What The Cast Of The Office Is Doing Today

Even in 2023 you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn't seen at least a few episodes of "The Office." "Because 'The Office' is on Netflix and replaying, a lot more people have seen it recently," star Steve Carell commented to Esquire in 2018. The views have only continued to pick up steam: In 2020, "The Office" became the most-streamed TV series thanks to its run on Netflix, before it was moved exclusively to NBC's streamer Peacock.

There's been plenty of speculation on why the series has maintained such unwavering popularity, even with newer, younger audiences. But the show's success must be attributed to its large ensemble cast and the characters they brought to life — as well as the original "The Office" creators Ricky Gervais and Steven Merchant, who brought a new style of TV series to the small screen.

Thanks to showrunner Greg Daniels, and writers like Mindy Kaling and Michael Schur, "The Office" blessed viewers with years of hilarity, including memorable storylines like Michael's financial struggles and his loud and illogical declaration of bankruptcy, and the development of Pam and Jim's relationship. The couple lived happily ever after, as did most of the characters, bar Creed Bratton, who went to jail for his multitude of crimes. It was a fitting end, but how did the actors fare after the show drew to a close? Some have continued acting, started families, and even pursued other business ventures. Let's dive into what the cast of "The Office" is doing today.

From "The Expendables" to "Charmed" to "Transformers" to "Star Trek," Rainn Wilson has been part of plenty of iconic franchises. But he's best known for playing Dwight Schrute, the antagonist of the Dunder Mifflin office who viewers love to hate. When "The Office" ended, Wilson channeled his energy into his digital entertainment company SoulPancake, which he sold to Participant Media in 2016.

Wilson also continued acting on TV, playing Michael Stearns in the drama "Utopia," and Trevor in the Anna Faris-led sitcom "Mom." He also wrote a book on spirituality after reconnecting with his Bahá'í faith while filming "The Office." And, after diving back into his faith, he felt it was something he wanted to share in the 304-page tome "Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution."

In May 2023, Wilson debuted a travel series on Peacock called "Rainn Wilson and the Geography of Bliss." He travels to countries like Iceland, Ghana, and Thailand, but it's not like other celebrity travel shows, according to Wilson. "I'm traveling the world looking for happiness, and kind of thriving human culture," he told Afar. "So I'm on a constant mission to both make myself a better person and to try and make the world a better place using the qualities that God gave me: storytelling, humor, service to others," the actor added.

Pam Beesly, the beloved receptionist on "The Office," was played by Jenna Fischer, whose career has continued to rise since her days at Dunder Mifflin. She notably played Rhonda in "You, Me and the Apocalypse" and Lena in "Splitting Up Together." In 2023, Paramount+ announced that she will have a role in the film adaptation of the "Mean Girls" musical.

The mockumentary sitcom holds a special place in Fischer's heart — so much so, she and fellow "Office" alum Angela Kinsey started a weekly rewatch podcast called "Office Ladies" in 2019. The pair record a new episode every week, recapping episode by episode, with extra segments called "Fast Facts" and "Kinsey's Tidbits" where they share all their behind-the-scenes knowledge and experiences. As the duo shared on an episode of BUILD Series, the podcast came about because the real-life BFFs missed working together. "I've also been looking for a job I can do in sweatpants," Fischer quipped.

As "Office Ladies" has grown and become an unmitigated success, the pair teamed up to share more workplace BTS. They wrote a memoir/tell-all called "Office BFFs: Tales of The Office from Two Best Friends Who Were There." Speaking of the experience, Fischer told People, "We journaled all through The Office about everything. So, we're able to go back and track the journey of both our friendship and of our time on the show."

On "The Office," Ed Helms played quirky sales rep Andy Bernard, who joins in Season 3 as one of Jim's new colleagues at Dunder Mifflin's Stamford branch. His storylines involve the Stamford-Scranton merger, and his relationships with Erin Hannon and Angela Martin. Though he doesn't end up with either of them, he gets his dream job at Cornell and leaves viewers with one of the show's best lines: "I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them."

Helms' career got very busy toward the end of his time on "The Office" and he even had to take a break from the ninth season to film "The Hangover III." However, he switched tracks from acting to music for some time after. He's a member of "The Lonesome Trio" along with his friends Ian Riggs and Jacob Tilove, who "might be described as rootsy, bluegrass-ish, Americana, or even a little bit cowboy," per their website. A band for over two decades, they released their first album in 2015. In the same year, the group played Bonnaroo, where Helms lent his banjo skills to another band at the festival — Mumford & Sons.

