John Krasinski: Filling Up His Non-'Office' Hours

Image credit: Noe DeWitt/Corbis Outline

JOHN KRASINSKI ''Working with George Clooney is like having the best coach on your side when you're playing the biggest game of your life''

You told yourself this wasn't going to happen. You weren't falling for all the hype. John Krasinski — ridiculously nice guy? Crazy easy to talk to? Witty? Self-effacing? Dead ringer for his Office alter ego, Jim Halpert? Yeah, we'll see about that.

And yet here you are in a tony Beverly Hills hotel lobby, lapping it up as the man in the unzipped sweatshirt insists that he's ''his parents' son first,'' and that the moment ''you start thinking you're important because you're on TV, you're done.'' You marvel at his subtle ability to outcharm you every time the waitress comes over, and at his flagrant inability to accept a compliment. When he departs with a hey this was actually fun we should do it again handshake, you practically have to restrain yourself from shouting after him, ''Soooo...call me?'' Last you checked, you were straight.

America, if you haven't been Krasinski'd yet, watch out: Dude's stepping up his game. He returns this week with new episodes of The Office on NBC and Leatherheads, a screwballsy comedy directed by George Clooney about pro football's origins. Playing a hotshot war hero tapped to help launch the nascent sport, the 28-year-old got to go head-to-muddy-head with Clooney; the career mentoring wasn't a bad throw-in. ''It's like having the best coach on your side,'' he reports, ''when you're playing the biggest game of your life.''

Krasinski has been looking pretty good in his warm-up drills. The Newton, Mass., native had thoughts of becoming an English teacher, but upon graduating from Brown his Hollywood hopes prevailed. A few TV guest spots later, he was waiting tables when he landed in The Office, where he's made half a name for himself in ''Jam,'' i.e., the Jim-Pam romance. Bit-parting wisely (Jarhead, Dreamgirls), he stumbled only with 2007's License to Wed, the romantic-comedy clunker he anchored with Robin Williams and Mandy Moore. ''For people to come down so hard on it was a new experience for me,'' he says. ''It's like making a big to-do about a Little League game. Let's all understand what we're talking about here!''

NEXT PAGE: Summing up the essence of Jim Halpert: ''I wear a messenger bag. And my hair's weird.''