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Another Day at "The Office"

Jenna Fischer may not be starring in Hollywood blockbusters, but thanks to her role as the arty, adorable receptionist on "The Office," she has rapidly emerged as one of prime time's most beloved actresses.

Photograph by Justin Stephens

Meeting Jenna Fischer in person, it's easy to understand why the 34-year-old actress has such a devout fan base. In contrast to the slightly frumpy character she portrays on "The Office," the St. Louis-raised actress is almost disarmingly pretty, but it's a girl-next-door sort of beauty rather than the pseudo-perfect plasticity so common in Hollywood these days. She also boasts a self-deprecating charm and witty sense of humor that have made her the perfect comedy partner for actors such as Will Ferrell (Blades of Glory) and John C. Reilly (Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and The Promotion).

The big screen, however, is not where you will find this star shining her brightest. With an average of 7 million same-day viewers, plus more than 2.5 million DVR viewers, "The Office" remained one of the hottest sitcoms on TV during last year's strike-shortened season. And one of the primary reasons is undoubtedly the sweet, sometimes silly, romantic relationship between Fischer's Pam Beesly and John Krasinski's Jim Halpert, which has emerged over the past three seasons as one of the most intriguing "will they or won't they?" sitcom pairings since Ross and Rachel on "Friends."

Though Fischer was a relative unknown before being cast in "The Office" back in 2005, she's been acting most of her life, taking acting classes taught by her mother starting at the age of six. "I definitely felt like the oddball growing up in my family," she admits. "My parents were very artistic, even though they didn't have artistic professions. We put on a lot of plays and did a lot of drawings, and a lot of our games were imagination based. My mom's just a very creative soul, so that was a great outlet for me. The difficulty was thinking that I wanted to take that to the next level and have a professionally artistic life."

After graduating from an all-girls Catholic school, Fischer enrolled at Missouri's Truman State University, initially as a pre-law student, later changing her major to theater. After getting her degree, she made the requisite journey to Los Angeles with a group of friends from college. After two years, however, everyone but her had either found success or given up and moved away, leaving her struggling to find her niche in showbiz.

"Every year, something happened that was enough of an encouragement to keep me going," she recalls, "but it was definitely hard. I was really willing to do anything, and I ran into a manager [Naomi Odenkirk] who said, 'I would really like to represent you.

I have a lot of connections in the comedy world, and I think your future is in television comedy.' And she was right. That was seven years before 'The Office.'"

During those years, Fischer largely had to make do with bit parts on sitcoms including "Spin City," "That 70s Show," "Undeclared" and "Miss Match," as well as the procedural drama "Cold Case" and a two-episode stint in the fifth season of HBO's "Six Feet Under." She also appeared in small roles in little-known movies such as Lucky 13, starring Lauren Graham, and Employee of the Month, starring Matt Dillon and Steve Zahn. Her first leading role didn't come until 2004's LolliLove, an independently financed mockumentary that she co-wrote, directed and starred in alongside her then-husband, writer and director James Gunn (2004's Dawn of the Dead, Slither).

"I went through a period of time when I wasn't working much as an actor," she says. "I started cartooning, and that was a really creative time in my life. That's when I made LolliLove. There's something exciting about having to be a self-starter and creating work for yourself," she says with a smile. "It's very different from being hired to do a project. So that time in my life was really important, because I think it made it possible for me to do what I'm doing now."

Jenna Fischer with John
C. Reilly in Walk Hard:
The Dewey Cox StoryLess than a year after LolliLove's release, she got the call to audition for NBC's American version of Ricky Gervais' wildly popular BBC hit, which was widely considered a risky proposition at the time. The network-floundering in its attempts to maintain Thursday night dominance after losing "Must See TV" mainstays such as "Seinfeld" and "Friends"-had failed miserably in remaking another British hit, "Coupling." So Fischer, who had fallen in love with the original "The Office" on DVD, was understandably hesitant to get involved with a project that might turn out to be a weak imitation.

"I actually had this whole thing in my living room where I was talking about, 'Why don't we make more shows like this in America?' And then they called me in," she says. "Part of my first audition was me auditioning the producers to see if they were going to make a great version or a sloppy version, because there was no way that I was going to be part of an awful American spin-off. I just didn't want to do that to what was my favorite television show."

