by Kayla B Maxwell

Created on: July 29, 2008   Last Updated: January 09, 2012

Tall and handsome American television and film actor John Krasinski was born on October 20, 1979, in Newton, Massachusetts. Born into a Polish-American heritage, he was the youngest of three children, and his father Ronald Krasinski was a doctor, while his mother was a nurse. As a young boy John was an avid reader and was also very fond of acting. His first stage experience came in high school when he starred in his high school play written by B.J. Novak. After he graduated from Newton South High School in 1997, he attended Brown University and graduated in 2002 as a playwright with honors and received an A.B. in Literature in English. After his graduation, he decided to study for one more semester at the Eugene O'Neil National Theatre Institute in Waterford, Connecticut.

Shortly thereafter in 2002, he began his TV career as a script intern on the Late Night Show with Conan O'Brien. He also was an intern at Hill Holiday Advertising Agency, where he worked on Dunkin Donuts commercials. From there he landed small guest parts on "CSI" and "Law and Order: Criminal Intent", as well as "Ed". Also in 2002, he made his big screen debut and played several small roles in the movies Kinsey (2004) and Duane Hopwood (2005). He also appeared in the 2005 movie "Jarhead" as Corporal Harrigan, directed by Sam Mendes. He later played a supporting role in a romantic comedy directed by Nancy Meyers when he acted as Ben in "The Holiday" (2006).

In early 2006, John branched out from the world of TV to land a small role in the film version of Broadway's "Dreamgirls" (2006). Along with a successful fall premier of the third season of "The Office", John wrapped up the year 2006 on a good note. His good fortune carried over into the following year, where his sitcom success seemed to make his 2007 agenda extremely busy. He was also cast in at least six separate features that were released that year. He kicked off the run with the comedy "Smiley Face" (2007), before a follow up on the romantic comedy "A New Wave", which he originally filmed in 2004. He also landed roles in two of the summer's most anticipated movies, "Shrek the Third" and "License to Wed".

Later that year, he ended up with a starring role in the dark satire, "Interviews with Hideous Men", which was a version of David Foster Wallace's 1997 collection of short stories. John not only co-wrote the screenplay for "Interview", the movie also marked his feature directorial debut. As the year came to an end, John landed a supporting role in "Leatherheads", which was a comedy set in the world of 1920s football.

Learn more about this author, Kayla B Maxwell.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.