20 A-List Stars Fans Completely Missed On The Office

Throughout its nine year run, NBC's The Office saw a number of A-list stars pass through its ensemble cast.

While actors like Steve Carell, Ed Helms, and John Krasinski are obviously the most memorable A-listers from The Office, considering that they were the stars of the show, there were quite a few other stars who only appeared for a few episodes.

Though most episodes of the mockumentary series featured just the main cast, which already has a decent number of stars, it wasn't too rare for a different character to pop in for an episode or two.

Sometimes these were family members of the main characters, sometimes they were friends, and other times they even showed up as new employees of the office.

While usually these A-list stars appeared as legitimate special guest stars, other times these actors appeared before they were the big name actors that they are today.

Often times, long term viewers of The Office didn't even realize that these actors even popped up in the series, as the show only treated them like any regular guest actor rather than like an A-list star.

Even if these stars didn't stick around for more than one episode, they certainly added a bit of a highlight to the episodes that they were in.

Whether their appearances were huge and memorable or brief and forgettable, these guest appearances on The Office always made the series more fun to re-watch.

With this in mind, here are the 20 A-List Stars Fans Completely Missed On The Office.

20 Amy Adams

During the first and second seasons of The Office, five time Academy Award winner Amy Adams played a brief role in the series.

Though she had already been in a few hit movies before this, including Catch Me If You Can, this was still before she became the huge actress that she is today.

Adams first appeared as the character Katy at the end of season 1, where nearly every man in the office tried to flirt with her.

After this point, it was revealed that she and Jim had started dating.

Though Adams only appeared on camera in two episodes in the second season, it was implied that her character was still dating Jim before the two lovers finally broke up halfway through the season in the episode "Booze Cruise".

19 Idris Elba

Before he was the huge actor who many people want to see play James Bond today, Idris Elba appeared in seven episodes of The Office.

Though he was a well known actor at the time, he didn't really have the star power that he does today.

Elba appeared towards the end of season 5 as Michael's new boss Charles Miner, who Michael immediately did not get along with.

Miner's to-the-books attitude caused him to immediately butt heads with Michael's unorthodox leadership style, adding a conflict to the series that fans have wanted to see for quite some time.

Though Elba did not stick around with The Office after season 5, it was still a lot of fun to see him take control of the office for a few episodes at least.

18 Evan Peters

Evan Peters is now a huge face in Hollywood, with the X-Men franchise and the series American Horror Story being some of his best known work.

Before he took on these roles, however, Peters actually made a one episode appearance in The Office.

In the first episode of season 7, Peters appeared as Dunder Mifflin's newest employee Luke Cooper.

Right off the bat, it was apparent that Luke was horrible at his job and that he would be the central conflict of the rest of the episode.

After Peters' character caused a few more issues, it was revealed that he was actually Michael's nephew, and that Michael only hired him so he could try go get closer to his nephew.

All in all, this ended up being a fun episode, with Evan Peters perfectly pulling off the role of a young employee who does nothing but slack off.

17 Dakota Johnson

Before Fifty Shades of Grey made Dakota Johnson an incredibly well known actress, she actually appeared as an employee of Dunder Mifflin in the series finale of The Office.

Once he was given the manager's position at Dunder Mufflin Scranton, Dwight made quite a few changes to the office's roster, including firing the dimwitted accountant Kevin.

In Kevin's place, Dwight hired a new accountant named Dakota, played by Dakota Johnson.

Though we didn't get to learn much about Dakota's merits and skills as an accountant, we can assume that she was a better fit for the job than Kevin.

Dakota Johnson didn't really get the chance to interact with the rest of the office members on camera, but her inclusion is still fun to spot upon rewatching the finale.

16 Ricky Gervais

It's common knowledge that NBC's The Office was based on the BBC series with the same name that starred and was created by Ricky Gervais.

What many people tend to forget, however, is that Ricky Gervais actually appeared twice in the American version of the show.

Rather than appearing as a new character for the American series, Gervais actually appeared as his character from the original UK series, David Brent.

Gervais first appeared about halfway through sSeason 7, where he came face to face with Michael Scott.

The two of them exchanged some quips, before parting ways.

He later appeared at the end of season 7, where he did a video interview for the Regional Manager position at Dunder Mifflin after Michael had left.

15 Timothy Olyphant

Towards the beginning of season 7, Justified star Timothy Olyphant appeared for two episodes as the character Danny Cordray.

When Cordray first appeared, he was revealed to be one of the best salesmen in the Scranton area, and was an enormous threat to Dwight and Jim.

In order to deal with this threat, Michael stepped in and actually offered Cordray a job, leading many to believe that Timothy Olyphant would receive a recurring role in the series.

