Regina Marie "Jenna" Fischer (born March 7, 1974) is an American actress and director. She is most widely known for her Emmy-nominated portrayal of Pam Halpert (née Beesly) on the NBC situation comedy and mockumentary The Office, and has also appeared in several films, including Blades of Glory, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, The Promotion and Hall Pass.
Fischer was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, but raised in suburban St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of Jim, a plastics engineer, and Anne, a history teacher. Fischer has one younger sister, Emily, a third grade teacher. Fischer experienced her first taste of performing at age six, when she participated in an acting workshop taught by her mother at Henry School in St. Louis, a workshop also attended by actor Sean Gunn, with whom she grew up.
Fischer attended Pierremont Elementary School in Manchester, Missouri, and Nerinx Hall High School, a private all-girls Catholic school, in Webster Groves, Missouri. She holds a bachelor of arts in theatre, as well as a minor in journalism, from Truman State University, where she originally enrolled as a pre-law history major.