Ronald Ulysses "Ron" Swanson is a fictional character played by Nick Offerman in the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation on NBC. Ron is parks department director in the Indiana city of Pawnee and the immediate superior of protagonist Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler). Ron is a staunch libertarian who believes in as little government as possible and feels the parks department should not exist. Ron's birthday is May 6th.

Ron, who has an extremely deadpan and masculine personality, actively works to make city hall less effective and despises interacting with the public. He loves meat, hunting and breakfast foods. He hates and fears his two ex-wives, one of whom, Tammy (also his mother's name) (who he married and divorced twice in the series) is played by Offerman's real-life wife, Megan Mullally. Ron claims not to be interested in the personal lives of those around him but actually cares a great deal about his colleagues, and has a particularly strong respect for Leslie.

Conceived by series creators Michael Schur and Greg Daniels, Ron has been one of the main characters since the pilot episode of Parks and Recreation. Offerman had some input into the character's creation, and some aspects of Ron's personality were inspired by the actor, like his affinity for woodworking. The traits of the character were partially inspired by a real-life Libertarian elected official in Burbank, as well as political appointees of President George W. Bush. His views on politics have been compared to those of John Locke.

Nick Offerman (born June 26, 1970) is an American actor and writer best known for his breakout role as Ron Swanson in the acclaimed NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation. He is also a woodworker.

Offerman grew up in Minooka, Illinois; his father taught junior high in nearby Channahon. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1993. That year, he and a group of fellow students co-founded the Defiant Theatre, a Chicago-based theatre company. Offerman lived in Chicago throughout the mid-1990s, where he participated with the Steppenwolf, Goodman and Wisdom Bridge theatre companies. During this time, Offerman became acquainted with Amy Poehler, who was heavily involved with the Chicago improv comedy scene.

Offerman has appeared in films such as November (2004), Cursed (2005), Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2005), Sin City (2005), and The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009). He has been married since 2003 to Will & Grace actress Megan Mullally. Offerman guest-starred on Will & Grace during its fourth season and on King of Queens, playing a plumber on the Thanksgiving episode in the former show and a hobo in the latter show. He appeared on his wife's talk show, The Megan Mullally Show. In 2003, he appeared in three episodes of 24 and has guest-starred in an episode of The West Wing.

James Thomas "Jimmy" Fallon, Jr. (born September 19, 1974) is an American actor, comedian, singer, musician and television host. He currently hosts Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, a late-night talk show that airs Monday through Friday on NBC. Prior to that he appeared in several films, and was best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1998–2004.

James Thomas Fallon, Jr., was born in Brooklyn, New York. Jimmy is the son of Gloria and James Fallon, Sr., who is a Vietnam War veteran. His family later settled in Saugerties, New York, while his father worked at IBM in nearby Kingston, New York. He is of Irish descent. As a child, he and his older sister, Gloria, would reenact the “clean parts” of Saturday Night Live that his parents had taped for him. Fallon was such a fan of Saturday Night Live that he made a weekly event of watching it in his dormitory during college. In his teens, he impressed his parents with different impersonations, the first being of James Cagney. He was also musically inclined, and started playing guitar at age 13. He would go on to mix comedy and music in contests and shows.