Jenna Fischer

Regina Marie "Jenna" Fischer[1] (born March 7, 1974)[2] is an American actress best known for her portrayal of Pam Beesly on the NBC sitcom The Office, for which she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2007. She was also a producer for the show's final season.

Jenna Fischer
Fischer in May 2008
Born
Regina Marie Fischer

(1974-03-07) March 7, 1974
Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.
Alma materTruman State University (BA)
OccupationActress
Years active1998–present
Spouse(s)
  • ​
    ​
    (m. 2000; div. 2008)​
  • Lee Kirk
    ​
    (m. 2010)​
Children2

Since then, Fischer has appeared in such films as Blades of Glory (2007), Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007), The Promotion (2008), Hall Pass (2011), and The Giant Mechanical Man (2012), a film directed by her husband, Lee Kirk. She also appeared as Rhonda McNeil in the NBC's comedy-drama series You, Me and the Apocalypse. Fischer also starred in the ABC sitcom Splitting Up Together (2018–2019).

Fischer's first book, The Actor's Life: A Survival Guide, with an introduction by Steve Carell, was published in November 2017.[3]

Early life

Fischer was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and raised in St. Louis, Missouri.[4][5] Her mother, Anne (née Miller), is a history teacher; her father, James E. Fischer, is an engineer.[6] She has one younger sister, Emily, a third grade teacher.[7] She first performed at the age of six, when she participated in an acting workshop taught by her mother at Henry School in St. Louis, a workshop also attended by actor Sean Gunn, with whom she grew up.[8]

She later attended Pierremont Elementary School in Manchester, Missouri, and Nerinx Hall High School, a private all-girls Catholic school, in Webster Groves, Missouri.[9] She holds a Bachelor of Arts in theater, as well as a minor in journalism, from Truman State University, where she originally enrolled as a pre-law history major.[10]

Career

Career development

While attending college at Truman State University in Missouri, Fischer performed with a touring Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre group.[11]

Upon her move to Los Angeles in 1998, Fischer began performing Commedia dell'arte with the Zoo District Theatre Company. She was noticed by a talent agent because of her appearance in a musical theater adaptation of the film Nosferatu (1922) with Zoo District Theatre Company. This led to her signing a contract with that agent.[12]

Fischer struggled to break into film and television. Her first paying film role was a sex education video for psychiatric patients upon their release from Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.[13]

Three years elapsed from the time she arrived in California until Fischer landed her first televised speaking role. She played the part of a waitress on the television sitcom Spin City in 2001.[14]

Fischer appeared in bit parts in small independent films during her early years in Southern California, including Employee of the Month, Lucky 13, and The Specials.

On television, she performed as a guest on shows including Cold Case, Miss Match, Off Centre, Six Feet Under, Strong Medicine, That '70s Show, Undeclared, and What I Like About You.

LolliLove (2004)

While her film career was slowly taking off, Fischer took matters into her own hands, writing, directing and starring in her own mockumentary, LolliLove, her only directing credit. The film co-starred her then-husband James Gunn, as well as friends Linda Cardellini, Judy Greer, Lloyd Kaufman, and Jason Segel. She began participating in The Artist's Way, a self-led creativity seminar in book form. "From doing that book I got this idea... When we started it, it wasn't even supposed to be a real movie. It was just going to be an improv project for James and I to amuse ourselves with."[15] Utilizing a camera she gave Gunn as a wedding present, she filmed preliminary improvisational interviews with her friends in the faux documentary format that would later bring her fame on The Office. "I really feel it was divine intervention that I chose to work in this medium for a year," she said in an interview. "It was the super best practice I could have ever gotten for the possibility of being on the show."

LolliLove premiered at the St. Louis International Film Festival, the hometown of Fischer and Gunn, in November 2004, and was also shown at the TromaDance Film Festival. For her role in the film, Fischer was awarded a Screen Actors Guild Emerging Actor Award.[16] Despite the film's contribution to her career, she admitted to a St. Louis arts and entertainment magazine[17] that the experience dissuaded her from any future directing:

The directing was exhausting and the writing was painful. It was very difficult to direct and star in a movie. We also had a very small crew so I did a lot of things a normal director doesn't have to do, like make the props and serve lunch. I was simultaneously getting into character, going over my lines, set dressing the next shot, coaching an actor, and brainstorming with my DP [cinematographer]. I'm good at multitasking, but that was too much for me. I couldn't enjoy any one part the way I would have liked. I think I'll stick to acting.

