Let's press the rewind button and revisit some of his earlier work: 1. Before John Krasinski took on the role of Jim, Freeman starred as the same character, but named Tim, in Ricky Gervais' The Office (2001-2003), which is the original. The sitcom revolves around a group of staffers working at a paper company, with a ridiculously inappropriate boss named David Brent (Gervais). Tim is the most sound out of the bunch, which makes him kind of the odd-man-out. Tim doesn't really love working at the paper company, but he has a crush on a coworker, which makes it worth going into the office.