Jim Halpert
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| Jim Halpert | |
|---|---|
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| First appearance | Pilot |
| Statistics | |
| Gender | Male |
| Age | 20s |
| Occupation | Paper salesman |
| Title | Assistant Regional Manager, formerly Salesman |
| Portrayed by | John Krasinski |
| Created by | Greg Daniels |
Jim Halpert is a fictional character on the United States version of the television sitcom The Office, played by John Krasinski. Paper salesman Jim is the straight man who shares a generally low level of dedication to Dunder Mifflin with office pal Pam Beesly. He keeps busy with pranks on deskmate Dwight Schrute, whom he targets for his rigid adherence to rules and bizarre behavior.
The character is based on Tim Canterbury from the original version of The Office.
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[edit] History
A five-year Dunder Mifflin veteran, Jim insists the job is just an extended stop on the path toward his career and he has stated (albeit casually) that he would move to Maryland and take up a better job if it weren't for receptionist Pam. His relationship with Pam is occasionally the subject of office speculation, which can be a bit uncomfortable considering her engagement to Roy Anderson, a Dunder Mifflin dock worker. It was revealed (in a deleted scene) that Jim and Pam went out for lunch together when they first met and had an amazing time, until Jim found out that she was already in love with Roy. Jim lists a relative named "Larissa" (presumably his mother) as his emergency contact. He shares a house with a roommate, Mark, and was recently involved with a purse merchant named Katy but broke up with her on a company booze cruise before revealing his love for Pam to his boss, who, in an uncharacteristically serious moment, encouraged the dejected Jim to "never give up".
His nonchalant and cynical attitude toward Dunder Mifflin are manifested by a PlayStation Portable spotted on his desk, his humorous deadpan camera poses in reaction to surprising office developments, and his inciting comments during employee meetings. Jim also loves to pull pranks, the majority of them on deskmate Dwight Schrute. Although occasionally, the success of these pranks lead to inadvertently backfiring on Jim such as "The Alliance" or "The Fight" where Jim's flirtation with Pam gets physically awkward; or "Conflict Resolution" when his latest prank involving an I.D. badge pushes Dwight over the edge and demand that Michael seriously fire Jim or transfer him out of the Scranton office.
Jim drives a red late-model Toyota Corolla sedan. His favorite food is soft-shell crab, but despite this he eats a ham-and-cheese sandwich nearly every lunchtime at the same breakroom table. He even orders the meal when being treated to lunch at Hooters. However, the deleted scenes from the episode "Diwali" on NBC.com reveal that he does like sushi, favoring eel over tuna, much to the surprise of Andy. He purchased a non-refundable ticket for an Australian vacation knowing the date overlaps with Roy and Pam's summer nuptials. After realizing that he wasted a lot of time playing pranks on Dwight, he investigates a transfer to Dunder Mifflin's Stamford office.
Jim has confessed his love to Pam and kissed her on the last episode of season two. However, Pam still intends to marry Roy, so she turns Jim down. At the start of season three, Jim has already transferred to the Stamford office and is even promoted. He earns the nickname "Big Tuna" from his co-worker Andy (because Jim once ate a tuna sandwich). Jim has trouble fitting in - his pranks elicit extreme anger, some think that he sucks up to management, and no one understands why he always reacts to surprising developments by looking at the camera. He even casually confesses that he misses the atmosphere of the laidback Scranton office in favor of the supposedly more rigid Stamford branch. The supposed rigidity of the Stamford branch is called into question in the episode "The Coup" as the majority of the action shown in the Stamford branch during this episode revolves around staff at the Stamford branch playing the online game Call of Duty during work hours, and Jim's ineptitude at the game. His relationship with co-worker Karen, however, has grown– it is clear that she has romantic interest in him, though his feelings are left more ambiguous.
When Jim met up with Michael at a paper distributors' convention, he said Michael was a "great boss" and admits that he only transferred because of Pam. Michael considers Jim his best friend after this. When Jim found out that his Stamford boss Josh Porter accepted a job at Staples, therefore dooming the Stamford branch and putting most of the employees out of work, Jim muses to the camera during an interview: "Say what you will about Michael Scott, but he would never do that."
Jim was about to be named Assistant Regional Manager of Dunder-Mifflin Northeast, a new division that would have been created had Stamford absorbed Scranton. With Josh's departure, Scranton absorbed Stamford instead. Jim is still offered the promotion but he must relocate back to his old office. Jim is at first unwilling to return to Scranton because of Pam, but finally decides to do so. Karen, who admits in private that she likes Jim, goes to Scranton as well, along with a few other Stamford employees.
