When John Krasinski stopped by “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on Thursday, the “Jack Ryan” star revealed that his young daughters Hazel and Violet think he works in an actual office — rather than having launched an actual acting career on “The Office.”
“The reason I think that is because I was walking them to school one day, and this guy came up, and he was very nice, he went, ‘John, from ‘The Office’!’” Krasinski told Colbert. “I went, ‘Yeah,’ and he said, ‘Oh my God, it’s so good to see you,’ and I said, ‘Thanks,’ and he kept walking.”
Krasinski said one of his kids then asked him if he worked with the man, which Krasinski denied. When she asked him why he was lying to her, he assured her he wasn’t, only for her to adamantly maintain: “No, he just said he knows you from the office.”
While the Emmy Award-winning NBC show famously launched Krasinski’s career, he told Colbert that his daughters have only just started watching the show. His wife, Emily Blunt, suggested he show them the pilot, at which point things only soured further.
“They were watching the first episode, and my oldest, it turns out she’s a screen talker-atter, so she’s talking to the screen,” Krasinski told Colbert. “When Steve [Carell] fired Jenna [Fischer], she goes, ‘What are you doing?’ Then she goes, ‘You’re a horrible person.’”
Krasinski said he joked: “You should meet Steve Carell.”
“My 6-year-old kept asking, ‘Is that you?’” Krasinski added. “And she says, ‘You look very different.’ I was like, ‘I’ll try not to take that as a hurtful thing,’ but sure, I say, ‘No, that’s me, I was just playing a character,’ and she went, ‘Pfff, that’s not you…That guy looks a lot like you, though!’”
“The Office” aired for nine seasons from 2005 to 2013 before Krasinski went on to become an action star with roles in the “Jack Ryan” series and Michael Bay’s “13 Hours.” He delved into directing with 2018’s Oscar-nominated “A Quiet Place,” in which he co-starred with his wife.
“I think my kids thought she had married me out of charity,” Krasinski told Colbert. “Like, ‘You’re so nice to marry an accountant.’ Because they don’t know what I do.”
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