Background

Ethnicity: John's paternal grandparents, Leo Krasinski and Regina L. Wajozynski, were of Polish descent. His maternal grandparents, Edward Joseph Doyle and Eileen Goggin Burke, were of Irish ancestry.

John Krasinski was born on October 20, 1979, in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. He was born to Doctor Ronald Krasinski and Mary Clare. He has two older brothers: Kevin and Paul.

Education

John Krasinski is best known for playing Jim Halpert on the hit sitcom The Office. He met B.J. Novak, a future Office castmate when they were kids. They played little league baseball and attended school together, and Krasinski later appeared in one of Novak's plays. At Newton South High School, he also played basketball and ran cross-country. After high school, Krasinski attended Brown University, where he focused on playwriting. He also worked as an intern on Late Night with Conan O'Brien during this time and was part of a sketch comedy group called Out of Bounds.

After graduating from college as a playwright with an honors thesis entitled Contents Under Pressure in 2001, he went to attain training at the National Theater Institute, in Waterford, Connecticut

To further refine his craft as an actor, John also studied at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, England, and The Actors Center, New York City.

Career

At first, the move to New York was a struggle for John Krasinski, and he worked as a waiter to make ends meet while also landing a few small roles on television shows such as Law & Order: Criminal Intent and CSI.

After making his big-screen debut in 2002, Krasinski landed one of his most notable film roles playing a sexually frustrated husband in Kinsey (2004), which starred Liam Neeson.

In 2005, Krasinski's career took off with the debut of the television series The Office. In the series, Krasinski played Jim Halpert, a paper salesman who has a crush on his company's receptionist, Pam (Jenna Fischer). His character also must cope with oddball fellow salesman Dwight (Rainn Wilson) and his daffy boss, Michael Scott (Steve Carell). Based on the British series of the same name, this workplace comedy struck a chord with TV viewers and would go on to win several Emmy Awards.

As the funny and likable Jim Halpert, Krasinski quickly won the hearts of the show's fans. He was even named one of People magazine's Sexiest Men in 2006. Audiences also became incredibly invested in the Pam-Jim storyline as it evolved from friendship to relationship to marriage and parenthood over the course of the show's nine seasons. Krasinski and Fischer became one of the most popular couples in television history.

In 2013, Krasinski finally decided to say goodbye to The Office. He later reflected on his experience, telling People magazine, "I was a waiter when I got the show; I was 23 years old. A decade of my life! ... In a very big, existential way it's the most important thing in my life."

While on The Office, Krasinski explored other acting opportunities as well. He landed a starring role in the 2007 romantic comedy License to Wed with Robin Williams and Mandy Moore. The following year, he appeared with George Clooney in Leatherheads, a look at the early days of football. Krasinski also found time to create the 2009 film Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, which he adapted from a collection of short stories by David Foster Wallace. He directed and acted in the film as well. That same year, Krasinski appeared opposite Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin in It's Complicated. In 2012, he co-wrote and starred in the environmental film Promised Land with Matt Damon.

Krasinski went on to a supporting role in Cameron Crowe's Aloha (2015) and returned to the director's chair to helm the 2016 dramatic comedy The Hollars. He starred in the film alongside Anna Kendrick and Sharlto Copley. On the acting front, Krasinski starred in Michael Bay's political drama 13 Hours (2016) with fellow Office alum David Denman. In 2018, Krasinski co-wrote, directed and starred in A Quiet Place, opposite his wife, Emily Blunt. The horror flick became a huge hit at the box office, grossing a reported $340 million worldwide, and was also praised by critics. That same year, he voiced the main robot character in the Chinese-American animated flick NextGen.

Also in 2018, Krasinski began starring in the Amazon thriller series Jack Ryan, as the titular CIA employee who moves from a desk job as an analyst into the line of fire. The success of Jack Ryan led to renewal for season 2, which premiered in October 2019.

Even before making it big in Hollywood, John Krasinski was doing voiceovers for TV commercials and continued despite a compounding increase in his mainstream acting work. Some of the brands he has done TV commercials for are: Marshalls (2001), Kodak (2003 and 2005), Ask.com (Voice )(2006), Apple TV (Voice) (2007), Coke (My Coke Rewards campaign) (2007), Blackberry Storm (Voice) (2008), Carnival Cruise Lines (2010), New Era caps (2011), Pepsi (2012), Esurance (Brand Ambassador, multiple commercials including voiceovers from 2012 to 2014). He did print ads for the following brands: Puma (2006), GAP (Holiday Campaign with Amy Adams) (2007), Part of a multi-starrer black and white mini-movie, directed by David O. Russell for PRADA, sub-titled “PAST FORWARD”. He also promoted Reebok’s Zprint sneakers on his Twitter account.