Unfortunately, Olyphant only appeared one more time in the series, specifically in the next episode. It was during this time that the history between his character and Pam was explored more, revealing that he had "ghosted" her while they were dating because he thought she was dorky.

14 Jessica Alba

Jessica Alba appeared with another A-list actor in the fake pirated movie in the episode"Stress Relief".

Though she wasn't as prominent in the movie as other characters, Alba did show up briefly during this two-part episode of The Office as another actor in the strange romance film.

Jessica Alba appeared as Jack Black's girlfriend at the beginning of the movie, who he left for her mother.

It was a brief performance, but still helped to make the movie look like a legitimate, high budget film.

Though she may not be an A-list actress anymore, this fake movie also featured Academy Award winner Cloris Leachman as Alba's mother who Black fell in love with.

13 Anna Camp

Pitch Perfect and The Help actress Anna Camp appeared for the two-part episode "Niagra" in the show's sixth season, which featured the wedding of Jim and Pam.

In this episode, fans of The Office were introduced to some of the family members of both Jim and Pam.

Anna Camp was introduced as Penny Beesly, Pam's younger sister. Though she didn't have a huge role in the episode, like Pam's friend Isabel, Penny's inclusion did add a bit more to the already exciting episode.

Unlike Isabel, Penny unfortunately never appeared in The Office after this point.

While it would have been nice to have seen Camp more in the series, or to have seen her play a larger part during her brief time with the show, her inclusion was still exciting nonetheless.

12 Ken Jeong

Ken Jeong became a huge name in Hollywood after he appeared in The Hangover, alongside Ed Helms. Also like Ed Helms, Jeong actually made an appearance in The Office earlier on his career.

Towards the beginning of season 2, in the episode "E-mail Surveillance", Jeong appeared as a member of Michael's improv group. 

Unfortunately, he wasn't really a prominent member of the improv group in this episode, as the only two characters who received much focus were Michael and the improv instructor.

At one point, Jeong did get a bit of a focus when he and Michael were put together to do a sketch.

However, Jeong was mostly silent during this scene after Michael whispered in his ear that he had a gun.

11 Will Arnett

Comedy actor Will Arnett is arguably best known for his roles in Arrested Development and The LEGO Batman Movie, but he also appeared in a two-part episode of The Office.

At the end of season 7, Arnett appeared in "Search Committee" as one of the people interviewing for the Regional Manager position at Dunder Mifflin, following the departure of Michael Scott.

Arnett's interview was both hilarious and cringey.

Rather than being open about how he'd improve the company, he held back the details of what he'd do, claiming to be worried that the company would use his ideas without hiring him (when really, it was apparent that he didn't have a plan).

Though Arnett noticeably did not get the job, as he did not appear again in the series after this point, his character still seemed incredibly confident that he would be offered the position.

10 Thomas Middleditch

Silicon Valley actor Thomas Middleditch appeared in one episode of season 9, and was nearly one of the stars of the Office's spin-off series The Farm, before it was ultimately cancelled.

Middleditch played Dwight's idiotic brother, Jeb Schrute. The series would have starred Jeb and Dwight running the large farm they had just inherited, alongside their city-based sister.

The introduction to Jeb was rather humorous, in a dark kind of way, as audiences first saw him when he accidentally drove his car over the open grave of his recently-deceased aunt.

Though we didn't get to see Middleditch's character develop any further than the single episode "The Farm", his character was still enjoyable.

It's a pity we didn't get to see more of him in either mockumentary series.

9 Josh Groban

The award winning singer Josh Groban, best known for his remarkable baritone voice, has taken a few leaps into acting over the years. One of these leaps was with The Office, which he appeared in two episodes of.

Groban appeared as Walter Bernard Jr., the younger brother of Andy Bernard. When fans first met Walter, it was apparent that he was the favorite of the Bernard children, which made Andy noticeably jealous.

When Groban later reprised his role as Walter Bernard Jr., it was after the divorce of his and Andy's parents.

At this time, it was revealed that Walter had an issue with heavy drinking.

In order to help with Walter's struggle, and to help Andy embrace being the "man of the family," the two brothers took off on a boat trip through the Caribbean.

Though Groban never appeared after this point, it's implied that he was with Andy the entire time that they were sailing.

8 Dan Castellaneta

Though Dan Castellaneta may not be the most recognizable actor upon first glance, his voice is what has made him the most well known.

Since the series' debut in 1989, Castellaneta has been the voice actor for Homer Simpson in the hit animated sitcom The Simpsons, in addition to voicing quite a few more characters in the series as well.

Castellaneta made a brief appearance at the end of The Office's season 8 as the CEO of Prestige Direct, one of Dunder Mifflin's biggest clients before the branch that covered his company abruptly shut down.

