Jenna Fischer says she praised John Krasinski’s talents long before he was a Hollywood movie star
The actress used to compare his career to that of Tom Hanks, who also starred in television before making the switch to films
Fischer and Krasinski starred as on-screen lovers Pam and Jim on The Office from 2005 to 2013
Jenna Fischer always knew John Krasinski would find success in his career.
On the Wednesday, May 28, episode of the Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade podcast, the 51-year-old actress reflected on seeing star power very early on in Krasinski, 45.
During their conversation, she was asked if she was surprised to see her former The Office costar direct 2018’s A Quiet Place, starring his wife, British actress Emily Blunt.
“It was a surprise to none of us,” Fischer said. “I would always say to John, ‘I think you’re gonna be like our Tom Hanks.’ ”
She then asked Carvey, 69, and Spade, 60, if they were familiar with Hanks’ role in the 1980 sitcom Bosom Buddies.
Fischer called the short-lived, two-season series “a very famous successful TV show.”
“But, like, when you think of Tom Hanks, you don’t think of Bosom Buddies,” she said of the 68-year-old Academy Award winner. “You think of everything else Tom Hanks has done.”
She continued, “And I was like, ‘I think The Office is gonna be your Bosom Buddies.’ Like, you’re going places.”
Fischer also called Krasinski “very humble in that way,” adding that when she would make the comparison, it would be “very embarrassing to him.”
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Tom Hanks in ‘Bosom Buddies’ in 1980
“He doesn’t wanna be, like, fussed over like that. But I was like, no. It’s true, mister,” she added of PEOPLE 2024 Sexiest Man Alive.
From 2005 to 2013, Krasinski and Fischer starred opposite one another as Jim Halpert and Pam Beesley in the NBC sitcom The Office. Their quirky office romance eventually bloomed into an on-screen marriage.
During a July 2020 episode of An Oral History of The Office podcast, Fischer said fans sometimes had a hard time coming to terms with the fact that Jim and Pam’s relationship wasn’t real.
“People don’t know how John and I are not a couple in real life,” Fischer told host Brian Baumgartner, who played Kevin Malone on the series. “They don’t understand it.”
“I don’t know how to explain it, because it’s a little bit like telling kids there’s no Santa,” she added.
Krasinski and Blunt, 42, got married in 2010, and Fischer wed writer and director Lee Kirk the same year.
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Jenna Fischer and John Krasinski in 2013
“The bottom line is that we were playing characters, but I know that if people think of us as John and Jenna, then it’s destroying some of the magic of Jim and Pam,” Fischer added.
In May 2024, NBC announced a spinoff of The Office, titled The Paper.
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“I’m excited to see what they do with it. It’s such an amazing idea,” Krasinski told Extra this month.
When asked if he would return as Jim, he said: “Done! If they ask me, I’m in.”
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