Who is Cece Parekh in New Girl?

Show

New Girl

Played by

Hannah Simone

First episode

“Pilot”Season 1, Episode 1, aired September 20, 2011

Role

Main cast

Network

FOX

Occupation

Model, then bartender and modeling agent

Show run

2011 to 2018

Also known as

Cece Parikh, Cecilia Parekh, Cecilia Parikh, Cece

Cece Parekh is Jess Day's best friend since childhood, a model with a sharp tongue and a soft heart who keeps turning up at the loft until she is part of the family. Played by Hannah Simone, she starts out deeply skeptical of Jess's new roommates and slowly falls for the most ridiculous one of them.

On New Girl, Cece Parekh's story runs through Schmidt (Husband), Jess Day (Best Friend), Nick Miller (Friend), Winston Bishop (Friend), and Coach (Ex-boyfriend).

Who is Cece Parekh?

Cece has been Jess's best friend since they were kids. Her father died shortly before the two met, and Jess helped her through the schoolwork she struggled with. When New Girl begins she is working as a fashion model in Los Angeles, and she visits the loft so often that she becomes the unofficial fifth member of the group.

Her parents were born in India, and her family, especially her mother, plays a big part in her later storylines. The show itself has spelled her surname two ways: Parikh is the more common spelling, but Parekh turns up too, including in the season four finale, so fans will find both.

Personality and comedy

Cece is the cool, blunt counterweight to Jess's sunny quirkiness. She is protective, quick with a dry put-down, and the first to tell her friend when a guy is wrong for her, even though her own taste in men runs to the unserious. Hannah Simone plays her as glamorous on the surface and less sure of herself underneath, which is why her later decision to go back to school matters so much.

She starts out wary of the roommates, and the guys are a little intimidated by her, but she is soon trading jabs with all of them. Some of her best moments come when she drops the model cool and throws herself into the loft's ridiculous traditions and Schmidt's elaborate schemes.

Key storylines

Midway through season one, Cece and Schmidt start a secret, mostly physical fling that the others eventually discover. They break up at the end of the season, and in season two Cece, worried about her biological clock, agrees to an arranged marriage with a man named Shivrang. At the wedding in the season two finale she realizes she still loves Schmidt and calls the whole thing off.

The road back is long. Schmidt's attempt to date Cece and his college girlfriend Elizabeth at the same time blows up early in season three, and Cece briefly dates Coach instead. She also starts bartending at the bar Nick manages, eventually running it herself, passes her GED, and enrolls in community college. In the season four finale, "Clean Break," Schmidt finally tells her how he feels and proposes, and she says yes.

Marriage, motherhood, and legacy

Cece's mother at first refuses to bless the engagement because Schmidt is not Indian, and he spends much of season five winning her over. The couple marry in the season five finale, "Landing Gear," and in season six Cece launches her own modeling agency, Cece's Boys. Season six ends with her learning she is pregnant, and the final season jumps ahead three years to find them raising a daughter, Ruth.

Hannah Simone was part of the main cast for all seven seasons. In 2022 she reunited with Zooey Deschanel and Lamorne Morris to host "Welcome to Our Show," an iHeartRadio podcast revisiting the series episode by episode.

Cece Parekh: frequently asked questions

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