Jim and Pam's reunion is awkward. On his first day back, it is obvious that Jim has grown much closer to Karen during his time away. He implies to Pam that he is seeing someone, which seems to be Karen.
[edit] Jim's pranks
- Encased Dwight's stapler in Jell-O. ("Pilot")
- Encased Michael's 'World's Greatest Boss' coffee mug in Jell-O. ("Pilot")
- Encased Andy's calculator in Jell-O. ("Gay Witch Hunt")
- Paid coworkers five dollars to call Dwight "Dwayne" for an entire day. (Mentioned in "Conflict Resolution")
- Posted Dwight's resume online, and noted that he'd like to work out of state. ("Halloween")
- Relocated Dwight's desk to the men's restroom. ("The Fight")
- Convinced Dwight an abandoned infant was in the women's restroom, causing him to walk in on Meredith "on the can." (Mentioned in "Conflict Resolution")
- Created a macro causing Dwight's name to read "diapers" when input on Dwight's own PC. (Mentioned in "Conflict Resolution")
- Substituted Dwight's writing instruments with crayons. (Mentioned in "Conflict Resolution")
- Assisted Pam in one item as she prepared a list of absurdly fake ailments during Dwight's dictatorial reign over the office's health care plan. ("Health Care")
- Placed Dwight's wallet and desk items in the company vending machine, which he had to buy back with a bag of nickels. ("Booze Cruise")
- Incrementally increased the weight of Dwight's telephone handset using nickels, then abruptly decreased the weight, causing Dwight to smack himself in the face with the phone. (Mentioned in "Conflict Resolution")
- Convinced Dwight a Thursday was a Friday, leading to Dwight's tardiness on the following day. ("Performance Review")
- Placed a bloody glove in Dwight's desk and attempted to convince him that he had committed murder. (Mentioned in "Conflict Resolution")
- Labeled Dwight a security risk on an oversized identification badge and typed "Fart" as his middle name.("Conflict Resolution")
- Agreed to participate in an "alliance" with Dwight, which resulted with Dwight being voluntarily packaged in a box in the warehouse. ("The Alliance")
- Convinced Dwight to purchase a purse from a vendor, and then made fun of him for having it. ("Hot Girl")
- Convinced Dwight to give a "Salesman of the Year" award speech patterned after a speech by Benito Mussolini (ironically, the speech was a success). ("Dwight's Speech")
- Moved Dwight's desk two feet closer to the copier by moving it about an inch every time Dwight went to the bathroom. (Mentioned in "Conflict Resolution")
- Convinced Dwight to dye his hair blond in order to spy on the Stamford branch. ("The Alliance")
- With the help of Pam, convinced Dwight that he (Jim) had telekinetic powers, leading Dwight to try to move objects with his mind. ("Casino Night")
- Popped Dwight's fitness orb. ("Performance Review")
- Verbally made a complaint in front of the office to Michael by saying that "Dwight tried to kiss me". "Conflict Resolution")
- Convinced Dwight (and Michael) that gaydar could be purchased at The Sharper Image (though according to Jim, it was out of stock). Later sent Dwight a hand-held metal detector decorated with "gaydar" branding, causing him to panic when the "gaydar" went off as he inadvertently scanned himself. ("Gay Witch Hunt")
- Used to make high pitched noises with Pam and then hope Dwight would leave to go have a hearing test. Pam called it "Pretendinitis." (Mentioned in "The Coup")
- Stole some of Dwight's stationary from the Scranton branch and, from time to time, sends a fax to Dwight from "Future Dwight." The latest one warns that someone will poison the coffee, causing Dwight to destroy Stanley's coffee mug. ("Branch Closing")
- Gained access to Dwight's room key at a paper convention in Philadelphia. While walking into his room though, Jim ran into Angela (who was on the bed), and believed Angela to be a hooker due to the quick glimpse he got. ("The Convention")
- Constantly stared at Dwight's forehead, frustrating Dwight and making him think something was on his forehead ("The Merger")
[edit] External links
- Jim Halpert Quotes - at QuotesFromTheOffice.com
| Characters of The Office – U.S. version |
|---|
|
Main Characters |
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Michael Scott | Jim Halpert | Pam Beesly | Dwight Schrute | Ryan Howard |
|
Minor Characters |
|
Accounting |
|
Miscellaneous Characters |
|
Katy | Devon | Carole Stills | Bob Vance | Billy Merchant | Stacy | Brenda | Hank | Ed Truck | Mose Schrute |
