Trivia: Possessing a sort of surreal, outlandish, and childish comic persona that is only enhanced by his deceptively straight-laced appearance, comic performer Steve Carell first gained a faithful following thanks to an enduring run as a correspondent on the popular Comedy Central news satire series The Daily Show. Though Carell had been performing on the small screen in such shows as The Dana Carvey Show and Over the Top since the early '90s, it was his grating but hilariously obnoxious reports on The Daily Show that truly made him a talent to watch.A native of Concord, MA, and an alumni of Chicago's famed Second City comedy troupe, Carell gained early experience with stints at the Windy City's Goodman and Wisdom Bridge Theaters. Following his feature debut in the 1991 comedy Curly Sue, Carell made a name for himself in television as a writer/performer on The Dana Carvey Show. In the years that followed, he would frequently alternate between film and television, and he continued to do so after joining the cast of The Daily Show in 1999. Sharp-eared television viewers would recognize Carell as the voice of crime-fighter Gary (a role that he played opposite Daily Show co-star Stephen Colbert) on Saturday Night Live's popular TV Funhouse segment "The Ambiguously Gay Duo." Following roles in such little-seen features as Tomorrow Night and Suits, Carell would return to the small screen for a key supporting role in ex-Seinfeld star Julia Louis-Dreyfus' short-lived sitcom Watching Ellie.In 2003, Carell nearly stole the show from comic megastar Jim Carrey with his role as an obnoxious television newscaster in the heavenly comedy Bruce Almighty, before once again stepping into a faux television studio to portray cerebrally challenged weather forecaster Brick Tamland in the 2004 Will Ferrell vehicle Anchorman. Carell then stepped out of the newsroom and into cubicle-land for the lead in NBC's American remake of the popular British sitcom The Office, for which he won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy Series in 2005. Carell also made a brief but indelible cameo opposite Anchorman co-star Ferrell in the big-screen adaptation of Bewitched.Carell's Anchorman colleagues also aided him in realizing his breakout role, later that same summer: the hapless innocent title character of The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Written by Carell and co-scripted and directed by Anchorman producer Judd Apatow, the raunchy-yet-sweet comedy had an inauspicious August release, yet its bawdy, adult-oriented laughs resonated with much of the same audience that made The Wedding Crashers an R-rated success story just a few weeks prior. Like Ferrell before him, Carell suddenly found himself in the enviable position of being able to pick and choose from a number of high-priced, high-profile comedic starring roles, among them the Bruce Almighty sequel Evan Almighty, as well as Get Smart, Horton Hears a Who!, and Dinner For Schmucks. Carrel would continue to pepper his resume with low-key roles as well, however, appearing in dramedies like Dan in Real Life and Crazy, Stupid, Love.He continued to work steadily in smaller films like The Way Way Back and Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, as well as sequels like Despicable Me 2 and Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues. In 2014 Carell picked up the first Oscar nomination of his career for playing against type as the billionaire John DuPont in Bennett Miller's true-crime psychological drama Foxcatcher.

Trivia: First rising to fame for her deadpan performance as receptionist Pam Beesly on NBC's The Office, Jenna Fischer was born in Indiana and spent the first several years of her career primarily appearing in bit parts in small indie films and guest spots on TV shows.In 2000, while auditioning for what would be one of her first onscreen jobs, Fischer met filmmaker James Gunn. Not only did she land a small role in the film, she and Gunn were subsuquently married for eight years. In 2004, they collaborated on the satirical mockumentary LolliLove, which saw Fischer directing and the couple co-writing and starring together. But it was in 2005 when Fischer's career truly took off. Cast as Pam on the U.S. adaptation of the acclaimed Britcom The Office, Fischer soon found herself perhaps the most beloved cast member of one of the country's most popular television shows. She was even named to People's 50 Most Beautiful People. Fischer would parlay her TV fame into a movie career as well, appearing in a number of comedies, like Blades of Glory, The Brothers Solomon, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, A Little Help, Hall Pass, and more.

