Jenna Fischer's Real Name: Regina Marie Fischer

Quick answer: Jenna Fischer's documented full name is Regina Marie Fischer. TV Guide lists that form as her birth name and a birth place of Fort Wayne, Indiana. TV Insider independently uses the same birth name and dates her birth to March 7, 1974, in Fort Wayne, Indiana (TV Guide; TV Insider).

Real name and early life

She is known professionally as Jenna Fischer. Both TV Guide and TV Insider use the birth name Regina Marie Fischer and Fort Wayne, Indiana; only TV Insider supplies the March 7, 1974, date. TV Guide says she graduated from Truman State University in 1995, got an early acting credit in a sex-education film made for mental-health patients, and later worked as a receptionist in Los Angeles while seeking acting work, then landed the lead role of receptionist Pam Beesly on The Office. TV Insider similarly notes that she worked as an office temp for five years while searching for her big break in Hollywood, and that she brought a Midwestern sensibility to the part.

Career highlights

TV Insider identifies her signature role as Pam Beesly on The Office (NBC, 2005-2013), and calls her Emmy-nominated. TV Guide independently lists a 2007 Primetime Emmy nomination for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series and a 2008 Screen Actors Guild award for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series. TV Insider adds featured roles in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007) and Blades of Glory (2007), plus later credits including Hall Pass (2011), You, Me & the Apocalypse (2015), Splitting Up Together (2018), and Mean Girls (2024). TV Guide also records that she wrote the book The Actor's Life, and lists a 2007 TV Guide Award for favorite ensemble and a 2006 Gold Derby nomination for comedy supporting actress. The two TV Guide descriptions of the character use both "Beesly" and "Beesley"; TV Insider consistently uses Beesly, the usual on-screen spelling.

Name notes for searchers

Regina Marie Fischer is the documented full name in both TV Guide and TV Insider; the professional name is Jenna Fischer. Searchers looking for Pam Beesly on The Office or for The Actor's Life are usually aiming at the same person.