Nick Offerman Says He Still Feels 'Like I'm Kind of an Underground Property' DespiteParks and RecreationFame

Mar. 15, 2025

Nick Offerman on ‘Parks and Recreation’ in 2014 and in 2023.Photo:Colleen Hayes/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal/Getty ; Amy Sussman/GA/The Hollywood Reporter/Getty

Colleen Hayes/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal/Getty ; Amy Sussman/GA/The Hollywood Reporter/Getty

Nick Offermanis reflecting on his career and the kind of fame that’s come with it.

Hit comedy showParks and Recreationwas Offerman’s first big leap in terms of his acting career, he said.

“I was very happy,” Offerman, 54, said of that time in his life. “I was Mr. Mullally. I had a wood shop, and I was working regularly at guest star jobs and Sundance movies. And we were big fans ofThe Office.”

Offerman recalled mentioning to his wife — who starred inWill & Graceand later guest-starred alongside him inParks and Recreation— that if he was ever going to “make it,” it would be in a role like that of Dwight Schrute inThe Office.But when he auditioned for Michael Schur, the creator ofThe Office, he didn’t get a part.

Luckily, Schur remembered Offerman and already had him in mind when he later createdParks and Recreation.

Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally on ‘Parks and Recreation’ in 2011.NBC

NBC

“If Ron Swanson was like any other character, it was similar to the Dwight Schrute paradigm,” Offerman said of his quirky role in the show.

But the exposure the show brought him has its nuances. WhileParks and Recreationwas functionally Offerman’s “big break,” he didn’t ascend to massive fame, he said, like actors in similar positions had.

“It’s interesting, because I still feel like I’m kind of an underground property,” Offerman said. “I didn’t become, you know, Steve Carell or something.”

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Offerman has since featured on shows likeThe Umbrella AcademyandThe Last of Us(for which he won an Emmy) and appeared in movies such asSing, We’re the MillersandCivil War.

source: people.com