Trivia: Best known to small-screen devotees as sales representative Jim Halpert, the eternally patient, undeclared admirer of Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) on Greg Daniels' hit NBC sitcom/mockumentary The Office, Massachusetts native John Krasinski graduated from Rhode Island's Brown University in 2001 as an honors playwright, but quickly segued into acting. Within three years launched himself into films, predominantly with bit roles and supporting parts, but consistently echoing the promise that he would soon find himself among number-one box-office draws and Tinseltown heartthrobs. By 2006, in fact, People Magazine featured Krasinski in its "Sexiest Men" issue, a testament to the actor's rapidly growing recognition in the eyes of the public.Born October 20, 1979, Krasinski grew up and attended high school in Newton, an affluent western suburb of Boston. After receiving his degree from Brown, Krasinski studied at the National Theater Institute. 2004 marked the actor's "breakthrough year," with fleeting appearances in no less than four A-list productions. That year, he had bit parts as Ben in the American Zoetrope film Kinsey, a biopic of sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, directed by Bill Condon and starring Liam Neeson; Bob Flynn in Matt Mulhern's finely wrought (and underappreciated) alcoholism drama Duane Hopwood starring David Schwimmer; Messenger #3 in Tim Story's urban comedy Taxi, with Queen Latifah and Jimmy Fallon; and the British CG-animated fantasy Doogal (aka, The Magic Roundabout), which didn't find U.S. release until early 2006. The first two of these films were widely lauded sleepers, the last two critically despised (though they failed to hurt Krasinski's career, given the low profile of his involvement).The Office followed in 2005. Adapted by Daniels from a hit 2001 British series of the same title, the program -- a ratings bonanza on NBC -- stars Daily Show vet Steve Carell as Michael Scott, the tactless, vain, pushy, and loudmouthed (yet well-meaning) director of the Dunder-Mifflin paper company. While Carell's off-the-wall antics spiked the series with a never-ending source of hilarity, the gradually developing relationship between Krasinski's Jim and Fischer's Pam (two straight roles) brought the series weight and solicited interest from those viewers seeking deeper and more meaningful character development. Perhaps sensing this, Daniels opted to stretch their courtship at a snail's pace over the course of several seasons. Krasinski would appear in several movies even as The Office's success continued on the small screen, like Jarhead, The Holiday, For Your Consideration, License to Wed, Leatherheads, Away We Go, and Big Miracle. In 2015, he appeared in Cameron Crowe's Aloha and acted as executive producer on the highly-successful TV series Lip Sync Battle.

Trivia: Born January 26th, 1966, Rainn Wilson is best known for playing über-nerd Dwight Schrute on the NBC comedy The Office, actor Rainn Wilson parlayed a Broadway career into screen work that began with a role on the daytime soap One Life to Live. Bit parts in features such as Galaxy Quest and Almost Famous soon followed before Wilson landed the part of apprentice mortician Arthur on HBO's Six Feet Under during the show's third season. After Six Feet Under bowed in 2005, Wilson was cast in his most prominent role to date, the aforementioned Dwight Schrute, the resident oddball on the critically acclaimed U.S. version of The Office. Wilson so embraced the part that he even personally penned a weblog by the character on the NBC website. In 2006, Wilson was the fourth lead in Ivan Reitman's fantasy romantic comedy My Super Ex-Girlfriend, and a year later he scored his first starring feature role in the children's sci-fi adventure The Last Mimzy.

Trivia: B.J. Novak plays permanently apathetic temp Ryan so well on the hit comedy The Office, that you'd never guess he's actually a producer of the show. The actor and comedian grew up near Boston in the suburb of Newton, and graduated from high school with his Office co-star John Krasinski. He then attended Harvard University, where he earned a degree in English and Spanish Literature, graduating in 2001. Novak worked in standup comedy and joined the show Punk'd in 2002, where he helped pull pranks on celebrities like Hilary Duff and Mya. In 2005, he joined the team of The Office as not only a cast member but also a producer and occasional writer. He also began making appearances in movies like Reign Over Me, Knocked Up, and Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds.

Trivia: Known to many as the humorless Stanley on TV's The Office, Leslie David Baker studied psychology at Loyola University and human services administration at Spertus College of Judica before making several small appearances in commercials and on shows like Scrubs. He also appeared in the movie Elizabethtown before joining the cast of The Office in 2006.

Trivia: With only a handful of TV guest appearances under his belt, Atlanta-born Brian Baumgartner was a relative unknown when the U.S. version of The Office premiered on NBC in 2005. Playing pencil pusher Kevin Malone on the hit sitcom quickly garnered the actor prominence, and in 2007 he landed a supporting role opposite fellow Office cast member John Krasinski in the romantic comedy License to Wed. Once the series ended in 2013, he continued to work in television, with guest appearances on Hot in Cleveland and Mike & Molly.

