How Weird is Rainn Wilson?

Rainn Wilson, the noted thespian who studied at NYU's graduate acting program, played Shakespeare on Broadway, and has been nominated for an award (the Emmy) from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, here thinks deeply about a question posed during a panel discussion of "The Office," the NBC series in which he stars.

In "The Office," Rainn Wilson plays Dwight Schrute, the dim, arrogant assistant manager at Dunder Mifflin paper supply company in Scranton, Pa.

"The Office" is the American version of a mock-documentary developed in Great Britain by Ricky Gervais, who is also involved in its production. It stars Steve Carell, right, who plays the know-it-all/clueless boss.

A whole (weird) culture has grown up around Wilson's character, Dwight Schrute, especially online, including Rainn Wilson bobbleheads, and a regularly updated blog by Schrute (written by the actor who plays him.)

Rainn Wilson has said he feels an affinity for the quirky characters he plays. He told the Seattle Times, as he was growing up, "the posse I traveled were not exactly the popular crowd. It was a bunch of losers and misfits and band geeks and 'Dungeons and Dragons' aficionados." The scene here, though, is not his high school reunion, but a party for the DVD release of "House of 1000 Corpses," a film in which he appeared.

Wilson's film credits include "The Last Mimzy," "Juno," and "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen." Here he is shown at the June 12, 2008, premiere of "The Rocker," at CineVegas in Las Vegas.

Megan Fox, left, and Rainn Wilson pose together backstage at the MTV Movie Awards on June 1, 2008 in Los Angeles. Other than his role in "The Office," Wilson is perhaps best known for playing the odd mortician intern who develops a romance (of sorts) with the mother of the funeral parlor owners in HBO's "Six Feet Under."

In real life, Rainn Wilson is married to novelist Holiday Reinhorn. The couple have a son, named Walter.