“The Office” has long since cemented its standing as one of the great TV sitcoms, and a big part of its lasting appeal comes down to the characters. Even the lesser members of the ensemble were truly memorable, which was at least in part due to the excellent casting. Casting director Allison Jones brought together seasoned veterans with improv backgrounds alongside relative unknowns to create arguably one of the best TV casts ever assembled. But she also inadvertently provided “The Office” with a performer who was never actually supposed to be on the show.
Phyllis Smith’s Phyllis Vance (née Lapin) was with the series throughout its nine-season run and became a beloved member of the cast. The shy and reserved sales representative was never quite as uproariously funny as Steve Carell’s Michael Scott or Rainn Wilson’s Dwight Schrute. But she was still one of the best characters on “The Office” and often surprised with moments of pure, unadulterated sass that added a whole new dimension to the otherwise docile sales rep. Smith’s thoroughly believable performance and her ability to play off the more outgoing performers in the cast were extra impressive, considering she wasn’t even a full-time actor before playing Phyllis, and actually started out as part of the casting team led by Jones.
Before “The Office,” where she appeared until the series finale in season 9, Smith worked as a casting associate on a handful of series, including “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and “Spin City.” But during the casting process for “The Office,” one of Smith’s jobs was to read lines with the auditionees, and it turns out director Ken Kwapis liked her delivery so much that he pushed for the writers to create an entirely new character just for her.
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How Phyllis went from casting associate to a member of The Office cast
Phyllis Smith’s Phyllis Vance sits in an interview room in The Office – NBC
During an episode of the rewatch podcast “Office Ladies,” hosted by Angela Kinsey and Jenna Fischer, Phyllis Smith went into detail about her career as a casting associate. After working as — of all things — a dancer in a vaudeville burlesque show, Smith injured her knee and found work as a receptionist. It was during this very “Office”-esque real-world job that she got called in to an audition, and while she didn’t land the role, she did tell the casting director, “I think I might be good in casting.” Soon after, she started working alongside that particular casting director and eventually interviewed to become Allison Jones’ associate.
That led to her reading with the auditionees for “The Office.” In a separate “Office Ladies” episode, Smith recalled to her former co-stars how she came to be cast as a member of the Dunder Mifflin team. “We were at the point in the casting process where we were pairing up the actors to see what their chemistry would be together,” she explained. “I remember Ken Kwapis, the director, he was getting his coffee together, and he turned around to me and he said, ‘Phyllis, I want you to read the character of Pam today. I went, what?”
As Smith recalled, she had no idea why she was being asked to read with the “Office” prospects. “I remember a fax came through to our office with an updated script, and it had Phyllis in it,” she said. “And Allison goes, ‘Is this Phyllis? […] But I never heard the answer.'” Soon after, Smith suddenly found herself with a single line in the pilot episode of “The Office,” and once she received a call from the wardrobe department, she grabbed the opportunity.
Phyllis charmed an Office director with her down-to-earth manner
Phyllis Smith’s Phyllis Vance smiles as she stands in the kitchen in The Office – NBC
Ken Kwapis, who directed the pilot episode of “The Office” and went on to oversee several more installments across nine seasons, clearly saw something in Phyllis Smith during the casting process, and it was an inspired move to bring her into the cast. During a Reddit AMA, the director said he recommended her to showrunner/creator Greg Daniels after being taken by her “down-to-earth vibe” and her “sincerity.” That certainly translated to the show itself and helped Phyllis become one of the most beloved members of the original ensemble.
As such, she’s an “Office” character who wouldn’t be out of place on the spin-off, “The Paper,” and with her husband Bob Vance (Robert R. Shafer) appearing in the premiere episode to offer an update on Dunder Mifflin, it doesn’t seem entirely out of the question. Meanwhile, Smith herself has continued to work as an actor in the years since “The Office” ended, most notably voicing Sadness in Disney’s “Inside Out” movies. She also played Betty Broderick-Allen in 12 episodes of Netflix’s “The OA” before its cancellation in 2019, and appeared in three episodes of the ABC sitcom “Trophy Wife.” But she’ll always have a special fondness for the show that turned her into an actor in the first place.
As Smith said in a message sent to the “Office Ladies” hosts, “I loved every minute of being in ‘The Office’ for nine years. It changed my life in a positive, good way. It gave me a career, a new career when I never even believed acting was ever going to happen for me […] I really, truly loved every moment, and I still miss it.”
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