The Office star Rainn Wilson reveals he was ‘mostly unhappy’ on hit show

He was a fan favourite as the quirky Dwight Schrute, but the actor has revealed he wasn’t so happy making hit sitcom The Office.

B J Novak, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, Rainn Wilson and Steve Carell from The Office.

The Office star Rainn Wilson was a fan favourite as the quirky Dwight Schrute, but the actor revealed he wasn’t so happy playing the beet farmer and paper salesman.

While joining Bill Maher on his Club Random podcast yesterday, Wilson admitted that starring as one of the lead actors on an Emmy Award-winning sitcom never felt like “enough” for him.

“When I was in The Office, I spent several years really mostly unhappy because it wasn’t enough,” he said. “I’m realising now, like, I’m on a hit show, Emmy nominated every year, making lots of money, working with Steve Carell and Jenna Fisher and John Krasinski and these amazing writers and incredible directors like Paul Feig.”

Wilson (second from right) said he was plagued with thoughts he should be doing more while he was on the show.

He continued, “I’m on one of the great TV shows. People love it. I wasn’t enjoying it. I was thinking about, ‘Why am I not a movie star? Why am I not the next Jack Black or the next Will Ferrell? How come I can’t have a movie career? Why don’t I have this development deal?’”

Wilson certainly tried his hand at film while starring on the show, appearing in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Juno and My Super Ex-Girlfriend. As he starred in films and his hit TV show, Wilson earned three Emmy Award nominations for his Office role, one of the most recognisable television characters in recent decades.

Wilson was making “hundreds of thousands” – but wanted more. Picture: Supplied

He said he felt his career was “never enough.”

“When I was on The Office, I was clutching and grasping at, okay, I was making hundreds of thousands. I wanted millions, and I was a TV star, but I wanted to be a movie star. It was never enough,” he explained. “Humans have lived for hundreds of thousands of years, and ‘never enough’ has helped us as a species.”

The actor starred on all nine seasons of The Office as the power-hungry Dwight. He also directed a number of episodes.

Since the show ended in 2013, Wilson has continued his career in television acting, appearing in series such as Mom, Dark Winds and Solar Opposites. He also appeared in the Weird Al Yankovic biopic, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.

Wilson also recently published a book, titled Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution.

This story originally appeared on Decider and is republished here with permission.