For nine seasons, Brian Baumgartner was an integral member of the stellar comedic ensemble
of the American version of The Office.
Baumgartner played Kevin Malone, one of Dunder Mifflin's accountants, who was generally regarded
as pretty much the dumbest guy in the office.
Unlike some of his former castmates who went on to star in their own shows or appear in
blockbuster movies, Baumgartner has kept a lower profile since The Office went off the
air.
Here's a look at what he's been up to both onscreen and off.
Crashed pilots
In the middle of the final season of The Office in 2013, Baumgartner already had an eye toward
what he'd be working on next: a new comedy series for ABC.
Like The Office, it was planned as a single-camera comedy set in a workplace, conceived by Office
executive producer Greg Daniels and late Parks and Recreation writer and producer Harris
Wittels.
Baumgartner was going to play Norman, a middle manager at an airline trying to turn his life
around.
Unfortunately, ABC pulled the plug on the series before a pilot was shot, reportedly
because executives weren't happy with the writing.
Baumgartner moved from one disappointing pilot process into another the next year, when he
landed a role in Amazon's Maker Shack Agency.
The tween-friendly pilot was about a group of kids with a knack for inventing who build
stuff to get their classmates out of jams.
Baumgartner was cast as the kids' principal.
Amazon placed the pilot online for viewing by the general public, but Maker Shack Agency
wasn't approved for a season-long run.
Guest roles galore
Baumgartner was a work-a-day actor before he landed a series regular spot on The Office,
and since the show ended, he's returned to being a busy character actor on TV.
Since 2013, he's landed more than a dozen guest roles, including playing a pedophile
on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and a lapsed AA sponsor on the FX drama The Bridge.
He's also done a few commercial spots, including teaming up with a barbershop quartet for Microsoft.
Baumgartner has also popped up in several small films, including 2016's Ordinary World,
a comedy about an aging punk rocker starring Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day …
"If there is any damage done to that hotel room, we will prosecute."
Family time
With the rigorous shooting schedule of a network sitcom behind him, Baumgartner has had more
time to focus on his personal life.
In April 2014, he tied the knot with his longtime partner, Celeste Ackelson.
The wedding went down in the backyard of Baumgartner's Los Angeles home, and also reportedly served
as a mini Office reunion.
About a year later, Baumgartner and Ackelson welcomed a baby girl.
Baumgartner joked on Instagram that his daughter "looks forward to catching up on all the old
episodes of The Office once her eyes adjust to life."
Tee time
Baumgartner got really into golf in his theater days as a way to decompress while traveling
and performing a grueling eight-shows-a-week schedule.
Baumgartner told The Daily Beast that golf was a great way to "get outside," and now
he's a regular on the celebrity golf tournament circuit, duffing it up in the Drew Brees Celebrity
Championship and the American Century Championship.
In 2007, Golf Digest ranked Baumgartner at no.
49 on its list of "Hollywood's Top 100 Golfers."
"Anybody can compete, at any level, and it's about that.
Competing with yourself.
It's always different.
Every day is different.
Every course is different."
Company man
Baumgartner is a big sports fan, and he's a veteran of entertainment history.
He combined the two and started his own media company, 3 Bees Entertainment — a reference
to his full name, Brian Bruce Baumgartner.
Among the company's projects are an NBC Sports feature called Golf Therapy: Life, Lessons
and the Pursuit of Par and a scripted comedy for College Humor called Turtle Race.
Poker face
"Casino Night," The Office's second-season finale, revealed a surprising truth about
Kevin Malone:
"I won the 2002 $2500 No-Limit Deuce-to-Seven Draw Tournament at the World Series of Poker
in Vegas.
So, yeah.
I'm pretty good at poker."
While Baumgartner isn't a poker champion like his character, he is an avid player, often
anteing up for celebrity and charity tournaments.
He told Poker News in 2013 that he did so well at one of those fundraisers, he won a
seat in the actual World Series of Poker.
Unfortunately, life did not quite imitate art — Baumgartner had to give up his seat
to shoot the show ...
"I suck."
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