Steve Carell’s Wife Played This Character on ‘The Office’

While actor Steve Carell is now making headlines for his role in the new Apple TV+ series The Morning Show, fans are still pining for a reappearance of his infamous character Michael Scott on The Office.

During his nine seasons on the NBC sitcom, Steve’s wife Nancy appeared on the show for seven episodes. Some may recall the character she played when Michael was making a major life decision.

Second City romance

A fellow actor, Nancy Walls was a member of the Second City Improv Company in Chicago, where she met her future husband Steve. She also worked at a local bar, where Steve would often stop by to chat.

Though there was an attraction, neither had the nerve to make the first move. “We were terrible. I worked at Second City, she was taking classes there, but she worked as a bartender across the street, and I used to go in after shows and try to strike up a conversation. We were both very, very timid, sort of nervous, shy people, around each other,” Steve said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, according to Country Living.  “And the conversation would go something like, ‘Hey, you know, if I were ever to ask a woman out, it would be someone like you, exactly like you.’ And she’d say, ‘If a guy like you were ever to ask a woman like me out, I would definitely do that.”

Steve was finally able to work up his courage, but it took some time. “This went on for weeks,” he revealed. “Other people at the bar at the bar must have been like, ‘Just do it! Put us all out of our misery.’ And finally, we did. It was great.”

The couple tied the knot in 1995 and now have two children, John and Elisabeth. “I knew early on that she was the right one. I’ll never forget standing at the altar and I saw her coming down the aisle—immediately a sense of calm came over me,” Steve told The Guardian in 2013. “There was an ethereal sense of how right it all was and more than anything it was very empowering knowing that person was going to be my partner and have my back. It just made me feel strong, and I’ll never forget it.”

Acting credits

Apparently, comedy runs deep in the Carell family. According to Bustle, Nancy’s credits include being featured in 17 episodes of Saturday Night Live between 1995 and 1996. The characters she portrayed include Kathy Ireland, Diane Sawyer, and Bobbie Battista. In 1999, Steve and Nancy both appeared on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart as correspondents.

Nancy has some film work to her name as well. She was featured in the infamous tennis scene in the 2011 hit film Bridesmaids, and played the health clinic counselor in the 40-Year-Old Virgin, which starred her husband.

The couple also teamed up to create the 2016-2018 TBS sitcom Angie Tribeca. “We didn’t start thinking we’re going to write a show. We just came up with this name that was really dumb and it just kept making us laugh … and the more we talked about it, the more it made us laugh,” Steve told Entertainment Tonight. “She makes me laugh more than anybody.”

Michael’s realtor/sometimes-girlfriend

In Season 2 of The Office, Nancy guest starred as Carol, the realtor who sold Michael his condo and started dating. The actress appeared in seven episodes including “Diwali,” where Michael spontaneously (too much so) proposes to Carol on their ninth date, according to Good Housekeeping.

Carol called it quits with Michael when he Photoshopped his face over her ex-husband’s and mailed it as a Christmas card of their ‘family.’ “I don’t know how to deal with this thing, and the proposal, and I don’t think things are gonna work out with us,” she told Michael in the “Benihana Christmas” episode, putting an end to their relationship and her appearances on the show.

Thankfully, their real-life relationship is still going strong after almost 25 years!