Jim Halpert

About Jim Halpert

Jim Halpert is a fictional character in the United States version of the television sitcom The Office, played by John Krasinski. The character is based on Tim Canterbury from the original version of The Office. The character is named after Jim Halpert, a childhood friend of executive producer Greg Daniels.

At the beginning of the series, Jim Halpert is a paper salesman at the Scranton branch of fictitious paper-goods distributor Dunder Mifflin. Intelligent but unmotivated, Jim spends much of his time conspiring with office receptionist Pam Beesly to engineer pranks on his overbearing deskmate Dwight Schrute. Early episodes showed Jim yearning for Pam while she was engaged to Roy Anderson, and much of the dramatic content of those episodes of the show derived from Jim's secret crush on the engaged receptionist. It is often implied through the context of Jim's comments and through the comments of others that he is both overqualified for and uninterested in his job, to the extent that the first sale he claims to 'try' making is during the fourth season, despite a previously stated rank of Dunder Mifflin's ninth overall best salesman; he only stays because of his hope to be with Pam, a hope that was finally fulfilled in season 4. Due to his dry, deadpan manner, Jim is something of a straight man for the show and acts as the comic foil for Michael. He is also in the unfortunate position of being a brake to Michael's unrealistic and reckless schemes.

A seven-year veteran of Dunder Mifflin, Jim insists the job is just an extended stop on his career path and once stated that if it were his career, he would throw himself in front of a train. It is indicated throughout the series that Jim is an extremely talented salesman—in "Office Olympics" he mentions closing two sales during his lunch break. Jim won an award for being the ninth best salesman in the company that year, with Dwight taking top honors ("Dwight's Speech"). In an episode from the previous year ("Diversity Day"), Dwight stole Jim's biggest client while Jim was forced to attend a meeting, which may have affected the standings. Despite Jim's talent for paper sales, he dislikes his job and would often rather participate in (or instigate) office pranks than work.