Celebrity Online NewsOnline Celebrity Gossip and News

Jenna Fischer extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Jenna Fischer
Fischer in May 2008
Born	Regina Marie Fischer March 7, 1974 (1974-03-07) (age 35) Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2001 – present
Spouse(s)	James Gunn (2000–2008; divorced), Lee Kirk (writer) (2009-present; engaged)

Jenna Fischer (born March 7, 1974)¹ is an American actress, film director and writer. She has appeared in several films, including Blades of Glory, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and The Promotion, but is most widely known for playing Pam Beesly on the NBC sitcom The Office.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2.1 Television and feature films 2.2 Other work 3 Personal life 4 Filmography 4.1 Films 4.2 Television 5 Awards and nominations 6 References 7 External links

Early life

Fischer was born Regina Marie Fischer in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the daughter of Anne and Jim Fischer.² She has one younger sister, Emily, and was raised in Manchester, Missouri a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri.³ She has gone by the first name Jenna since she was born.⁴

She attended Pierremont Elementary School and later attended Nerinx Hall High School, a private all-girls Catholic school in suburban Webster Groves.⁵ She received a bachelor of arts in theatre, as well as a minor in journalism, from Truman State University,⁶ where she originally enrolled as a pre-law major.⁷ Before landing her role as Pam Beesly on The Office, Fischer worked as a receptionist and administrative assistant while auditioning for roles on the side. She has stated in interviews that she can type 85 words per minute with 90 percent accuracy.⁸⁹

Career

Television and feature films

Before landing her breakthrough role on The Office, Fischer spent the first several years of her career appearing primarily in bit parts in small indie films and guest spots on television shows. Her television credits include roles on Six Feet Under, That '70s Show, Cold Case, Miss Match, Strong Medicine, Undeclared, What I Like About You, Off Centre and Spin City.

In 2004 Fischer wrote, directed, and starred in the mockumentary LolliLove, co-starring her now ex-husband James Gunn, Linda Cardellini, Judy Greer, Lloyd Kaufman and Jason Segel. The film premiered at the St. Louis International Film Festival (the hometown of Fischer and Gunn) in November 2004, as well as the TromaDance Film Festival. For her role in the film, Fischer was awarded a Screen Actors Guild Emerging Actor Award.¹⁰ Her experience on the low-budget film (principal photography cost $1500, mostly for food) discouraged her from any future directorial aspirations, as she told a St. Louis arts and entertainment magazine:¹¹

“

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 D.P. 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.

”

Fischer spoke about her career aspirations in an April 2005 interview with The Index, the student newspaper at Truman State University, her alma mater:

“

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.6

”

Fischer has expressed a desire to take on more dramatic film roles in the future, telling a reporter at the 2009 Golden Globe awards: "Yes, [I want to play a serious role.] When I saw Amy Adams in Doubt, I was just, 'Oh, I'd love to do that someday.' She's so talented and I'd like to follow in her footsteps."¹²

Fischer's film credits include Employee of the Month, Slither, Lucky 13, The Specials, The Brothers Solomon, Blades of Glory, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, and The Promotion.

Other work

Prior to The Office, Fischer's short subject work included the 2002 film Les Superficiales, a Peter Alton film; Alton later co-wrote and narrated LolliLove. Fischer had a starring role in a 2003 Instant Films short called The Girl's Guide to Summer directed by Instant Film's co-founder (and camera operator) Charles Papert.¹³

In 2006 she appeared on Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown, appearing in the show's eighth tournament, shot in New Orleans, Louisiana. Fischer played for Catholic Charities' Tsunami Relief and went out in second place.¹⁴

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.¹⁵

In December 2007, during the Hollywood writer's strike, Fischer appeared at Sacred Fools Theatre in episode 25 of Darque Magick, a serialized play written and directed by Jenelle Riley.¹⁶

In 2009 Fischer recorded a voiceover of a commercial for Proactiv Skincare Solutions.¹⁷ She was named as an official spokeswoman for the skin care brand in January 2010.¹⁸

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.¹⁹ The event was held at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri, where Fischer grew up. In March of 2010, she will chair an annual auction for her former St. Louis, Missouri, high school, Nerinx Hall High School, where she plans to auction off items from the All-Star Game as well as a set visit to The Office.²⁰

Personal life

On October 7, 2000, Fischer married filmmaker James Gunn, the brother of Fischer's lifelong friend Sean Gunn.⁹ On September 5, 2007, Fischer and Gunn announced they were separating after nearly seven years of marriage.²¹ In a radio interview during the publicity tour of The Promotion, she said that her divorce was finalized.²²

In May 2007, while attending the NBC upfronts for her role in The Office, Fischer fell down a flight of stairs in a Manhattan lounge and fractured her back in four places.²³ After a twelve-week recovery, she returned to the set in time for the fourth season's first episode.

Fischer has a cat named Andy that she rescued while in college. Fischer is involved with the animal organizations Kitten Rescue²⁴ and Rescue Rover in Los Angeles. In 2008 and 2009, she hosted an event for Kitten Rescue that included a silent auction for the organization.²⁵

Fischer, along with several of her Office co-stars, regularly updates her MySpace blog with behind-the-scenes anecdotes of upcoming episodes of The Office.²⁶

Filmography

Films

Year	Film	Role	Other notes
2003	Melvin Goes to Dinner	Hostess
2004	Employee of the Month	Whisper
	The Women (short)	Leslie
	LolliLove	Jenna	Co-writer and director
2005	The 40-Year-Old Virgin	Woman #1	Background in a bar scene
2006	Slither	Shelby
2007	Blades of Glory	Katie Van Waldenberg
	The Brothers Solomon	Michelle
	Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story	Darlene Madison
2008	The Promotion	Jen Stauber
2009	Solitary Man		completed
2010	A Little Help	Laura	post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Spin City	Waitress	Episode "A Shot in the Dark: Part 2"
	Undeclared	Betty	2 episodes
2002	Off Centre	Melanie	Episode "The Backup"
	What I Like About You	Kim	Episode "Copy That"
2003	Strong Medicine	Camille Freemont	Episode "Maternal Mirrors"
	Miss Match	Connie	Episode "Kate in Ex-tasy"
2004	Cold Case	Dottie 1943	Episode "Factory Girls"
2005	That '70s Show	Stacy Wanamaker	Season 7 Episode 12 "Don't Lie to Me"
	Six Feet Under	Sharon Kinney	2 episodes
2005–present	The Office	Pam (Beesly) Halpert	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2006, 2007) Nominated: Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (2007) Nominated: Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2008)

Awards and nominations

Year	Group	Award	Result	Film/Television series
2004	St. Louis International Film Festival	Screen Actors Guild Emerging Actor Award	Won	LolliLove
	TromaDance Film Festival	Independent Soul Award	Won
2006	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series27	Won	The Office
2007	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series28	Won
	Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series29	Nominated
2008	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Nominated
2009	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV Actress: Comedy 30	Nominated

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jenna Fischer

• Jenna Fischer at the Internet Movie Database
• Jenna Fischer at TV.com

Persondata
NAME	Fischer, Jenna
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Fischer, Regina Marie
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Actress
DATE OF BIRTH	March 7, 1974
PLACE OF BIRTH	Fort Wayne, Indiana
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH