All of the Oscar Nominees and Winners Who Guest-Starred on ‘The Office’
While they’re certainly no Dundies, many people still put a lot of stock in the Academy Awards — though, frankly, we think more people would tune into the Oscars if they were held in the back of a Pennsylvania Chili’s. Well, it turns out that more than a few actors who have received Academy Award nominations, not to mention wins, have appeared in episodes of The Office.
For starters, Michael Scott himself is an Oscar nominee, as Steve Carell was up for Best Actor in 2015 after donning a pair of prosthetic eyebrows and playing John Eleuthère du Pont in Foxcatcher — a role that presumably tapped into his previous criminal experience as Prison Mike.
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A number of Dunder Mifflin guests were similarly shown some Oscar love, such as…
Kathy Bates (Jo Bennett)
Bates, of course, took home the Best Actress Oscar for her role as Annie Wilkes in Misery, aka the worst fan who has no outspoken opinions on The Last Jedi. Bates had a regular gig on The Office as Jo Bennett, the Florida CEO of Sabre — that is, until she ceded her position to Robert California, played by James Spader, who has shockingly been nominated for zero Oscars.
Amy Adams (Katy)
Adams has been nominated for an Oscar six times, for films like The Master and American Hustle — although she was snubbed for Arrival, and, come to think of it, Enchanted. But before all of those movies, Adams played the alluring purse saleswoman Katy who starts dating Jim before he tactlessly dumps her because Jim Halpert is a giant jerk.
Joan Cusack (Erin’s Mom)
Cusack showed up in the series finale as Erin’s biological mother, along with her biological father, played by Ed Begley Jr. (somehow, NBC robbed us of a spin-off focused entirely on these three). Let’s not forget that Cusack was nominated for an Oscar twice — for Working Girl and In & Out.
Amy Ryan (Holly Flax)
When it came time to cast Michael’s love interest, Holly Flax, Ryan took the role and ran right into his heart. However, she first honed her experience working with awkward middle-aged dudes constantly saying the wrong thing by collaborating with Ben Affleck, who directed her in Gone Baby Gone. The film landed Ryan a Best Supporting Actress nomination for playing the strung-out mother of a missing child.
June Squibb (Michael’s Mom)
While we never actually see Michael’s mother in any episodes of The Office, we briefly hear her in the episode “Customer Survey,” where she’s voiced by Squibb, who was nominated in 2014 for her supporting role in Nebraska.
Cloris Leachman (Lily)
The funniest person from Iowa, Leachman, won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar back in 1972 for her work in the classic coming-of-age drama The Last Picture Show. More than three decades later, she appeared in a less classic episode of The Office, playing an older woman romanced by Jack Black in Andy’s pirated movie Mrs. Albert Hannaday.
We’ll obviously make sure to update this list should Bob Vance from Vance Refrigeration ever be recognized by the Academy.
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