Early-life: Seth Woodbury MacFarlane was born in Kent, Connecticut, on October 26, 1973 to Ann and Ronald. His sister is voice actor Rachael Ann MacFarlane. Seth knew from an early age that he wanted to develop his interest in animation. He began publishing a weekly comic strip entitled Walter Crouton for a local newspaper. His parents gave him an 8mm camera and he went on to study film, video and animation at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). During his time as a student, he performed stand-up and also created animated short The Life of Larry. On the back of this short, he was hired by Hanna-Barbara, where he worked as an animator and a writer for Cartoon Network's Cartoon Cartoons series. During his time at the studio, he also worked on Dexter's Laboratory, Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasel and Johnny Bravo. He also worked freelance on projects for Walt Disney, writing for Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.

Early-life: Zooey Claire Deschanel was born in Los Angeles, California, on January 17, 1980. She was named after Zooey Glass, the male protagonist of JD Salinger's 1961 novella Franny and Zooey. Though based in LA, she spent much of her childhood travelling because her father shot films on location. She attended Crossroads, a private preparatory school in Santa Monica, California, where she befriended future co-stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Kate Hudson. She also attended the French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts summer camp and sang throughout high school, planning to pursue a career in musical theatre. She attended Northwestern University for seven months before dropping out to work as an actress.