Jenna Fischer

Jenna: I think I'm a polite person and I have those kind of midwestern values. I send out elaborate Christmas cards, and in that way I imagine I'm a little like Pam (her character in The Office).

Jenna Fischer: I would go gay for [actress] Kate Winslet. I saw her across the room at a party once. She is the sexiest woman on the planet!

Jenna Fischer: (on her split with husband James Gunn) My husband got the dog, and I got the cat. But the dog and cat miss each other, so we must have a sleepover one of these days.

Jenna: I love improvisation because I like to be able to contribute creatively a little bit more than just memorizing my lines. But I actually like absorbing improv from other actors more than I like trying to come up with the clever thing myself.

Jenna: Television and movies are so different. TV has a real routine to it and movies are sort of like short-lived projects where it's sort of like a blitz.

Jenna Fischer: My favorite on-screen moment has to be when John and I filmed our dinner scene on the roof during "The Client". There was a very small crew up on the roof and they had the cameras really far away. There was a warm breeze and Rainn and Brian were off in the distance setting off really lame fireworks. The whole thing just felt magical. I also love anytime I get to do a party planning scene. Angela, Phyllis and Kate are all so funny. We laugh a lot during those scenes. They are so subtle and passive/aggressive. I love it! My favorite off-screen moment is probably our weekly viewing parties. We have such a great time watching the show together. We cheer for the writer and congratulate cast members for particularly funny bits in the show. Oh, runner-up for best off-screen moment would be how much John made us all laugh when we were filming "The Fire". We had to stand outside in the heat for hours but he made us laugh by doing imitations of Angela getting carried away by a giant bug. It was pretty great.

Jenna Fischer: (about how her relationship with her husband is similar to that of Pam and Jim in The Office) My husband is kind of my real-life Jim. He's a writer-director, and I met him because I went to audition for one of his projects... but we both were in relationships, and so we had a very strong chemistry and attraction that we couldn't really act on, very similar to Jim and Pam. And slowly, he broke up with his girlfriend, and eventually I broke up with my boyfriend, and once we started dating, we only dated four months and then we got engaged. But I think the whole time I was waiting, I knew he was the one, and so I can really draw on that experience in the show.

Jenna Fischer: (about her career aspirations) 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 Fischer: (in being the sixth member of the International Spice Girls, which turned out to be a front for a call-girl service) All the rehearsals were in this guy's penthouse. And I swear I kept going to rehearsal. And I learned my song, and it was about a truck stop... and I noticed that none of the other girls were singing with me, but they did walk by in lingerie... and I'm like, "Huh, weird!"

Jenna Fischer: I wouldn't be where I am today if not for my husband James Gunn. He is the one who convinced me to quit my job as a secretary (ironically) and focus full-time on acting. I didn't totally believe I could make it, but he did. He supported us financially and supported me emotionally. He ran lines with me and coached me before countless auditions. He put up with my highs and lows. He was, and still is, my biggest cheerleader. And you need that out here.

Jenna Fischer: (about how she failed to get the role of Sydney Bristow on Alias) They said they liked my acting but I wasn't hot enough.

Jenna Fischer: I had real potential. But my goal was to be... adequate. I didn't want to be an extraordinary receptionist, because I didn't ever want to be promoted, or be given more work. My time was really valuable to me. For example, I could type 80 words per minute, but I wouldn't tell people that, so when my boss would give me work, he would think it'd take two hours, but it would really only take about thirty minutes. So I'd have, like, ninety minutes of fun time. I got it all done, I just did it... real slow.

Jenna Fischer: You know, I tried to get on Dancing with the Stars, and they wouldn't take me. True story! I shot the first season of The Office, and I thought, "The show's going to get cancelled, and I have to milk every opportunity I can." My manager called, my agent called, but they didn't bite.

Jenna Fischer: I had this crazy job, though, when I first got to Los Angeles... I answered this ad in the back of the newspaper to be a telephone psychic, and I did that for two days. I called up this guy, and... this is how hard it was to get this job: He said, 'So, uh, do you feel intuitive from time to time?' And I was like, 'Yea, sure, I feel intuitive.' He said, 'Do you read Tarot cards?' And I said, 'I DO!' and I didn't.

Jenna Fischer: I have a BlackBerry. People always see me typing with my thumbs. Definitely an addict of the BlackBerry. You can't always take a phone call when you're on the set, but you can look down and read a little message. [But] you can't write anything too intimate when you have to type with your thumbs, I find.

Jenna Fischer: (on her favorite things to do) I just LOVE to watch TV. I wish I could say something really impressive like I love to read or hike but the truth is that most of the time I'm just sacked out on the couch watching shows or DVDs.

Jenna Fischer: (regarding her secretary days before becoming an actress)) There's a small part of me that loves filing, organizing and spreadsheets.