• March 13, 2006
• Vol. 65
• No. 10

The Office's Jenna Fischer

• 

From PEOPLE Magazine

AGE: Turns 32 on March 7

HOMETOWN: St. Louis

OCCUPATION: Receptionist Pam Beesly on NBC's hit The Office

PREVIOUS JOB EXPERIENCE
"I was an office temp for five years," says Fischer (who went on to do guest shots on Cold Case, That '70s Show and Six Feet Under), "so I knew what it was like to be really bored and spend all day wishing you were somewhere else."

TYPING SPEED
"About 85 words per minute," says Fischer. "But I don't think Pam types that fast."

INTERPERSONAL SKILLS
Sorely tested. On one job Fischer had a real-life version of Pam's boorish boss, Michael (Steve Carell). "He was an aspiring comedian who'd come by all day with these lame jokes. I'd think, 'Please, no more. Just let me do my data entry.'"

SPOUSE
Screenwriter James Gunn, 39. "He's pretty famous," says Fischer. "He wrote Dawn of the Dead [the 2004 remake]. We have a [sci-fi] movie, Slither, coming out soon [on DVD]. We wrote it and he directed it."

OTHER INTERESTS
Until The Office came along, says Fischer, "I was very involved in Kitten Rescue [an L.A. charity that helps find homes for abandoned cats]. I still support it. Our dog Wesley and cat Andy are both rescues. I adopted a hog for James for his birthday. His name is Bud."

LONG-RANGE GOAL
"Retire to a ranch where I can set up a hospice for elderly cats. That would be nice."

More From This Article

Published in March 27, 2006 issue: Correction: our story on The Office's Jenna Fischer should have reported that Lollilove is the joint project of Fischer and her husband, screenwriter James Gunn. The parody is on DVD. Gunn also wrote and directed Slither, which opens March 31.