Trivia: Accomplished stage actress Kate Flannery graduated from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia before diving headfirst into professional comedy. As a member of Second City's National Touring Company, Chicago's Annoyance Theater, and her own act, The Lampshades, Flannery has created over 15 shows. She's also starred in successful plays like Valley of the Dolls and The Phacts of Life. Flannery has appeared in numerous independent movies and on shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm, but she's most well known for playing the divorced, alcoholic, single mother Meredith on the hit NBC comedy series The Office.

Trivia: Known to countless Office fans as the uptight accountant, Angela Kinsey would surprise many with the warm, sunny personality she has offscreen. Born June 25th, 1971, in Texas, Kinsey's family relocated to Indonesia when she was two, and they lived in the country until she was 14, making her fluent in Indonesian. Kinsey went on to attend Baylor University before interning for Late Night with Conan O'Brien and attending classes with Improv Olympic and The Groundlings. She worked in commercials and in various areas of the corporate world to pay her bills, sometimes landing roles on episodes of popular TV shows, until 2005 when she auditioned for the role of Pam Beesly on The Office. Producers liked Kinsey, but they felt she had a feistiness to her that would make her better in the role of Angela Martin. She returned, auditioned for the part, and became a member of the cast. The show became a huge success, and Kinsey worked on other projects in her off time, appearing in co-star John Krasinski's romantic comedy License to Wed in 2007.

Trivia: Probably best known as Oscar from the TV comedy The Office, Oscar Nuñez was born in Cuba but raised in New Jersey. In addition to graduating from the Warner Bros. Comedy Writer's Workshop, Nuñez performed with The Shock of the Funny Theatre Company in New York, and with the Groundlings in California. He would lend his comedic writing and acting abilities to Reno 911!, 24, Halfway Home, and more before joining up with The Office in 2006. His work on that series as Oscar, the homosexual accountant, gave him his highest profile success to that point and led directly to his appearance as an exotic dancer in the Sandra Bullock hit The Proposal.

Trivia: Fans of the comedy series The Office know Phyllis Smith as soft-spoken employee Phyllis Lapin, who's infamously mentioned a colored past in which she was once a cheerleader and a burlesque dancer. Few fans know, however, that Smith did actually do both of those jobs before she was a cast member on a hit TV show. In fact, Smith was never just a career actress; the Missouri native was always a dancer as well, receiving a full scholarship in dance to Kansas University and studying with the San Carlo Opera Company for ballet and tap. She danced ballet with the St. Louis Civic Ballet and the St. Louis Dance Theater, and cheered for the St. Louis Cardinals. She also toured with the vaudeville burlesque show Able's Baggy Pants Burlesque and the Mercer Brothers' show Giggles Galore as a dancer as well as a comedy-skit performer.Smith also received a degree in elementary education from the University of Missouri and has worked extensively in the casting industry. That was how she found herself at the auditions for The Office, where even though she wasn't auditioning, producers were so impressed with her line readings that they created a part for her. While her work on The Office continued for nearly a decade, she appeared in a handful of big-screen comedies including I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With, Bad Teacher, Butter, and the third Alvin and the Chipmunks flick.

Trivia: Born June 24, 1979, comedian and actress Mindy Kaling's portrayal of airhead Kelly Kapoor on the hit series The Office is so good, it's easy to forget that in real life, her considerable brain power has gone into producing and writing the show as well. Kaling graduated from Dartmouth College in 2001, but not before leaving her mark on the school's improv troupe The Dog Day Players, creating a comic strip in the Dartmouth newspaper called Badly Drawn Girl and portraying none other than male actor Ben Affleck in a satirical play that she co-wrote entitled Matt & Ben. The play went on to make Time Magazine's "Top Ten Theatrical Events of the Year" for 2003. Kaling joined the cast and crew of The Office in 2005. She also began appearing in feature films, starting with a cameo in Steve Carell's The 40-Year-Old Virgin and later appearing in Office co-star John Krasinski's romantic comedy License to Wed. Kaling left The Office at the beginning of the show's ninth season to produce and star in her own sitcom, The Mindy Project, on FOX.