Achievements

• 

  John Krasinsky won the Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series for The Office in 2006 and 2007, consecutively.
  
  His film, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men was showcased at the famous Sundance Film Festival, in 2009.
  
  Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2018.

Works

More photos

• movie

  • Jarhead

    (Jarhead (the self-imposed moniker of the Marines) follows...)

    2005
  • 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

    (From director Michael Bay, 13 Hours is the gripping true ...)

    2016
  • Big Miracle

    (Set in Cold War-era 1988, Big Miracle tells the true stor...)

    2012
  • The Holiday

    (From writer/director Nancy Meyers comes a romantic comedy...)

    2006
  • Dreamgirls

    (With showstopping performances by a star-studded cast, Dr...)

    2006
  • Leatherheads

    (Oscar winners George Clooney and Renee Zellweger star wit...)

    2008
  • Away We Go

    (From Director Sam Mendes and starring John Krasinski and ...)

    2009
  • Taxi

    (Queen Latifah is New York's fastest cabbie, whose skills ...)

    2004
  • A New Wave

    (Desmond (Andrew Keegan), a struggling artist working as a...)

    2006
  • The Prophet

    (In this new animated classic, a free-spirited young girl ...)

    2014
  • License to Wed

    (A reverend (Williams) puts an engaged couple (Moore and K...)

    2007
  • Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

    (Directed by John Krasinski and based on David Foster Wall...)

    2009
  • Promised Land

    (Matt Damon, John Krasinski and Frances McDormand star in ...)

    2012
  • Aloha

    (A military contractor (Bradley Cooper) goes to Hawaii and...)

    2015
  • The Hollars

    (A struggling artist (John Krasinski) is forced to navigat...)

    2016
  • A Quiet Place

    (In this terrifyingly suspenseful thriller, a family must ...)

    2018
  • Smiley Face

    (After consuming a batch of 'special' cupcakes, a pothead ...)

    2007
  • Shrek the Third

    (Get ready for Thirds - the greatest fairytale never told ...)

    2007
  • It's Complicated

    (Meryl Streep, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin star in this ...)

    2009
  • For Your Consideration

    (The film focuses on the making of an independent movie an...)

    2006
  • The Muppets

    (Walter, the world's biggest Muppet fan, and his friends u...)

    2011
  • Detroit

    (A police raid in Detroit in 1967 results in one of the la...)

    2017
  • State and Main

    (A movie crew invades a small town whose residents are all...)

    2000
  • Something Borrowed

    (Perpetual good girl Rachel unexpectedly ends up in the ar...)

    2011
  • Monsters Vs. Aliens

    (The world’s most unlikely heroes are on a mission to save...)

    2009
  • Kinsey

    (Kinsey is a portrait of researcher Alfred Kinsey, driven ...)

    2004
  • Monsters University

    (The early days of Mike and Sully - they meet at Monsters ...)

    2013
  • Manchester By The Sea

    (Academy Award Winner for Best Actor (Casey Affleck) and B...)

    2016
  • Nobody Walks

    (A beautiful, driven young artist comes to stay in a famil...)

    2012
  • Doogal

    (In the Enchanted Village, The Magic Roundabout lies in ru...)

    2006
  • Disneynature: Born in China

    (Disneynature takes you on an epic journey into the wilds ...)

    2017
  • Duane Hopwood

    (When the odds are against you, your best bet is a second ...)

    2005

• TV series

  • The Office

    (The Office is an American mockumentary sitcom television ...)

  • BoJack Horseman

    (BoJack Horseman is an American adult animated web televis...)

Religion

John and his brothers, Paul and Kevin, were born from Roman Catholic parents. His upbringing was in the Catholic faith and it played an important part in John’s early years, especially in his thoughts about marriage:

“I actually grew up Catholic, so I know all about it - they try to get you to understand that marriage isn’t just this little thing you can offer someone as a gift,” Krasinski said in a 2006 interview.

However, it’s unclear if John still practices the Catholic faith. Some sources have even quoted him as now being non-religious.

Politics

John has never publicly declared his political affiliation. When Michael Bay’s 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi created conflicts among politicians, John pointed out that Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz or even Hillary Clinton should not use the movie to score political points. He went ahead and said the purpose of the movie was to acknowledge the soldiers who lost their lives in Benghazi as heroes.