Helms has also continued to make time for acting, working on the sitcom "Rutherford Falls" which he co-created with Sierra Teller Ornelas and "The Office" writer Michael Schur. He also writes it alongside his co-star Jana Schmieding, who plays Reagan Wells, the platonic best friend of Helms' Nathan Rutherford.

B.J. Novak's Ryan Howard is another long-standing member of staff at Dunder Mifflin. Although he easily fades into the background in the first two seasons, he takes on a bigger role when he inherits Jim's job in Season 3. He's best remembered for his relationship with Kelly, which mirrored Novak's own off-screen relationship with Kaling. But, while their characters ran away together, their real-life relationship ended amicably in 2007.

Novak switched gears after "The Office," appearing on the big screen as Alistair Smythe in the superhero film "The Amazing Spider-Man 2." He also followed Kaling from "The Office" to "The Mindy Project" and the pair have continued to maintain a close friendship. All that time together obviously paid off, with Novak creating his own TV show, "The Premise" in 2021. The following year, Novak took another big career swing and made his directorial debut with the thriller "Vengeance," which he also produced. "I was scared. And I liked that, because it means that you're trying something brave and out of your comfort zone," he admitted to ScreenRant. He's obviously caught the bug for behind-the-scenes work, too, as he is creating another series for Max. "Young People" will be a multi-cam comedy about a group of 20-somethings sharing an apartment in Brooklyn.

Outside of work, Novak was also the subject of speculation regarding the parentage of Kaling's kids, but she clarified that the former couple are just besties, and that Novak is Katherine and Spencer's godfather.

Since 2013, Melora Hardin has jumped from TV series to TV series. You might have spotted her in an episode of "Scandal," before she began playing Tammy Cashman in "Transparent." She then claimed a main role in "The Bold Type," playing fierce journalist and Scarlett editor Jaqueline Carlyle. Although most of her storylines revolved around her mentorship of Jane Sloan (Katie Stevens), her arc also depicted the ups and downs of her marriage to Ian Carlyle, who was played by her real-life husband, Gildart Jackson.

But Hardin is no stranger to portraying messy and complex relationships after playing Jan Levinson in "The Office." Her on-off romance with Michael may have been the perfect training ground for the actor, who was excited to dive deeper into Jacqueline and Ian's relationship. "I felt really strongly that there was an opportunity to show Jacqueline and her husband unraveling with a lot of love, a lot of history, and how that looks when a couple that really does love each other can work through something with kindness and with all of that history," she told 9 Entertainment.

Alongside playing the infamous magazine editor, Hardin took on the role of Patricia Bloom in the romantic comedy-drama "A Million Little Things." She also competed on "Dancing with the Stars," and unlocked her creative side by designing her own line of abstract wallpaper.

After his ill-fated relationship with Jan, Amy Ryan's character Holly Flax quickly became the love of Michael Scott's life. Ryan reunited with Carell in 2018's "Beautiful Boy." She had been eager to work with the former on-screen love interest again ever since "The Office" ended. "I never dreamed it would have been in this story, but this story came along first, and I was so eager to be a part of it," she told The Hollywood Reporter. They appeared in the biographical drama alongside Timothée Chalamet, who played their son.

More recently, Ryan has had turns in "Lost Girls" and "Beau is Afraid." But, her biggest — or at least most unexpected — role since "The Office" came when she joined the cast of "Only Murders in the Building." Ryan played bassoonist Jan Bellows, the unlikely villain who almost succeeded in fooling Selena Gomez, Steve Martin, and Martin Short's characters into believing she was just an innocent bystander in the show's first season.

Ryan went through quite a transformation to portray Jan in the finale. The seemingly innocent musician changed into a menacing, all-black outfit which Ryan loved. "They gave me that outfit when I left. I don't know if I can really wear it now — maybe around the house, it might spook people," she joked to The New York Times.

After playing the accountant-turned-bar owner Kevin Malone in all nine seasons of "The Office," Brian Baumgartner has continued to demonstrate his proclivity for comedy. He's appeared in shows like "Mike & Molly," "Bad Teacher," and "The Goldbergs." Baumgartner also voiced Walter in the kids animated series "Trash Truck."