Trivia: Known to many as the office worker with a mysterious past from the series The Office, Creed Bratton, a California native, began his career as a musician and was a member of the folk groups the Young Californians, the 13th Floor, and the Grass Roots, with whom he traveled the world many times on tour. Bratton began cultivating an acting career in the late '60s, appearing in films like With Six You Get Eggroll, eventually joining the cast of The Office in 2006 and standing out in the part of the sociopathic Creed.

Trivia: Known to many as downtrodden accountant Toby on TV's The Office, Paul Lieberstein began his award-winning career as a writer helping pen the young adult series Clarissa Explains it All for Nickelodeon. He would go on to write for King of the Hill, The Drew Carey Show, in addition to The Office, for which he would also act as a producer. In all, Lieberstein would take home Emmies, SAG Awards, WGA Awards, Primetime Emmies, and Daytime Emmies for his work in the industry.

Trivia: A former standup comedian whose four-year stint as a Daily Show correspondent laid the groundwork for a successful onscreen career, Atlanta, GA, native Ed Helms has since gone on to keep fans in stitches as abrasive cubicle drone Andy Bernard on the hit television series The Office and as an undead flesh-eater who only wants a girlfriend and equal rights in the popular comedy short Zombie-American (2005). It was after a stint at Oberlin College in Ohio that Helms first began working the standup circuit, with regular appearances at some of the top comedy clubs in New York City quickly gaining him a loyal fan base. Helms' poker-faced sense of humor was an ideal fit for The Daily Show, and with only a handful of credits to his name, the rising star quickly became a regular fixture on the show. In 2006, shortly after wrapping a four-year stint on the Emmy Award-winning Comedy Central faux-newscast, Helms turned up as a member of the Stamford branch on The Office -- a series that also helped launch former Daily Show correspondent Steve Carell to stardom. When the Stamford branch eventually merged with the Scranton branch in the series, Helms' angry ass-kisser became a regular fixture on the show -- his decidedly short-fused character quickly becoming a foil for office prankster Jim Halpert (played by John Krasinski). Having previously studied improvisational comedy with the Upright Citizens Brigade, Helms became a semi-regular fixture at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York City while simultaneously preparing for appearances in the Carell comedy Evan Almighty and the stoner-friendly sequel Harold and Kumar 2. He continued to get good reviews for his work on The Office, but he had a smash hit as one of the three bachelors trying to piece together their night in The Hangover. He would star in the very funny Cedar Rapids two years later, but that film would not do nearly as well at the box office as The Hangover Part II that same year. In 2012 he had a major part in The Duplass Brothers' Jeff, Who Lives At Home, and voiced one of the main characters in the smash animated film Dr. Seuss' The Lorax.

Trivia: The burly African-American comic-turned-character actor Craig Robinson broke through to fame and success when his standup act at the 1998 Montreal Just for Laughs Comedy Festival caught the eye of executives at Fox Broadcasting. The impressed suits offered Robinson a covetable development deal, which led to a series of plum roles within a few years. The actor scored his first significant part circa 2003, opposite Northern Exposure vet John Corbett in the short-lived television series Lucky, but his recurring role as Darryl, the stone-faced Dunder-Mifflin warehouse supervisor on the blockbuster NBC series The Office, finally brought him national recognition. Robinson followed this up with supporting turns in the 2007 A-list features Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls and Knocked Up. He was among the people who tried to help Zack and Miri Make a Porno, and was one of the circle of friends who travel back to the '80s in Hot Tub Time Machine. In addition to The Office, he found additional work on the small screen hosting Last Comic Standing for that program's seventh season.

Trivia: Missouri native Ellie Kemper may have studied English at Princeton University, but her real passion was theater. After learning all she could with an improvisational comedy troupe, she would go on to write for the satirical newspaper The Onion and literary journal McSweeney's, participate in troupes like Upright Citizen's Brigade and People's Improv Theatre, and appear in comedy videos at CollegeHumor.com. Kemper's big break came in 2009, when she was cast as Erin the receptionist on the popular sitcom The Office. She would go on to appear in several movies over the coming year, including Get Him to the Greek, Bridesmaids, and 21 Jump Street.

Trivia: Has been a member of the Upright Citizens Brigade Touring Company comedy troupe. Member of the improvisational sketch-comedy troupe The Stepfathers. Taught improv at Columbia University and Duke University. Had a recurring role on The Office, and was promoted to full-time cast member for the 2010-11 season. Is a writer and performer for the Cutman Films production company.