- published: 12 May 2015
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Phyllis Smith (born July 10, 1951) is an American actress. She is best known for playing Phyllis Vance in The Office and her voice role as Sadness in the film Inside Out.
Smith was born in St. Louis, Missouri. She graduated from the University of Missouri–St. Louis in 1972 with a degree in elementary education. In the 1970s and 1980s, she worked as a dancer, a cheerleader for the old St. Louis Cardinals football team, and a burlesque performer. She has said that there was "no stripping, but I did wear feathers". She was forced to quit dancing after suffering a knee injury. She later worked in Hollywood, California as an actress and in casting.
Smith was working as a casting associate on The Office when she was offered the role of Phyllis Vance, a character created specifically for her; a soft-spoken saleswoman who tends to disagree with the pompous office manager Michael Scott. She received Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2006 and 2007 for her performance in The Office, in the category "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series". In June 2008, Smith appeared with the cast of The Office on Celebrity Family Feud. In 2011, she played a supporting role in the film Bad Teacher. In 2015, she voiced the character of Sadness in the Pixar film Inside Out.
Steven John "Steve" Carell (/kəˈrɛl/; born August 16, 1962) is an American actor, comedian, director, producer and writer. After a five–year stint on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Carell found greater fame for playing Michael Scott on the American version of The Office, on which he also worked as an occasional writer and director. He has also starred in lead roles in the films The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), Get Smart (2008), Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011), The Incredible Burt Wonderstone and The Way, Way Back (both 2013). Carell has also voiced characters in the animated films Over the Hedge (2006), Horton Hears a Who! (2008), Despicable Me (2010) and Despicable Me 2 (2013). Carell was nominated as "America's funniest man" in Life magazine, and received a Golden Globe Award Best Actor in a Television Series for his work on The Office.
His dramatic role as wrestling coach and convicted murderer John Eleuthère du Pont in the 2014 film Foxcatcher earned him several awards and nominations including a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Carell also received acclaim for his roles in the comedy–dramas Little Miss Sunshine in 2006, and The Big Short in 2015, for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe.