Nick Offerman
Encyclopedia
Nick Offerman is an American actor best known for his role as Ron Swanson
in the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation
. He is also a skilled woodworker.
, Illinois
; his father taught junior high in nearby Channahon
. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts
from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
in 1993. That year, he and a group of fellow students co-founded the Defiant Theatre
, a Chicago
-based theatre company. Offerman lived in Chicago throughout the mid-1990s, where he participated with the Steppenwolf
, Goodman
and Wisdom Bridge theatre companies. During this time, Offerman became acquainted with Amy Poehler
, who was heavily involved with the Chicago improv comedy
scene.
Offerman has appeared in films such as November
(2004), Cursed
(2005), Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous
(2005), Sin City
(2005), and The Men Who Stare at Goats
(2009). He has been married since 2003 to Will & Grace
actress Megan Mullally
. Offerman guest-starred on Will & Grace during its fourth season and on King of Queens, twice playing a plumber on Thanksgiving
episodes of both series; he also appeared on his wife's talk show
, The Megan Mullally Show
. In 2003, he appeared in three episodes of 24
and has also guest-starred in an episode of The West Wing. He can be currently seen on the TV series Parks and Recreation
on NBC
as Ron Swanson
. Prior to this, his most prominent role was as Randy McGee on George Lopez
. He was one of the workers in the factory and the love interest of Benny Lopez. In 2003 he appeared in Gilmore Girls
in the episode "The Festival of Living Art", and once again in 2005 in the episode "Always a Godmother, Never a God". Nick was featured in an early episode of the HBO series Deadwood
in which he played Tom Mason, attempted assassin of Wild Bill Hickok. Offerman also appeared in episode 15 of Monk
s third season: "Mr. Monk and the Election", as a helper for the campaign of Natalie Teeger. In 2007, Offerman co-starred in the Comedy Central
series American Body Shop
.
Offerman is good friends with comedic actor Rainn Wilson
, who plays Dwight Schrute
in The Office. The two became friends while auditioning for the same roles early in their careers and remained in touch, with Offerman even building Wilson's kitchen table. In 2009, Office producers Michael Schur
and Greg Daniels
offered Offerman a regular supporting role in their NBC
sitcom Parks and Recreation. Offerman accepted the role of Ron Swanson, the deadpan, government-hating head of a parks department and the boss of Leslie Knope
, the protagonist played by Offerman's old acquaintance, Amy Poehler
. Slate
magazine declared Offerman "Parks and Recreation' s secret weapon", and said he regularly stole scenes and "has a gift for understated physical comedy". Offerman has also been featured in the Adult Swim
series Childrens Hospital with Rob Corddry
and Rob Huebel
.
Offerman has said that supporting parts such as that of Parks and Recreation are his ideal roles, and that he draws particular inspiration from the Reverend Jim Ignatowski
, the character played by Christopher Lloyd
in the 1970s and 1980s sitcom Taxi
.
. Diresta's pay for shooting the DVD was a canoe, the second one Offerman has built. The writers of Parks and Recreation included a fondness for woodworking to his character Ron Swanson. In addition, Offerman's real-life wife Megan Mullally
has a recurring role in the show as Ron's second ex-wife Tammy.
Ron Swanson
Ronald Ulysses "Ron" Swanson is a fictional character played by Nick Offerman in the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation on NBC. Ron is parks department director in the Indiana city of Pawnee and the immediate superior of protagonist Leslie Knope...
in the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation is an American comedy television series on NBC that focuses on Leslie Knope , a mid-level bureaucrat in the parks department of Pawnee, a fictional town in Indiana. Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, the series debuted on April 9, 2009; it has run for three seasons and...
. He is also a skilled woodworker.
Early life and career
Offerman grew up in MinookaMinooka, Illinois
Minooka is a village in Grundy, Kendall, and Will Counties, Illinois, United States. The population was 10,924 at the 2010 census. Minooka currently has two high schools in its district, a campus for juniors and seniors and a newer campus for freshman and sophomores. Minooka School District 201 ...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
; his father taught junior high in nearby Channahon
Channahon, Illinois
Channahon is a village in Grundy and Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The population was 12,560 at the 2010 census. Channahon is also the name of the township in which most of the village resides...
. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts
Bachelor of Fine Arts
In the United States and Canada, the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, usually abbreviated BFA, is the standard undergraduate degree for students seeking a professional education in the visual or performing arts. In some countries such a degree is called a Bachelor of Creative Arts or BCA...
from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
in 1993. That year, he and a group of fellow students co-founded the Defiant Theatre
Defiant Theatre
Defiant Theatre was a Chicago-based theatre company founded in 1993 by a group of students from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The eclectic troupe specialized in productions that emphasized inventive stagecraft, perverse and controversial topics, and skillful stage combat...
, a Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
-based theatre company. Offerman lived in Chicago throughout the mid-1990s, where he participated with the Steppenwolf
Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Tony Award-winning Chicago theatre company founded in 1974 by Gary Sinise, Terry Kinney and Jeff Perry in the basement of a church in Highland Park, Illinois. It has since relocated to Chicago's Halsted Street, in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Its name comes from...
, Goodman
Goodman Theatre
The Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of Chicago theatre, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization...
and Wisdom Bridge theatre companies. During this time, Offerman became acquainted with Amy Poehler
Amy Poehler
Amy Meredith Poehler is an American comedian, actress and voice actress. She was a cast member on the NBC television entertainment show Saturday Night Live from 2001 to 2008. In 2004, she starred in the film Mean Girls with Tina Fey, with whom she worked again in Baby Mama in 2008. She is...
, who was heavily involved with the Chicago improv comedy
Improvisational theatre
Improvisational theatre takes many forms. It is best known as improv or impro, which is often comedic, and sometimes poignant or dramatic. In this popular, often topical art form improvisational actors/improvisers use improvisational acting techniques to perform spontaneously...
scene.
Offerman has appeared in films such as November
November (film)
November is a 2004 psychological thriller film first screened at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. It stars Courteney Cox as Sophie, a photographer whose life begins to unravel following a traumatic incident on November 7 that involved her boyfriend, played by James LeGros...
(2004), Cursed
Cursed (film)
Cursed is a 2005 horror film directed by Wes Craven and written by screenwriter Kevin Williamson, who both collaborated on Scream. The film stars Golden Globe-nominees Christina Ricci and Jesse Eisenberg as the main sister-and-brother protagonists. The plot focuses on two young adults who are...
(2005), Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous is a 2005 comedy film directed by John Pasquin, starring Sandra Bullock and Regina King. It is a sequel to the 2000 film Miss Congeniality....
(2005), Sin City
Sin City (film)
Sin City, also known as Frank Miller's Sin City, is a 2005 crime thriller film written, produced and directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez...
(2005), and The Men Who Stare at Goats
The Men Who Stare at Goats (film)
The Men Who Stare at Goats is a 2009 comedy war film directed by Grant Heslov and written by Peter Straughan and released in theaters on November 6, 2009...
(2009). He has been married since 2003 to Will & Grace
Will & Grace
Will & Grace was an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 21, 1998 to May 18, 2006 for a total of eight seasons. Will & Grace remains the most successful television series with gay principal characters...
actress Megan Mullally
Megan Mullally
Megan Mullally is an American actress and singer.After working in the theatre in Chicago, Mullally moved to Los Angeles in 1985 and began to appear in supporting roles in film and television productions. She made her Broadway debut in Grease in 1994 and she has since appeared in several Broadway...
. Offerman guest-starred on Will & Grace during its fourth season and on King of Queens, twice playing a plumber on Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...
episodes of both series; he also appeared on his wife's talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
, The Megan Mullally Show
The Megan Mullally Show
The Megan Mullally Show is an American talk show hosted by Megan Mullally that debuted in syndication on September 18, 2006, and was cancelled in January 2007 due to its low ratings. Early promotions for the program featured Mullally as herself and as her Will & Grace character, Karen Walker...
. In 2003, he appeared in three episodes of 24
24 (TV series)
24 is an American television series produced for the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer. Each 24-episode season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration...
and has also guest-starred in an episode of The West Wing. He can be currently seen on the TV series Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation is an American comedy television series on NBC that focuses on Leslie Knope , a mid-level bureaucrat in the parks department of Pawnee, a fictional town in Indiana. Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, the series debuted on April 9, 2009; it has run for three seasons and...
on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
as Ron Swanson
Ron Swanson
Ronald Ulysses "Ron" Swanson is a fictional character played by Nick Offerman in the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation on NBC. Ron is parks department director in the Indiana city of Pawnee and the immediate superior of protagonist Leslie Knope...
. Prior to this, his most prominent role was as Randy McGee on George Lopez
George Lopez (TV series)
"The George Lopez Show" redirects here. For the late-night program hosted by the same comedian, see Lopez Tonight.George Lopez is an American sitcom starring comedian George Lopez...
. He was one of the workers in the factory and the love interest of Benny Lopez. In 2003 he appeared in Gilmore Girls
Gilmore Girls
Gilmore Girls is an American family comedy-drama series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. On October 5, 2000, the series debuted on The WB and was cancelled in its seventh season, ending on May 15, 2007 on The CW...
in the episode "The Festival of Living Art", and once again in 2005 in the episode "Always a Godmother, Never a God". Nick was featured in an early episode of the HBO series Deadwood
Deadwood (TV series)
Deadwood is an American Western drama television series created, produced and largely written by David Milch. The series aired on the premium cable network HBO from March 21, 2004, to August 27, 2006, spanning three 12-episode seasons. The show is set in the 1870s in Deadwood, South Dakota, before...
in which he played Tom Mason, attempted assassin of Wild Bill Hickok. Offerman also appeared in episode 15 of Monk
Monk (TV series)
Monk is an American comedy-drama detective mystery television series created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as the titular character, Adrian Monk. It originally ran from 2002 to 2009 and is primarily a mystery series, although it has dark and comic touches.The series debuted on July...
s third season: "Mr. Monk and the Election", as a helper for the campaign of Natalie Teeger. In 2007, Offerman co-starred in the Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
series American Body Shop
American Body Shop
American Body Shop is an improvised comedy show on Comedy Central that revolves around a dysfunctional body shop in suburban Phoenix, Arizona and the accident-prone crew that works there....
