John Krasinski
Born: October 20 1979
Where: Newton, Massachussets, USA
The former English teacher is best known to American audiences as Jim in the US version of the British spoof series The Office.
Big screen roles have included the George Clooney rom-com Leatherheads and the Robin Williams comedy License To Wed.
The son of a doctor and a nurse, Kraskinski is of Catholic Polish-American heritage and the youngest of three brothers.
A voracious readers as a youngster, his first stage experience was starring in a satirical high school play written and cast by BJ Novak.
(he also played in the same Little League Baseball team as Novak, who would become a a writer and co-star in The Office).
After graduating from Newton South High school in 1997, he took the semester off after to teach English in Costa Rica.
Krasinksi subsequently went to Brown University, where he graduated in 2001 as a playwright and went on to the National Theater Institute in Waterford, Connecticut.
Switching to acting from his chosen career as an English teacher, he moved to New York to pursue acting, doing commercials and guests spots on television shows, but also doing readings of off-Broadway plays.
Krasinski's television career began in 2002 as a script intern on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and his big screen debut was in the low-budget 2002 drama Alma Mater.
In 2004, he had a minor role in the sex biopic Kinsey and Queen Latifah comedy Taxi and also worked on the American TV series CSI.
Director Sam Mendes cast him as Corporal Harrigan in the Gulf War drama Jarhead and he also had a cameo in the Christopher Guest spoof For Your Consideration in 2006.
He starred as Cameron Diaz's assistant in the rom-com The Holiday and also had a fleeting role in Dreamgirls.
In 2007, he provided the voice of Lancelot in Shrek the Third and starred opposite Robin Williams and Mandy Moore in the romantic comedy License to Wed.
On the small screen, he attracted critical acclaim as Jim (played in the British version as Tim by Martin Freeman) in the American Office.
Recent work includes the Clooney/Renee Zellwegger rom-com Leatherheads.
