Although its final episode aired close to a decade ago, The Office remains one of the most popular sitcoms of all time. In fact, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it as number 48 in their 100 greatest television shows of all time list. Many scenes and lines of this beloved sitcom have become a part of modern pop culture. And new generations are showing the show as much love as when it first came out.
But if there’s someone who loved The Office just as much as, if not more than, its fans, it has to be its cast members. It’s no secret that appearing in this popular sitcom helped kickstart the careers of many well-known actors, such as John Krasinski, who has acted and directed several films now. But what about some of the actors who weren’t part of the main cast but became regulars in the show?
Well, actors like Andy Buckley, who portrayed David Wallace, have also managed to keep on with their careers after appearing in The Office.
Andy Buckley Had Given Up On Acting Way Before Appearing in The Office
Andy Buckley graduated from Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in political science. Soon after graduating, he went on to work an average nine-to-five job. Despite this, he managed to make time for his hobbies and passions.
Buckley studied sketch comedy and improv at the Groundlings Theatre, where he got to work with comedians such as Melissa McCarthy and Dax Shepard.
Since 1990, Buckley managed to land several small roles in both movies and TV series. He appeared in TV shows such as A Woman Named Jackie, Caroline in the City, Melrose Place, and Pacific Blue, as well as movies such as Forever Love, Running Woman, and The Big Day, all of which came out in 1998.
But at some point in his career, Buckley gave up on making it big in the acting world and decided to start a career in finance instead.
“After Stanford, I moved to New York, studied acting, moved out to L.A., tried to do it not so successfully at all. I wasn’t really motivated, wasn’t going about it the right way. Then I said, ‘I got to get my act together.’ Actually, my wife said that, ‘You better get your freaking act together, pal.’ Merrill-Lynch was kind enough to hire me,” Buckley revealed in an interview for Boston Magazine in 2016.
Andy Buckley Was Only Cast In The Office Due to His Background in Corporate Finance
After not having much luck finding new acting gigs, Andy Buckley decided to quit acting and get a full-time job in finance. However, he decided to give acting a try again when he bumped into fellow Massachusetts native and famed casting director Allison Jones, who happened to be in the process of casting actors for a new sitcom titled The Office.
Buckley decided to give it a try and got the job, although he was working full-time at Merrill Lynch. Turns out that his experience working in the corporate world was the main reason he was cast as David Wallace. “She said, ‘I think they’ll like that you’re some kind of financial guy, and you might be the right guy’… Then they hired me. It was one day, a couple of scenes that episode. Then I went back to being a stockbroker,” Buckley told Boston Magazine.
“A year later they call and I got to do a few big episodes right near the end of that season and started doing some more before the writers’ strike. Then when the writers’ strike ended in 2008, for the next three seasons, they started using me a ton which was great because then I got to be in some movies and then other TV shows, then I got some partners at work because I was out of the office quite a bit and they were doing most of the work.”
However, even when he became a regular on the show, Buckley never quit his job at Merrill Lynch and treated The Office as merely a side job! He served as a financial advisor in this investment company for over 10 years.
What Has Andy Buckley’s Career Been Like Since The Office Ended?
In 2012, around the time the last season of The Office came out, Andy Buckley quit his job at Merril Lynch to pursue a full-time acting career. This turned out to be a good idea because the actor has appeared in numerous films and TV shows since then.
When he was still in The Office, Buckley appeared in television series such as The League, CSI: Miami, NYPD Blue, The West Wing, and Veep. In 2010, landed a small but significant role in the buddy cop comedy film The Other Guys, starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg. That same year, he landed a supporting role in the film Life as We Know It with Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel.
In 2015, he appeared in a supporting role in Jurassic World. He’s also appeared in TV shows such as Odd Mom Out, All Rise, The Fugitive, and Fubar, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. He also has a small role in the 2019 drama film Bombshell and starred in the 2022 short film Lane Five.
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