John Krasinski

Early life

Krasinski was born at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston, to Mary Clare (née Doyle), a nurse, and Ronald Krasinski, an internist. His father is Polish-American and his mother is Irish-American. He and his two older brothers, Kevin and Paul, were raised Roman Catholic.

Krasinski made his stage debut as Daddy Warbucks in a sixth-grade school production of the musical Annie. Afterwards, he co-starred in a satirical play written and cast by his future The Office co-star B. J. Novak when they were high school seniors. Krasinski and Novak graduated from Newton South High School in 1997.

Before entering college, Krasinski taught English as a foreign language in Costa Rica. From there, he went to Brown University, studying theatre arts under Lowry Marshall and John Emigh, and graduating in 2001 as a playwright with the honors thesis "Contents Under Pressure". During his time at Brown, he was a member of the sketch comedy group Out of Bounds. In college, he also helped coach youth basketball at the Gordon School in East Providence, Rhode Island. Then he attended the National Theater Institute in Waterford, Connecticut.

Television and feature films

Besides training at the National Theater Institute, he also studied at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, and The Actors Center in New York City. After graduating from Brown University, Krasinski went to New York City to pursue acting, appearing in commercials and guest-starring on television shows, as well as doing readings of off-Broadway plays while working as a waiter. He starred in the play What the Eunuch Saw, which was written and directed by his former college classmates Emily O'Dell and Isaac Robert Hurwitz. In 2000, Krasinski was a script intern on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

Krasinski rose to fame playing Jim Halpert in the NBC sitcom The Office from 2005 to 2013. Krasinski filmed the footage of Scranton, Pennsylvania, for the show as well, including the clips shown in the opening credits. Krasinski directed an episode of The Office, titled "Sabre", the fifteenth episode of The Office's sixth season. He also directed the third episode of the show's eighth season, titled "Lotto" and the sixth episode of the show's ninth and final season, titled "The Boat".

Krasinski co-starred with Andrew Keegan and Lacey Chabert as Bob in Jason Carvey's comedy A New Wave that was released in 2006. He also co-starred with Anna Faris and Danny Masterson as Brevin in Gregg Araki's comedy Smiley Face, filmed in 2006. Afterwards, he co-starred in a number of films including the romantic comedy License to Wed (2007) with Mandy Moore and Robin Williams, and the sports comedy Leatherheads (2008) with George Clooney and Renée Zellweger. Krasinski co-starred in the comedy-drama Away We Go with Maya Rudolph, directed by Sam Mendes that filmed from April to June 2008. He co-starred with Meryl Streep, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin in Nancy Meyers' romantic comedy It's Complicated that was released in late 2009.

In 2006, Krasinski wrote and directed the comedy-drama Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, based on David Foster Wallace's collection of short stories. It premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. 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.

Krasinski co-starred as Ethan with Ginnifer Goodwin, Kate Hudson and Colin Egglesfield in the romantic comedy Something Borrowed, based on Emily Giffin's novel of the same name. Krasinski co-starred with Drew Barrymore in the drama Big Miracle, based on a true story. Krasinski also starred as Peter in the indie drama Nobody Walks that was released on September 6, 2012. He will appear in and also serve as executive producer with Aaron Sorkin on an HBO miniseries about the Chateau Marmont Hotel. Krasinski co-starred in and co-wrote the drama Promised Land with Matt Damon that filmed in April 2012 and released on December 28, 2012. Krasinski was also one of the top candidates to star in the superhero film Captain America: The First Avenger. Chris Evans eventually got the part.

Krasinski co-starred in Cameron Crowe's romantic comedy-drama Aloha with Rachel McAdams, Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone. The film was shot in Hawaii from September to December 2013 and was released on May 29, 2015.

Krasinski, along with Stephen Merchant and Allyson Seeger, are executive producers of the live-action/animated sitcom Dream Corp, LLC created by Daniel Stessen on Adult Swim. The series was announced as a pilot in May 2014, and a full season was approved in November 2015. Jon Gries of Lost fame will play a principal character. Krasinski executive produced the critically acclaimed 2016 drama Manchester by the Sea, starring Casey Affleck and produced by Matt Damon, with whom Krasinski wrote Promised Land. The screenplay, written by Kenneth Lonergan (who is also the director), is based on an original idea of Krasinski's.

In 2016, Krasinski starred in the war thriller 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, based on a true story. That same year, he wrote, directed and starred in the comedy-drama The Hollars.

Other work

Beginning in March 2006, Krasinski narrated a series of commercials for Ask.com. He has also narrated commercials for Apple TV, Verizon Wireless, Esurance, BlackBerry Storm, My Coke Rewards, and Carnival Cruise Lines, and has appeared in print advertisements for Gap.

In April 2011, he co-starred in a New Era/Major League Baseball ad campaign with Alec Baldwin, playing off the rivalry between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. In 2012, he started narrating the show Head Games on the Discovery Channel.

He co-starred in the world premiere of the Off-Broadway play Dry Powder with Hank Azaria, Claire Danes, and Sanjit De Silva, directed by Thomas Kail, at The Public Theater in New York City.

Personal life

In November 2008, Krasinski began dating English actress Emily Blunt. They became engaged in August 2009, and married on July 10, 2010 in Como, Italy. They have two daughters, Hazel (born 2014) and Violet (born 2016).

His brother-in-law is actor Stanley Tucci, who married Blunt's sister Felicity in 2012.