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By Kara Murray

Angela Kinsey, the actress best known for her role as Angela Martin on the NBC television series “The Office”, shared behind the scenes stories and more with a laughing audience when she visited the University of Connecticut last Thursday.

SUBOG Comedy Chair Colton Kopcik served as the moderator for the event, which was held in the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts. Approximately 1,000 people attended the talk, which was free for all UConn undergraduate students.

Seats filled up fast as everyone waited for Kinsey to come onstage (Photo: Sarah Al-Arshani)

The first half of the lecture was a Q&A between Kopcik and Kinsey, while the second was devoted to answering fan questions. UConn students submitted their questions to the SUBOG Twitter account a few days prior, and those that were selected were shown on-screen. Each time, Kinsey stood up and asked the person whose question was chosen to stand up if they were in the audience.

Kinsey discussed her life growing up in Jakarta, Indonesia and later Texas. She graduated from Baylor University in 1993 and moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting. For several years, she starred in various commercials before auditioning for the role of receptionist Pam Beesly on a new NBC show, “The Office.”

Kinsey often stood up and spoke directly to the audience when telling stories (Photo: Ally Urban)

“I didn’t get the part [because] they thought I was too feisty,” Kinsey said. “[. . .] Two months later, I got a phone call, and they were like, ‘Hey [ . . .] they want you to come in for this role of this woman in accounting who is kind of judge-y and a little bit of a b*tch.’”

Kinsey also told many funny stories from her time on “The Office,” which ran from 2005 to 2013, such as certain props she took home from the set and being close with former castmates Jenna Fischer (Pam Beesly) and Rainn Wilson (Dwight Schrute).

“[. . .] On the pilot episode we just clicked, like everything was just there,” Kinsey said of her friendship with Fischer.

Melissa Burgio, who is a member of SUBOG Comedy, was impressed with the event.

“I think it was a great lecture,” Burgio said. “I think everybody really enjoyed having her here, and she put on a great show.”