‘The Office’: Jenna Fischer Said This Was the ‘Tricky’ Part About Playing Pam
Jenna Fischer was the perfect choice to play Pam on The Office — she showed off her talents as the sweet, funny, and (a bit) dorky character, while perfectly executing emotional moments, too. During an episode of the Office Ladies podcast, Fischer shared the “tricky” part of playing Pam — and it has nothing to do with tapping into those emotions or getting laughs.
Jenna Fischer explained why playing Pam was ‘tricky’
Fans loved Fischer as Pam but there was sometimes confusion about how much the actor was like her character. For Fischer, even her friends and family would make assumptions about her because of the role she played.
During the August 5 Office Ladies podcast, when Fischer and co-host Angela Kinsey were talking about the “A Benihana Christmas’ episode from season 3, they discussed when Pam talks to Roy about wrapping gifts. She tells him, “If you’re using more than three pieces of tape to wrap a present, you’re doing it wrong.”
It turns out that Fischer’s own family and friends call her out on that because she uses more than three pieces of tape for gift wrapping. “Because Pam says this in this episode, every Christmas when I, Jenna Fischer, give a gift and I use more than three pieces of tape, people comment on it.”
She explained that getting grief for not being the character she plays is “tricky,” because she explains, “I am not Pam.”
“That’s the tricky thing about having a character that you’ve played for a long time who makes grand declarations. It gets superimposed onto me,” Fischer said.
Jenna Fischer has to explain she and John Krasinski aren’t a real couple
Fischer and John Krasinski were perfect for the roles of Pam and Jim — and maybe too perfect, since fans believed their onscreen chemistry so much they thought they must be dating.
During the July 28 episode of An Oral History of The Office, Fischer explained how hard it is for her to burst everyone’s bubble. Some fans so wanted Fischer and Krasinski to be a real-life couple, she said, that telling them the truth was a bit like “destroying some of the magic of Jim and Pam.”
“People don’t know how John and I are not a couple in real life,” Fischer explained. “They don’t understand it. And I don’t know how to explain it because it’s a little bit like telling kids there’s no Santa.”
She continued, “See I have to, I feel like I have to justify why John and I aren’t actually in love… And the bottom line is 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 knew she nailed her ‘Office’ audition
Despite the “tricky” part about playing Pam and fans finding it hard to separate the actor from the character, Fischer seemed destined to play the role. And she knew it.
During an episode of An Oral History of The Office podcast, Fischer shared how, when she auditioned for Pam, she was very confident in her acting choices.
“I believed with my whole heart that this was the part for me,” Fischer explained. “I believed I was the one who should play it… I am literally the only person who should play this part. This is mine.”
