by Daniel Coffman

Created on: December 09, 2011   Last Updated: December 11, 2011

Born Regina Marina Fischer on March 7, 1974 in Fort Wayne Indiana, actress Jenna Fischer is best known for her portrayal of Pam Halpert (nee Beesly) on the hit show Office” on NBC. Her most famous role, “The Office” earned Jenna her first Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.

Jenna was first drawn to performing at the age of six when she attended an acting workshop taught by her mother, elementary school teacher Anne Fischer, at Henry School in St. Louis.  After high school, Fischer attended Truman State University where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and a minor in Journalism, although she originally enrolled as a pre-law history major. While living in St. Louis, she supported herself with administrative and receptionist work, much like her character on “The Office”, typing 85 wpm at 90% accuracy.

While attending college she joined a touring Murder Mystery Theatre Group. After moving to Los Angeles, Jenna joined the Zoo District Theatre, performing Commedia dell'arte. Despite her qualifications and finding an agent, Jenna had difficulty breaking into film, admitting that her first paying film work was "sex education video for [psychiatric] patients upon their release from UCLA Medical Center". After that, her first televised speaking role was a guest-starring role on Spin City in 2001. The next few years were spent taking minor roles in indie films such as Lucky 13.

In 2004, Fischer wrote, directed and starred in the mock-documentary LolliLove with then-husband Festival in November 2004, and was featured at the TromaDance Film Festival, garnering the Independent Soul Award. Eventually, Fischer was awarded the Emerging Actor Award by the Screen Actors Guild. The movie was hard work, as she was forced into several non-acting roles as well as her directorial duties, including making props and serving lunch.

Meanwhile, Jenna was accepting guest-starring roles in several  television series, including "That '70s Show," "Cold Case," "Miss Match," "Strong Medicine," "What I Like About You," "Off Centre," "Undeclared" and "Spin City”, and a recurring role on Showtime’s “Six Feet Under”. Finally, her perseverance paid off in 2005 when she landed the role of Pam. According to Fischer, the casting director for “The Office”, Allison Jones, challenged her to “Bore me”, forcing her to draw from her years of office work to portray the character with believability.

Since landing the role, Jenna has acted in several feature films, including Slither (directed by then-husband James Gunn), Blades of Glory starring Will Ferrel, The Brothers Solomon, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, and The Promotion. More recently, she starred alongside Michael Douglas and Susan Sarandon in Solitary Man, and in the Farrelly Brothers’ movie Hall Pass.

Still, Fischer’s favorite role is still Pam Beesly. In an interview with her alma mater’s newspaper, she admitted: “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.”

Jenna discovered an even greater role on September 24 of 201, when she and husband Lee Kirk welcomed their first child, Weston Lee Kirk.

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