Though he didn't use his Homer Simpson voice in the episode, his inclusion was still certainly appreciated and added a bit more talent to the series.

7 Paul Feig

Paul Feig has become one of the most appreciated comedy directors in Hollywood, and even directed 15 episodes of The Office (which is the highest number of episodes of The Office that any director has ever helmed).

During the final season of the hit series, Feig finally stepped in front of the camera after nine years of being behind it in the episode "Stairmageddon".

This episode featured Andy finally taking the first steps into stardom by seeking out a talent agent.

While waiting at the agency, Andy meets a rather quirky animal trainer, played by Paul Feig, whose act is simply putting a mouse on top of a cat that's on top of a dog.

6 Joan Cusack

The series finale of The Office featured guest appearances by quite a number of celebrities. One of these guest appearances was made by Shameless and Toy Story 2 actress Joan Cusack.

During the Q&A session featuring the employees of Dunder Mifflin, Joan Cusack's character stepped up to the microphone to reveal that she was actually the mother of Erin the receptionist, who had grown up in a foster home.

This ended up becoming one of the most heartwarming moments of The Office, with this story arc about Erin's parentage being wrapped up in the most unexpected way.

In addition to being heartwarming, this moment made quite a bit of sense, as Joan Cusack's roles in movies and shows sometimes tend to be similar to how Erin acted throughout the series.

5 Jim Carrey

Jim Carrey was another A-list celebrity who played a character interviewing for the Regional Manager position at the end of season 7, following Michael's departure.

Carrey's cameo was treated a bit differently than any other celebrity in the two-part episode.

Rather than actually seeing Carrey's interview, we simply see Jim and the others talking about how strange their interaction was, referring to him as "the Finger Lakes guy."

At the end of the episode, when we saw the follow-up interview with the camera crew with all of the interviewees for the manager position, Jim Carrey was revealed to be the "Finger Lakes guy."

He talked in a Canadian accent the entire time and, just as previously discussed, couldn't help but bring up how badly he needed to get back to the Finger Lakes.

4 Will Ferrell

When Michael Scott departed Dunder Mifflin, his original replacement was named Deangelo Vickers, who was played by the incredibly successful comedy actor Will Ferrell.

Ferrell appeared in four episodes of The Office, including Michael's last three episodes so that Deangelo's transition would be a little easier after watching how Michael would handle things.

Though Will Ferrell should have fit perfectly with the rest of the cast of The Office, considering his comedic acting style, his character didn't necessarily fit him, making his four episode run in the series rather forgettable.

Rather than being written to show off Ferrell's comedic talent, Deangelo was simply written to be a bad boss, in order to show how great of a boss Michael was in contrast.

3 Stephen Colbert

Since Andy Bernard first debuted in The Office during the show's third season, many people had difficultly finding a way to get him to stop talking about his past in the a capella group Here Comes Treble, and the antics he would pull with his old best friend Broccoli Rob.

Finally, in the show's final season, fans finally had the chance to meet Broccoli Rob, who was actually played by comedian and late night host Stephen Colbert.

Though Colbert didn't show up in person, he did interact with Andy and other members of the office through a video chat, where we saw some of the conflict between Andy and his old friend.

As it turns out, not all of Andy's stories were told correctly by Broccoli Rob back at Cornell.

2 Jack Black

During the two part episode "Stress Relief" in season 5, Jim, Pam, and Andy watch a pirated movie on Andy's laptop. According to Andy, the movie (which doesn't exist outside of the show) had not even released in theaters yet.

The movie was a rather odd concept, starring Jack Black, who leaves his attractive girlfriend and falls in love with her elderly mother.

It was an incredibly awkward movie, being similar to the 1971 movie Harold and Maude.

Though he didn't interact with any of the regular characters of The Office, the inclusion of this A-list actor was still hilarious and appreciated.

Black appeared in both halves of the episode, including in the stinger at the end of "Part 2."

1 Conan O'Brien

Conan O'Brien's appearance in The Office was probably the briefest of any other celebrity appearance in the series. It was also one of the few appearances where a celebrity appeared as themselves.

Towards the beginning of the episode "Valentine's Day", Michael gives the camera crew a tour of New York City.

While at Rockefeller Center, Michael believes that he has spotted Tina Fey and goes to talk to her. As this happens, Conan O'Brien walks by the camera crew, which Michael doesn't even notice.

This was an incredibly brief appearance, but it helped to show how oblivious Michael was about those around him in a hilariously symbolic way.

He even complained about missing Conan O'Brien immediately after the fact.

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Can you think of any other A-listers who have cameoed on The Office? Let us know in the comments!

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