly on fuel from a bunch of carefully selected contributors, but maintains the initial spirit wonderfully, under the supervision of its initial founders. Oh, and it also has a super-cute name: Hello Giggles.

These were out top 5 reasons for liking Zooey Deschanel a lot, beyond her looks and even her mere acting skills. How about you, do you like her, and if so, what do you like the most?