The Office actress Jenna Fischer explains 'intense' reason behind quitting acting
Jenna Fischer has opened up about why she made the decision to step away from acting in lead roles after the conclusion of The Office.
The show had an ensemble cast including Fischer alongside Steve Carrell, Rainn Wilson, and John Krasinski, and has become one of the most popular and well-known sitcoms.
Starting in 2005, the US show took a very different tone to the UK show it took inspiration from, instead taking a more upbeat tone, though it would also use the mockumentary format.
But when the TV series came to a conclusion in 2013, after nine seasons, Fischer made the decision to step away from acting for several years before she next took on a leading role, though she had smaller parts in the meantime.
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It would not be until 2018 when she starred in the ABC comedy Splitting Up Together, and she opened up to the Dinner’s On Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson podcast about why she took a step back.
She explained that she had 'really loved' her fellow cast members on the show, but the work life balance with the demands of filming and all the accompanying work was becoming difficult.
“The hours were so intense,” said Fischer. “It was like 65, 70 hours a week. You know, it was, like, really, really hard, and my kids were very small.”
This was enough that she decided to step back from taking on lead roles.
“I just decided after that that being, like, the lead of a television show or even a regular on a television show was not going to be a fit for me anymore,” she said.
Following the conclusion of Splitting Up Together, Fischer reached out to her friend Angela Kinsey, who had played Angela Martin in The Office, and the pair started a podcast called Office Ladies together.
This saw them sharing some memories from behind the scenes on the show and revisiting some of their favourite episodes together.
For Fischer, the most important change came with being able to have control over her time, balancing work with her home life with the podcast.
“I was now at every school drop-off, every school pickup, every teacher conference, every concert. I didn’t have to beg someone to go to the Halloween parade," she said.
She said that it was able to bring in a 'a steady income', but also allowed her to be in her children's lives more, saying how she became 'the agent of my own time, the architect of my own time, so to speak'.
In December 2023 Fischer was diagnosed with Stage 1 triple-positive breast cancer, undergoing surgery followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and making her diagnosis public in October 2024.
She would go on to share a message of support with actor Lucy Davis, who starred in the UK version of The Office, after Davis revealed in August 2026 that she had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Davis, 53, took to Instagram sharing the sad news with her followers that she had been diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer, and that it had also metastasised to her bones, but that she had been trying to persevere and life her life as best she could.
Responding to Davis' post, Fischer wrote: “Beautiful post. Love you lots. And yes to working with cancer! Let’s spread that message far and wide! How working is such a comfort!”
Topics: US News, TV, The Office
Kit Roberts