In a candid interview at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, Zoey Deutch surprised fans by revealing Hilary Duff as her first celebrity crush, calling her ‘unbelievably gorgeous’ and ‘the coolest thing of all time’ during a conversation about her new film.
Zoey Deutch is revealing her surprising pick for her first celebrity crush: Hilary Duff!
“Oh s—. Who was my first celebrity crush? What came to mind is Hilary Duff,” Deutch, 31, tells PEOPLE at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival on Sunday, Jan. 25, as she premiered her new movie Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass. “I know that it’s not necessarily romantic. I just was like, that’s the coolest person.”
“[She] was like a friend,” Deutch adds of Duff, 38, who rose to fame as a teenager in the early 2000s with the Disney Channel series Lizzie McGuire and through her music career. “Also, she’s unbelievably gorgeous. I just was like I saw [her] and I was like, ‘That’s the coolest thing of all time.’ “
Zoey Deutch on Jan. 25, 2026 Sara Jaye/Getty
While chatting with PEOPLE, Deutch also revealed Orlando Bloom in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise as another early celebrity crush of hers.
“I’m a younger sibling, so whatever my sister liked, and she really loved Orlando Bloom, and I do too, but it was more because I wanted to be like my big sister,” she adds. “I should have a better f—ing answer to this. Who doesn’t love Hilary Duff?”
Deutch was at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 25 to support her new movie Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass, which appropriately follows her title character on a journey to use a “hall pass” of sorts on real-life actor Jon Hamm after her fiancé uses his own “free celebrity pass” prior to their wedding, according to an official festival synopsis for the movie.
The film, directed by David Wain and co-written with Ken Marino (Wet Hot American Summer), also stars Hamm, 54, as well as Hamm’s Mad Men costar John Slattery, Marino, 57, Miles Gutierrez-Riley and Ben Wang.
Zoey Deutch on Jan. 25, 2026 Mat Hayward/Getty
Deutch is an executive producer on the movie in addition to its lead actor. She told PEOPLE back in September that she began producing more movies in recent years “out of necessity” to find movies and roles she wanted to make, a sentiment she echoed on the red carpet at Sundance.
“It wasn’t something I was seeking out. It was just out of necessity of not feeling like I was getting and doing the things that I wanted to do,” she tells PEOPLE. “So this is definitely something that I really wanted to do and I feel really grateful to be a part of.”
This candid revelation from Deutch highlights the enduring impact of Hilary Duff‘s early career, which not only defined a generation of television but also established her as a cultural icon whose influence continues to resonate with peers and fans alike. The choice of Duff over more traditionally “romantic” crushes underscores a unique form of admiration, focusing on Duff’s status as a cool and aspirational figure during the peak of her fame.
For fans, this admission is a delightful piece of trivia that connects two beloved stars from the same era. It also serves as a reminder of the powerful, non-romantic bonds that can form between public figures and their audiences, proving that the term “crush” can encompass a wide spectrum of admiration and inspiration.
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