page_title: John Krasinski
section_title: 2005–2009: Breakthrough with The Office and directorial debut
hierarchical_section_title: John Krasinski / Career / 2005–2009: Breakthrough with The Office and directorial debut
caption_attribution_description: kristin.eonline.com - The Office set visit - Los Angeles, Calif. - Aug. 7, 2009
context_page_description: John Burke Krasinski is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of a number of accolades, including four Primetime Emmy Award nominations and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. He was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2018.
  Krasinski became known for his role as Jim Halpert on the NBC sitcom The Office, on which he also served as a producer and occasional director. He later directed and starred in the drama film Brief Interviews with Hideous Men and the comedy-drama film The Hollars. He co-wrote, directed, and starred in the critically and commercially successful horror-thriller film A Quiet Place for which he has gained a nomination for Critics' Choice Movie Award and Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay, and he also directed, co-produced, and wrote the sequel, A Quiet Place Part II.
  Krasinski also portrays the title character in the Amazon spy thriller series Jack Ryan on which he is also a co-producer. For his role in the latter, he was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series.
context_section_description: Krasinski's breakthrough came when he was cast in 2004 in the NBC sitcom The Office, a remake of the successful British TV series. In the series, a mockumentary about life at a mid-sized paper supply company, he played the role of Jim Halpert, an intelligent and mild-mannered sales representative and, in later seasons, co-manager of the paper distribution company Dunder Mifflin in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Krasinski and Jenna Fischer's characters also served as the central love interests of the series.
  To prepare for his role, Krasinski visited Scranton for research and interviewed employees at actual paper companies. He also shot the footage of Scranton used in the opening credits. He appeared in every episode of the series and also directed several including "Sabre". For his work in the series (2005–2013), Krasinski earned approximately US$100,000 per episode of the third season of The Office, four times his salary for the previous two seasons.
  In 2006, Krasinski co-starred in Jason Carvey's independently produced, direct-to-DVD heist comedy A New Wave with Andrew Keegan and Lacey Chabert. In 2007, he co-starred with Anna Faris and Danny Masterson as Brevin in Gregg Araki's independent stoner comedy Smiley Face (2007). Reviews were largely positive for the film. Later that year, he starred in the romantic comedy License to Wed (2007) with Mandy Moore and Robin Williams. Despite negative critical reception of the film, it emerged as a commercial success. Krasinski guest-starred in a number of television series including Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Without a Trace, Ed, American Dad! and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He also co-starred in films including Kinsey, Duane Hopwood, Jarhead, The Holiday and Shrek the Third, For Your Consideration and Dreamgirls.
  In 2008, Krasinski appeared alongside Renée Zellweger and George Clooney in the latter's directorial venture Leatherheads (2008), a period comedy about the early years of professional American football. He portrayed Carter "the Bullet" Rutherford, Princeton University's college football star and a decorated hero of the First World War. MTV.com praised his acting, describing him as "an actor who's able to project both boyish warmth and intellectual concern" while also stating that he "manages the considerable feat of holding the screen opposite Clooney without melting in the heat of his trademark movie-star mega-wattage."
  In 2009, Krasinski made his directorial debut in the comedy-drama film Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. He wrote the screenplay for the film based on David Foster Wallace's collection of short stories, played a minor role in it and also served as producer. The film premiered on January 19, 2009 at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize and received mostly positive reviews. Film critic A.O. Scott wrote that "though this experiment doesn't quite succeed, there's enough intelligence and insight in this movie to make it worth the attempt" while Elizabeth Weitzman from New York Daily News felt that "Krasinski deserves credit for having the ambition to adapt material as difficult as David Foster Wallace's short stories."
  The same year, he starred in the comedy-drama Away We Go with Maya Rudolph, directed by Sam Mendes. It follows a couple searching North America for the perfect community in which to settle down and start a family. The film received positive reviews from critics. In his review, Michael Rechtshaffen from The Hollywood Reporter, said "terrific performances make this tender if slight little film worth the trip". His third 2009 role was in Nancy Meyers' romantic comedy It's Complicated as part of an ensemble cast that included Meryl Streep, Steve Martin, Lake Bell and Alec Baldwin. The film was a box office success, grossing over $219 million worldwide. It won the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Awards for Best Ensemble Cast for the film.
caption: Krasinski with The Office co-star Jenna Fischer in 2009
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