You can’t always work out where the line between actor and character begins and ends – as far as Nick Offerman is concerned, he says that his deadpan personality comes from when he was a Catholic choirboy and lector, where he would “read things with the utmost sincerity, and my cousin would be cracking up because he knew I was full of shit.” He’s a master of physical comedy: his character Ron Swanson in Parks and Recreation stole scenes using his eyebrows alone and, like Ron, Offerman is genuinely fond of woodwork, Japanese dance and playing the sax. To make things even more confusing, in Parks and Rec, his ex-wife Tammy, who he can’t stand, is played by his actual wife Megan Mullally.
Many of his other great roles have been on TV: his performance in HBO’s The Last of Us, as a misanthropic survivalist who finds queer love and happiness in the post-apocalyptic world, was critically acclaimed as one of the series’ best. He was similarly great in 2020’s Devs, which explores the choice between free will and AI.
Offerman’s film career took off in parallel, with roles in Sin City, Miss Congeniality 2, 21 Jump Street and as Potus in 2024’s Civil War. He’s voiced characters in both Lego Movies, Ice Age: Collision Course and Hotel Transylvania 2. This year, we got to see him play a US army general who [spoiler alert!] sacrifices himself to help Tom Cruise save the day in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, and voice Papa Smurf’s brother, Ken, in Smurfs.
Offerman now appears in crime thriller Sovereign, based on the 2010 West Memphis police shootings, with Dennis Quaid alongside, as well as Mullally. He also has a new book out in October, Little Woodchucks: Offerman Woodshop’s Guide to Tools and Tomfoolery. So please get in your questions below by 6pm on Monday 15 September and we’ll publish his answers in Film & Music and online.