.
Offerman is good friends with comedic actor Rainn Wilson
Rainn Wilson
Rainn Dietrich Wilson is an American actor and comedian. He is primarily known for his role as the egomaniacal Dwight Schrute on the American version of the television comedy The Office...
, who plays Dwight Schrute
Dwight Schrute
Dwight Kurt Schrute III is a character on NBC's The Office portrayed by Rainn Wilson. He originally exactly resembled Gareth Keenan from the original UK version of The Office. Dwight is the top salesman and former acting manager for the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company and has won numerous awards for...
in The Office. The two became friends while auditioning for the same roles early in their careers and remained in touch, with Offerman even building Wilson's kitchen table. In 2009, Office producers Michael Schur
Michael Schur
Michael Herbert Schur is an American television producer and writer, best known for his work on the NBC comedy series The Office and Parks and Recreation, the latter of which he co-created along with Greg Daniels...
and Greg Daniels
Greg Daniels
Gregory Martin "Greg" Daniels is an American television comedy writer, producer, and director.-Life and career:...
offered Offerman a regular supporting role in their NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
sitcom Parks and Recreation. Offerman accepted the role of Ron Swanson, the deadpan, government-hating head of a parks department and the boss of Leslie Knope
Leslie Knope
Leslie Barbara Knope is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. She is portrayed by Amy Poehler. Poehler garnered two Emmy Award nominations for Best Lead Actress in Comedy Series for her role.-Background:...
, the protagonist played by Offerman's old acquaintance, Amy Poehler
Amy Poehler
Amy Meredith Poehler is an American comedian, actress and voice actress. She was a cast member on the NBC television entertainment show Saturday Night Live from 2001 to 2008. In 2004, she starred in the film Mean Girls with Tina Fey, with whom she worked again in Baby Mama in 2008. She is...
. Slate
Slate (magazine)
Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
magazine declared Offerman "Parks and Recreation
Adult Swim
Adult Swim is an adult-oriented Cable network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am ET/PT in the United States, and broadcasts in countries such as Australia and New Zealand...
series Childrens Hospital with Rob Corddry
Rob Corddry
Robert William "Rob" Corddry is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his work as a former correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and for his starring role in the comedy film Hot Tub Time Machine...
and Rob Huebel
Rob Huebel
Rob Huebel is an American actor, comedian and writer best known for his sketch comedy work on the MTV series Human Giant. He currently co-stars on the Adult Swim series Childrens Hospital.-Early life:...
.
Offerman has said that supporting parts such as that of Parks and Recreation are his ideal roles, and that he draws particular inspiration from the Reverend Jim Ignatowski
Jim Ignatowski
The Reverend Jim "Iggy" Ignatowski, played by Christopher Lloyd, was a fictional character in the 1970s television series Taxi. A gentle soul, Jim was, in his own words, "the living embodiment of the sixties". His most noticeable character trait was his extreme "spaced-out" behavior as a result of...
, the character played by Christopher Lloyd
Christopher Lloyd
Christopher Allen Lloyd is an American actor. He is best known for playing Emmett Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy, Uncle Fester in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values, and Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He played Reverend Jim Ignatowski in the television series Taxi and more...
in the 1970s and 1980s sitcom Taxi
Taxi (TV series)
Taxi was an American sitcom that originally aired from 1978 to 1982 on ABC and from 1982 to 1983 on NBC. The series, which won 18 Emmy Awards, including three for "Outstanding Comedy Series", focuses on the everyday lives of a handful of New York City taxi drivers and their abusive dispatcher...
.
Personal life
In addition to acting, Offerman is also a professional boat builder and has a side business as a wood craftsman. Offerman makes furniture and other wooden structures such as canoes and boats at his woodshop. He also released an instructional DVD in 2008 entitled Canoe Building with Nick Offerman, shot by Jimmy DirestaJimmy Diresta
Jimmy DiResta is a New York-based designer and artist.Currently he hosts Hammered with John & Jimmy DiResta with his brother, comedian John DiResta, on HGTV. The show focuses on Jimmy's craftsmanship and John's humor...
. Diresta's pay for shooting the DVD was a canoe, the second one Offerman has built. The writers of Parks and Recreation included a fondness for woodworking to his character Ron Swanson. In addition, Offerman's real-life wife Megan Mullally
Megan Mullally
Megan Mullally is an American actress and singer.After working in the theatre in Chicago, Mullally moved to Los Angeles in 1985 and began to appear in supporting roles in film and television productions. She made her Broadway debut in Grease in 1994 and she has since appeared in several Broadway...
has a recurring role in the show as Ron's second ex-wife Tammy.