Rainn Wilson Reveals He Spent Several Years "Mostly Unhappy" on 'The Office'
The actor played Dwight Schrute for all of the show’s nine seasons.
Rainn Wilson has opened up about his time on NBC’s hit show The Office, including how he spent “several years” on the show “mostly unhappy.”
Speaking on Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast, the actor — who played Dwight Schrute on the series — revealed that he wanted to be a “movie star” and being on a show as successful as The Office wasn’t enough for him as he had aspirations of being a movie star. “When I was in ‘The Office,’ I spent several years really mostly unhappy because it wasn’t enough,” he shared. “I’m realizing now, like, I’m on a hit show, Emmy nominated every year, making lots of money, working with Steve Carell and Jenna Fischer and John Krasinski and these amazing writers and incredible directors like Paul Feig. I’m on one of the great TV shows. People love it. I wasn’t enjoying it. I was thinking about, ‘Why am I not a movie star? Why am I not the next Jack Black or the next Will Ferrell? How come I can’t have a movie career? Why don’t I have this development deal?’”
Wilson added, “When I was on ‘The Office,‘ I was clutching and grasping at, okay, I was making hundreds of thousands. I wanted millions, and I was a TV star, but I wanted to be a movie star. It was never enough. Humans have lived for hundreds of thousands of years, and ‘never enough’ has helped us as a species.”
During his time as Dwight, Wilson was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series at the Emmys thrice. As part of The Office cast, he received several Emmy and Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations and wins.
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