Rainn Wilson from The Office: An Up-and-coming TV Actor to Watch

NBC's mockumentary hit The Office just wouldn't be the same without Rainn Wilson as the rule-keeping, boss-worshipping uber-dork Dwight Schrute. While it might be hard to stand out on The Office where a talented ensemble is led by Steve Carrell, current comedy "it guy", but Wilson manages to do it. As Dwight, Wilson adds a comic creepiness to The Office and thus, makes the show that much more relatable.

The Office isn't the first show Wilson has been a part of. He was also on Six Feet Under the acclaimed, Emmy nominated HBO series about a family of undertakers. The theme and tone of Six Feet was about as different from The Office as you can get. Wilson played the character of Arthur Martin for more than ten episodes. Wilson has also guest starred in such series as CSI, SVU, Numbers and other non-comedies. He's also appeared in some comedies like HBO's Entourage and USA Network's Monk. But The Office is clearly his breakout role as far as TV fans are concerned.

As Dwight Schrute, Rainn Wilson does untold stupid things and is constantly the butt of office cool kids Jim and Pam's jokes - remember the stapler in the gelatin? (And often, he deserves it because of his insane autocratic ways - remember when he banned people from the ladies room?) Perhaps the best joke on Dwight was when Jim planted a Mussolini speech in Dwight's sales convention speech and told him to go for the gusto with it. Oblivious about the content, Dwight did just that. One of The Office's funniest moments yet.

The other played up aspect of Dwight's personality is his obsessive and obsequious devotion to undeserving boss Michael Scott, and his simultaneous desire to wield real power himself- something that Michael will never let him do, at least not in a way that benefits Dwight. Michael, of course is Carrell's character, the self-involved, faux-pas king of The Office. Michael is usually laughed at, not with, by everyone else. Dwight, though, considers Michael "da man" and a role model. Ironically, he's often Michael's favorite target and never really gets the pat on the head or the slap on the back he's looking for. Usually, he gets a kick in the backside instead, with Michael preying on Dwight's desire for power. Remember when he fobbed off that health insurance selection job on Dwight. That was pretty funny, but not something you do to your wing man.

Wilson is great with the eager underling stuff, having Dwight delight in the completely ridiculous things Michael tries to pass of as funny. He's also funny when Dwight gets a bit of power, sees a chance to nail someone on an infraction, or gets challenged by anyone else in the office. He even tangles with Michael sometimes. "Assistant regional manager." "Assistant to the regional manager." With Carrell, Wilson is a good comedic one-two punch. He's definitely integral to The Office. Like Carrell, Wilson is also picking up film roles along with noteriety. He hasn't had a 100 million dollar movie, of course, but he did co-star in "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" in the summer of 2006. Fans have embraced this super fun actor and Hollywood seems to be taking notice, too. More big roles, and hopefully, more season of The Office are in store for Rainn Wilson.