Fortunately, producer Greg Daniels was equally determined not to water down the BBC show's off-kilter brilliance, casting up-and-coming comedic mastermind Steve Carell as clueless Dunder Mifflin branch manager Michael Scott, then surrounding him with creative talent from the improv, theater and indie film worlds. To Fischer's delight, they brought in Gervais himself for an extensive Q&A session with the cast, and the six initial episodes that resulted were, in Fischer's words, "magical."

Still, things were far from perfect, as the single camera comedy (which often mines humor from boredom and social discomfort) was a slow starter and frequently bordered on cancellation. "Early on, we were always nervous, even episode to episode," Fischer says. "There was one day I remember where we had to do well the night before. I called the ratings line, and when I told some of my co-stars the numbers, we started crying because we knew we'd be around for another week. Now, I feel like we're in a bit of a groove, and we're feeling like we can count on it a little. You never want to get too comfortable-you want to stay on your toes-but this year they actually told us we'd been renewed fairly early."

As the comedy enters its fourth season, there's one burning question on most fans' minds: What does the future hold for Jim and Pam? Fischer is understandably cagey in her response. "I really don't know. I've told the producers that I'm not attached to Jim and Pam being the loves of one another's lives forever. I think we should only keep them together for as long as it seems real and honest. There could also be something very beautiful about the two of them preparing one another to find the true love of their lives.

Some of the relationships we go through are more about growing as a person and learning who we are, then letting that person go. So I'm okay with that being the Jim-Pam story. But every time I pitch that idea, they tell me that I'm crazy and nobody wants to see that," she says. "So I have a feeling Jim and Pam are going to make it in the end." As surprising as it may be to hear that Fischer wouldn't be upset if producers broke up one of network TV's most endearing romantic couples, it's even more shocking to hear her confess that she's not all that interested in being a huge movie star. She readily acknowledges having turned down major film roles opposite actors who have a reputation for being difficult.


Jenna Fischer with Jon
Heder in Blades of Glory"I really look at a few things when considering a role," she says. "One is: Is this a group of people who I want to spend several months with? Life is too short to be on a set with difficult people. I've turned down a couple of things that have gone on to be great successes. But my life is easier for it, so that makes me happy."

And, despite showing a sexier, more extroverted side in films like Walk Hard and Blades of Glory, she says she isn't particularly driven to pursue parts that allow her to play characters who are significantly different from sweet, soft-spoken yet slightly mischievous Pam.

"For me, there's nothing better than where I am now," she says. "My goal as an actor was always to be on an ensemble comedy series. I grew up watching 'Cheers,' and that's where I wanted to be. Now that I've done it, I feel this pressure to invent new ambitions for myself, because I'm totally happy with just that. I love doing films and playing different roles, but I also really love playing the same role for a long time and discovering new things about her year after year. In that regard, my dreams have come true."

Blades of Glory: Dreamworks Pictures; Walk Hard: Columbia Pictures

Bits of Blog

Jenna Fischer reveals four random facts on her MySpace page.

FIRST CONCERT
New Kids on the Block in St. Louis

STARBUCKS STAPLE
Tall two-pump vanilla latte with skim milk

WACKIEST JOB
Telephone psychic

STARTING SALARY
Between $100 and $2,000 a year from acting during the first five years she lived in LA

Pop Quiz

Test Your Knowledge Of "The Office"

1 WHAT IS PAM'S TRUE AMBITION IN LIFE?

A. To follow her creative dreams and become an artist.
B. To live in a red house with a white picket fence.
C. To raise a family of four with Jim as her husband.
D. To take over Michael's role as the regional manager of Dunder Mifflin.

2 WHAT IS PAM'S FAVORITE FLAVOR OF YOGURT?

A. Peach
B. Strawberries & Cream
C. Plain
D. Mixed Berries

3 THE ACTRESS WHO PLAYS _______ AUDITIONED FOR THE ROLE OF PAM ORIGINALLY.

A. Phyllis
B. Angela
C. Meredith
D. Kelly

4 HOW DID FISCHER PREPARE FOR HER AUDITION AS PAM?

A. Relaxing on the beach
B. Interviewing several successful receptionists
C. By looking as boring as possible
D. Performing at an improv club's open mic night

5 IN THE "FUN RUN" EPISODE, WHAT DO JIM AND PAM BUY AT A YARD SALE?

A. A Pink Floyd record
B. A new lamp
C. A bobblehead for Dwight
D. A new watch

1.A 2.D 3.B 4.C 5.B

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