The Office (2005–2013) and feature films
Fischer with The Office co-star John Krasinski in 2009

In 2005, after a succession of mostly improvised auditions similar to her LolliLove experience, Fischer landed the role of Pam Beesly on what would become the NBC hit The Office, based on the original BBC series. Before her initial audition, casting director Allison Jones advised Fischer, "Dare to bore me."[13] Fischer herself spent several years working as a receptionist and administrative assistant in Los Angeles offices, much like her television counterpart, while struggling to achieve success, and thus felt she was well-suited to the role.[18] "I'm so attached to Pam's journey," she told NPR in 2009. "I just love playing this character so, so much."[13] In 2007, she received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.[19]

Soon after The Office premiered, Fischer was focused on the show's success; in an April 2005 interview with her alma mater's student newspaper, she said: "Honestly it would be great to get to play Pam for a long, long time .... I don't have real big aspirations to be a movie star. I would love to be on a long-running hit TV show. You end up playing a defining role."[10] As The Office grew into a success, Fischer's film acting career became more established. In 2006, she co-starred in her then-husband's film, Slither,[20] and in 2007, she filmed supporting roles in The Brothers Solomon, with Will Arnett and Will Forte, Blades of Glory, with Will Ferrell, Jon Heder, Amy Poehler and Will Arnett, and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, alongside John C. Reilly, with whom she co-starred again in 2008's The Promotion, also starring Seann William Scott.

In 2009, Fischer completed filming on the films Solitary Man and the indie A Little Help, which opened in the summer of 2010 at the Seattle International Film Festival. Also that summer, she completed filming on the Farrelly brothers comedy Hall Pass, which was released in February 2011.

Other work

Fischer appeared on Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown in 2006, participating in the show's eighth tournament, shot in New Orleans, Louisiana, and playing for Catholic Charities' Tsunami Relief.

In 2007, Fischer starred in the music video for Willie Wisely's single "Through Any Window", directed by longtime friend John Cabrera; the opportunity arose because she knew Wisely from work he had done on soundtracks for LolliLove and Tromeo and Juliet, one of her husband's films.[21]

In December of the same year, during the Writers Guild of America strike, Fischer appeared at Sacred Fools Theater Company in episode 25 of Darque Magick, a serialized play written and directed by Jenelle Riley.[22]

In July 2009, Fischer played left field for the National League team in the Taco Bell All-Star Legends and Celebrity Softball Game as part of the MLB All-Star Week festivities, held at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri, where she grew up.[23]

In March 2010, Fischer returned to the area to co-chair an annual auction for Nerinx Hall High School, her alma mater. At the event, she auctioned off a set visit to The Office and multiple autographed props from the show.[24]

In 2009, Fischer was named an official spokeswoman for Proactiv Skincare Solutions[25] and was announced as the voice behind the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board Grilled Cheese Academy website in 2010.[26]

Fischer was named as producer of the mid-August through October 2010 run of the critically acclaimed play Sad Happy Sucker, written by her husband Lee Kirk and directed by friend Sean Gunn. The play previously ran as a theatre workshop in February and March 2007.[27]

After finishing The Office, Fischer starred in the off-Broadway play Reasons to Be Happy, written and directed by Neil LaBute, which ran from May to June 2013.[28]

Fischer starred in the world premiere of Steve Martin's comedy Meteor Shower at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, California, from July 30 to September 18, 2016. She also worked alongside actors Greg Germann, Alexandra Henrikson, and Josh Stamberg.[29]

On September 11, 2019, Fischer announced via Twitter that she and Angela Kinsey will be co-hosting a weekly podcast called Office Ladies. According to her announcement, she and Kinsey will "watch an episode of The Office and give you all the stories and behind-the-scenes scoop...as well as some BFF banter about our lives."[30] The first episode of Office Ladies was released October 16, 2019.[30] Guests on the podcast have included actors Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, and Oscar Nunez, and producers/directors Greg Daniels, Paul Feig, and Ken Kwapis. Fischer and Kinsey have continued to record the podcast during the COVID-19 pandemic by producing it from their own homes—recording segments in their closets (as they have commented on during the podcasts).

Personal life

After Fischer moved to Los Angeles, her childhood friend Sean Gunn helped her get a part in a showcase and then introduced her to his brother, screenwriter James Gunn.[10] That small part in a showcase also led to Fischer getting her first manager.[10] Fischer married James Gunn on October 7, 2000.[31] They announced their separation in September 2007,[32] and they divorced in 2008.[33] In 2010, Fischer helped Gunn with casting Rainn Wilson, her The Office co-star, in Gunn's film Super.[34]

In June 2009, Fischer's engagement to screenwriter Lee Kirk was announced,[35][36] and they married on July 3, 2010.[37][38] Fischer and Kirk announced her pregnancy with their first child in May 2011; the pregnancy coincided with her character's second pregnancy on The Office's eighth season. In September 2011, Fischer gave birth to their son.[39][40][41] Fischer gave birth to their second child, a daughter, in May 2014.[42][43]

