‘The Office’: How Old Is Jenna Fischer and Does She Have Any Kids?

We’ve been covering some of the favorite male (and usually offbeat) characters from The Office lately, but let’s never forget the memorable women on the show. A lot of the men in the cast sometimes overshadowed the value of the women who brought just as much or more comedic charm.

At the top of that list would easily be Pam Beesly, played by Jenna Fischer. While she was the only female member of the main cast, Fischer will always be remembered for her performance as Pam and the relationship she had with Jim Halpert.

In real life, Fischer had an interesting acting career going before The Office, including one failed Hollywood marriage before finally finding marital success.

Fischer’s relationship with James Gunn

You likely already know about the controversy lately related to James Gunn and his firing/rehiring by Disney for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Did you know Fischer and Gunn were married for seven years during the 2000s?

When they met, Fischer was trying to make it in TV and film with only some minor roles. She met Gunn via his brother who happened to be a close friend.

After marrying in late 2000, Fischer’s association with Gunn helped open considerable doors to acting offers. You don’t have to call this marriage one of convenience to progress her acting career, though it almost became a common showbiz trajectory in actress/director relationships.

Arguments can be made whether Fischer would have made it on her own had she not have married Gunn. Whatever your opinion is, she was soon appearing in movies and doing significant guest shots on Spin City and Six Feet Under.

An amicable divorce and a new marriage

If you can find any silver lining to Fischer and Gunn’s split in 2007, it was one of mutual amicability. They’re one of the few Hollywood marriages that didn’t end with ongoing acrimony. Some people might think it was the opposite based on Gunn’s past warped sense of humor in his tweets.

Fischer was a big star on The Office by the time they were divorced. She reportedly loved the role of Pam so much, she made a concerted effort to stick with the show to its end. While there was always danger of stereotyping, it hasn’t hurt her career in the least.

Before the show even ended, she was able to rebound in a better relationship with screenwriter Lee Kirk. They started dating when he wrote and directed one of Fischer’s side project movies. Despite her Pam character having a strong romantic relationship with Jim Halpert, Fischer married Kirk in the middle of The Office‘s alternate romantic reality.

Then she gave birth to a son named Weston only a year later. During this same time, the Pam character was ironically expecting a second child (a son) with Jim, making Fischer’s real pregnancy easily woven into the show.

A daughter born after ‘The Office’ ended

You have to wonder how The Office would have worked another pregnancy into the show had it gone on for another year or two. A year after the show ended, Fischer gave birth to a daughter with Kirk. They named their daughter Harper Marie, and she’s just turned five years old as of this 2019 writing.

Since then, Fischer continues to stay in the limelight, outside of hitting that age where Hollywood always bulks on hiring middle-age women. She just turned 45 years old in March while managing to stay in everyone’s consciousness. You even see her turn up at private The Office cast reunions now and again, which only fueled more unfounded speculation about a reboot.

With numerous movie and TV projects continually on her plate, Fischer is proving actresses in their 40s who had children a little later than usual are a new norm Hollywood should prepare to honor.