Jenna Fischer

Regina Marie "Jenna" Fischer (born March 7, 1974) is an American actress best known for her portrayal of Pam Beesly on the NBC sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2013), 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.

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 comedy-drama series ''You, Me and the Apocalypse''. Fischer also starred in the ABC sitcom ''Splitting Up Together'' (2018–2019). She is currently the co-host of the podcast ''Office Ladies''.

Fischer's first book, ''The Actor's Life: A Survival Guide'', was published in November 2017.

Early life

Fischer was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. Her mother, Anne (née Miller), is a history teacher; her father, James E. Fischer, is an engineer. She has one younger sister, Emily, a third grade teacher. 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.

She later attended Pierremont Elementary School in Manchester, Missouri, and Nerinx Hall High School, a private all-girls Catholic school in Webster Groves, Missouri. 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.

Career

Career development

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

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 1922 film ''Nosferatu'' with Zoo District Theatre Company. This led to her signing a contract with that agent.

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

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.

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." 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, in 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. Despite the film's contribution to her career, she admitted to a St. Louis arts and entertainment magazine that the experience dissuaded her from any future directing:

''The Office'' (2005–2013) and feature films

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
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