"I think in our political situation, that’s what’s going on now: You can close your eyes and stick your head in the sand, or you can try to participate in whatever’s going on."

"Wherever you stand politically, I don’t think “Make America Great Again” is supposed to be up to our politicians."

Views

John Krasinski is a supporter of different charity organizations, such as Clothes Off Our Back, Feeding America, First Book, Motion Picture and Television Fund Foundation, Soles4Souls and others. On his 40th birthday, he helped raise more than a half-million dollars for a Boston-based charity Family Reach, a non-profit organization that provides financial assistance to families fighting cancer.

Quotations: "Being funny is one of my greatest strengths. I can make girls smile when they're down, and when they're having a good time, I can carry on the joke."

"There's the push and pull you put on yourself and the push and pull the world puts on you. Most of the time, the world's going to win out, because it's just logical that you should be more successful and more motivated. You can always be more."

"I'm not trying to be the triple threat guy. I'm still working on this one threat; acting."

"I've made a lot of mistakes in my life. And I'm really sensitive, so I take even small mistakes as huge ones."

"It looks like I've been smart about it, but truly, I've been incredibly lucky to have the right people notice me and want to work with me."

"Always trying new things is always more fun, and it can be scary, but it's always more fun in the end."

"I think we all have a responsibility to tell good stories."

"You can never perfect a relationship, and you can never perfect yourself to be in a relationship. You're always going to be changing, and you hope it's for the better."

Membership

• 

  Clothes Off Our Back Foundation , United States

• 

  Feeding America , United States

• 

  First Book , United States

• 

  Motion Picture and Television Fund Foundation , United States

• 

  Soles4Souls , United States

Personality

John Krasinski said, that his favorite horror movie is Jaws and Let the Right One.

During his days in college, he coached Gordon School’s Youth Basketball team in Rhode Island.

Physical Characteristics: Build: Athletic

Height: 6 ft 3 in or 190.5 cm

Weight: 92 kg or 203 lbs

Hair Color: Dark Brown

Eye Color: Hazel

Interests

• hanging with friends, reading, listening to music, watching movies

• Writers

  A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Jaws Log by Carl Gottlieb, How We Are Hungry by Dave Eggers, A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments by David Foster Wallace

• Sport & Clubs

  New England Patriots, American football, baseball, basketball

• Athletes

  David Ortiz, Ted Williams

Connections

Krasinski married actress Emily Blunt in 2010. The couple welcomed their first child, daughter Hazel, on February 16, 2014. Their second daughter, Violet, was born in June 2016.

John’s former girlfriends are actresses Rashida Jones and Renée Zellweger.

Mother:

Mary Clare Krasinski

(née Doyle; born 1949)

Spouse:

Emily Blunt

John met Emily through a chance meeting right after relocating to Los Angeles. At that time, he was more concerned about settling in the new city and not on the look-out for a relationship. He took Emily to a gun range for their first date hoping for the worst, but his attraction towards her only got stronger. He felt lucky to know that Emily reciprocated his feelings and was eager to propose lest she had second thoughts. They got engaged in August 2009 and had a destination wedding in Italy in July 2010. The ceremony was organized at good friend, George Clooney’s Lake Como estate who was also one of the guests with his then girlfriend, Elisabetta Canalis. Together, John and Emily have two daughters, Hazel (b. February 2014) and Violet (b. June 2016).

Daughter:

Hazel Krasinski

Daughter:

Violet Krasinski

Fathetr:

Ronald Krasinski

(born 1946)

Brother:

Paul Krasinski

Brother:

Kevin Krasinski

Friend:

Christopher Pratt

Friend:

Steve Carell

Friend:

Rainn Wilson

colleague:

B. J. Novak

colleague:

Rashida Jones

The famous actress was a part of popular sitcoms, The Office (2005–2013) and Parks and Recreation (2009–2015) and started dating John about the time their characters on The Office were also paired romantically. Krasinski rooted for Rashida to get the job on his show and even though, their relationship did not work out on screen or in real life, their break-up was amicable. They were often seen going out a few times post-breakup as well.

colleague:

Renée Zellweger

They were publicly seen grabbing a cup of coffee together a couple of times while filming the movie, Leatherheads (2008) which sparked speculation that the two might be dating. But, it proved to be a rumor.

Friend:

George Clooney

References

• John Krasinski - Instagram photos and videos
• John Krasinski - Twitter