Fischer is passionate about animal rescue, and she is involved with the Los Angeles organizations Kitten Rescue and Rescue Rover.[44] Before The Office, she worked for three years doing hands-on rescue work for the organizations.[45] She regularly fosters cats and hosted Kitten Rescue's annual Fur Ball Gala in 2008, 2009, and 2010.[46]

On April 17, 2018, Fischer was a guest of an event at DePauw University that was interrupted by students who were protesting against the allegedly racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic slurs found on campus. In response to the protests, Fischer announced she would donate the money she received from DePauw to the NAACP, the Anti-Defamation League, and The Trevor Project.[47]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role(s) Notes
1998 Channel 493 Rane
1998 Born Champion Wendy Miller
2002 Les superficiales Bitchy French Girl Short film
2003 Doggie Tails, Vol. 1: Lucky's First Sleepover Kelsey Voice
2003 Melvin Goes to Dinner Sister / Hostess
2004 Employee of the Month Whisper
2004 The Women Leslie Short film
2004 LolliLove Jenna Gunn Also director/co-writer
2005 The 40-Year-Old Virgin Woman #1 Uncredited
2006 Slither Shelby
2007 Blades of Glory Katie Van Waldenberg
2007 The Brothers Solomon Michelle
2007 Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story Darlene Madison
2008 The Promotion Jen Stauber
2009 Solitary Man Susan Porter
2010 A Little Help Laura Pehlke
2011 Hall Pass Maggie Mills
2012 The Giant Mechanical Man Janice
2013 Are You Here Alli
2014 Kiss Me Vera
2017 Brad's Status Melanie Sloan
2018 The 15:17 to Paris Heidi Skarlatos

Television
Year Title Role(s) Notes
2001 Undeclared Betty / Sorority Girl 2 episodes
2001 Spin City Waitress Episode: "A Shot in the Dark: Part 2"
2002 Off Centre Melanie Episode: "The Backup"
2002 What I Like About You Kim Episode: "Copy That"
2003 Strong Medicine Camille Freemont Episode: "Maternal Mirrors"
2003 Miss Match Connie Episode: "Kate in Ex-tasy"
2004 Cold Case Dottie (1943) Episode: "Factory Girls"
2005 That '70s Show Stacy Wanamaker Episode: "Don't Lie to Me"
2005 Six Feet Under Sharon Kinney 2 episodes
2005–2013 The Office Pam Beesly Main cast; 188 episodes
Also producer (2012–2013)
2012 Dan Vs. Amber (voice) Episode: "Dan Vs. Anger Management"
2014 Comedy Bang! Bang! Herself Episode: "Jenna Fischer Wears a Floral Blouse & Black Heels"
2015 Newsreaders Kelly Spears Episode: "The FMK Killer; Newsreaders: Behind the Scenes"
2015 You, Me and the Apocalypse Rhonda MacNeil Main cast; 10 episodes
Also associate producer
2016 The Mysteries of Laura Jennifer Lambert Recurring role; 3 episodes
2016 The Grinder Kelly Episode: "Genesis"
2016 Drunk History Katharine Wright Episode: "Siblings"
2017 The Guest Book Dr. Laurie Galiff Episode: "Story Eight"
2018–2019 Splitting Up Together Lena Main cast

Awards and nominations
Year Association Category Nominated work Result
2004 St. Louis International Film Festival Screen Actors Guild Emerging Actor Award[48] LolliLove Won
2005 TromaDance Film Festival Independent Soul Award (as director)[49] Won
2007 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series[19] The Office Nominated
Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series[50][51] Won
2008 Won
2009 Teen Choice Award Choice TV Actress – Comedy[52] Nominated
Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series[53][54] Nominated
2010 Nominated
St. Louis International Film Festival Outstanding Achievement in Film[55] N/A Won
2011 Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series[56][57][58] The Office Nominated
2012 Nominated
2013 Nominated

References
  1. Fischer, Jenna [@jennafischer] (January 20, 2020). "My parents just always called me Jenna. From the first day it was my nickname" (Tweet). Retrieved January 28, 2020 – via Twitter.
  2. Brady, James (November 21, 2007). "In Step With...Jenna Fischer". Parade. Archived from the original on May 18, 2008. Retrieved June 10, 2009.
  3. Schoellkopf, Christina (November 20, 2017). "Jenna Fischer Details Years of Rejection Before Landing 'The Office' in New Book". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 20, 2017.
  4. Fischer, Jenna [@jennafischer] (December 3, 2017). "I was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana but moved away to St. Louis just before I turned 2. I grew up in St. Louis, and went to college in Missouri at Truman State University" (Tweet). Retrieved January 8, 2021 – via Twitter.
  5. Sultan, Aisha (April 30, 2017). "Jenna Fischer gives a makeover to her sister's St. Louis County home". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
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