But, like Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey, Baumgartner hasn't closed the door on "The Office." He returned to the series with his book "Welcome to Dunder Mifflin," which digs into what sets "The Office" apart from other sitcoms. Baumgartner's memoir functions sort of like an oral history of the series, with the actor speaking to everyone involved to create the ultimate tell-all. "I very quickly arrived at [the conclusion] that I may not be a journalist, and I may not know exactly the right questions to ask, but what I did know was that I was going to get people to open up in a unique way ... I thought, 'If I do these interviews ... we're going to be able to share stories that are unique and different,'" he explained of his decision to write the book, per The Washington Post.

Baumgartner is such a fan of the show, and has joined the hoards of fans who are rewatching the series. And he hosts the podcast "An Oral History of the Office," where he interviews cast and crew members from the show.

Oscar Nuñez might be best known as Oscar Martinez to "The Office" fans, but he's had plenty of notable roles since his days as an accountant in the Dunder Mifflin office. He went on to nab roles in "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" and "New Girl," before going on to star in "People of Earth" and "Mr. Iglesias." In the latter he plays the antagonistic Carlos Hernandez alongside Gabriel Iglesias as the titular teacher. Sherri Shepherd, who played the Woodrow Wilson high principal, said Nuñez typically brought a fun energy to set. "Oscar is so funny, and he improvises, and then he'll break out into a broadway song ... the vibe on set is always fun," she told People.

In 2022, the actor joined Sandra Bullock, Brad Pitt, Daniel Radcliffe and Channing Tatum in the adventure comedy "The Lost City." Nuñez and Bullock previously worked together on the 2009 comedy "The Proposal." The pair kept in touch, and Bullock was the one to reach out to Nuñez about "The Lost City." "She said 'it's a comedy' ... and 'you want to be involved in it?' And, I think that was enough for me. I said 'yeah, of course,'" he explained, per The Wrap. In the same year, Nuñez played Edgar in "Disenchanted," which stars Amy Adams and Patrick Dempsey. Nuñez also had a small role in the rebooted "Baywatch" film.

After Kate Flannery was cast as Dunder Mifflin office worker Meredith Palmer, her role began to evolve. "Meredith wasn't originally going to be an alcoholic, but the role changed a bit, and she becomes this drunken floozy," Flannery explained to Philadelphia magazine. But she enjoyed taking her character in this direction. "I love Meredith. She's so loud and proud, completely unashamed and unapologetic," Flannery added.

After her long-standing role on from the mockumentary series, but she's continued to carve out a successful career for herself. She guest-starred on Debby Ryan's Disney Channel comedy "Jessie," before appearing in a string of feature films in 2015. This included "Fourth Man Out" and Brittany Snow's "Dial A Prayer." And, in between a stint on "Dancing with the Stars," Flannery has found time to guest-star on "Young Sheldon" and voice a series of video game characters. She has also turned to music as a creative outlet. "I've been playing music with Jane Lynch from 'Glee' and 'A Mighty Wind' for several years. I'm also working on some solo tunes," she revealed.

However, despite her busy life since "The Office," Flannery is still best known for playing a drunk — and she's fine with that. "[Working on the show was] really a dream come true and, you know, it's crazy. It's fantastic," she told Nerds & Beyond.

Before he was Toby Flenderson on "The Office," Paul Lieberstein was working a finance job in New York. But, with a stroke of luck — or rather the stroke of a pen — he did a career 180 and became one of the writers on Melissa Joan Hart's breakout series "Clarissa Explains It All." From there, his career led him to "The Office," of which he also wrote 16 episodes. When the show ended, he took his sense of humor and witty writing to an episode of Steve Carell's "Space Force," before co-creating his own series, "Lucky Hank" with Aaron Zelman. The comedy-drama stars Bob Odenkirk as William Henry Devereaux Jr., a college English professor who has a mid-life crisis. The series premiered in 2023 to a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and has left Lieberstein and Zelman with lots of ideas for a second season.

Although "Lucky Hank" is the first TV series Lieberstein has created, it isn't his first big project. In 2018, he wrote, directed and starred in a feature film called "Song of Back and Neck." Though niche, he told /Film that the movie wasn't purely an autobiographical account of the pain he experienced. "It also felt like everybody I knew either had back or neck pain themselves or was very close to someone who did," he said. "And no one was talking about it all, so I thought, let's go for it."