Nick Offerman Biography

Nick Offerman is a comic actor whose most famous role was as Ron Swanson, the no-nonsense boss of Amy Poehler in the series Parks and Recreation. Offerman and Poehler go back to their early days in Chicago theater, when she was doing comedy improvisation and he was acting and co-founding Defiant Theatre. Offerman got into the movies around 1996, and the next year moved to Los Angeles to work in TV and movies. An everyman with a mustache and deadpan delivery, he guest starred in TV shows including Will & Grace, The West Wing and 24, and was a regular player on the series George Lopez (2003-04) and Children’s Hospital (2008-13). He auditioned for the role of Michael Scott in The Office, and the producers remembered him, even though Steve Carell ended up with the part. When Parks and Recreation started in 2009, they gave Offerman the part of Swanson, and he proceeded to steal scenes for the run of the show, through 2015. His film credits include The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009, with George Clooney), Smashed (2012, starring Aaron Paul), 21 Jump Street (2012, with Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum) and The Lego Movie (2014).