A****able doesn't count.

Hong Kong Zooey! Dainty Miss Deschanel unleashes some martial arts moves
By Amelia Proud
PUBLISHED: 21:19 EST, 19 March 2012 | UPDATED: 03:31 EST, 20 March 2012

She's a demure little being, with a nice line in dainty outfits.

But Zooey Deschanel transformed into 70s' kung-fu superhero Hong Kong Phooey on the set of New Girl in New York today.

The 32-year-old is too young to remember the animated crime fighting canine the first time around but the Hanna-Barbera cartoon has been aired on both sides of the Atlantic for generations.


Take that! Zooey Deschanel appeared to beat up one of her co-stars as she filmed a scene for New Girl in LA today

His USP was that he was small but deadly, as Zooey's character seemed to be today.

The show centres on a girl called Jess Day, played by Zooey, who is in her 20s and moves in with three young men after she breaks up with her cheating boyfriend.

The actress – who announced she was to divorce her Death Cab For Cutie front man husband last December – looked lovely in black trousers and a cream jumper for her dust up.

Deschanel and the band's frontman Ben Gibbard 35, got married near Seattle, Wash in late September 2009.

The sweater was accessorised with a fancy pearl design but the brunette with the cobalt blue eyes dressed the outfit down with flat boots.

Last week the star seemed to make a new best friend in the form of fellow actress Lindsay Lohan.

Despite their different personalities, Deschanel reached out to the 25-year-old after hearing tons of criticism regarding her performance on Saturday Night Live at the weekend.

While stars such as Josh Groban and Joan Rivers publicly laid into the star, Zooey jumped to her defence in an interview.

The star who guest hosted herself last month told Entertainment Weekly: ‘It’s so hard. And can I say something? I thought she did a really good job; everyone reads off cue cards. There were some people saying “She read off cue cards!” Everyone - the cast members, the host - everyone reads off cue cards. That’s how it’s done, because they change the script right before, so you have to read off cue cards.’

SNL marked the show’s highest number of viewers of the season with a 5.5 overnight household rating, according to an EW report.

She added about her time on the show: ‘It’s a very hard thing to do. It was very fun — one of the best weeks of my life. It was a lot of rehearsal, a lot of work leading up to it, and it’s difficult.’