Melora Hardin

Melora Hardin and her daughters Rory and Piper

Courtesy of melora.com

Although fans of the NBC series The Office know Melora Hardin best as Jan, the kooky on-again, off-again girlfriend of Steve Carell’s doofus of a boss, Michael, she’s a veteran character actress who’s been working on stage and screen since the age of six. Earlier this theater season, she fulfilled a long-held aspiration and made her Broadway debut as merry, musical, murderous Roxie Hart in the Tony Award–winning revival of Chicago. This month, the mom of two costars in a pair of must-see pics for the grade-school set: the Zac Efron comedy 17 Again and Miley Cyrus’s sure-to-be hit, Hannah Montana: The Movie. Time Out Kids caught up with Hardin at a moms roundtable sponsored by Splenda to dish about playing her signature sitcom role, tackling Broadway with her kids in tow and working alongside two tween idols.

As Jan on The Office, your dysfunctional relationship with Michael both amuses and perplexes. What do you think is the glue that holds them together—most of the time?
I think it’s interesting to see the balance of power alternate back and forth between Jan and Michael. While they’re diametrically opposite, they’re also codependent. Jan is a lot of fun to play; she’s so multilayered. In each of her scenes she seems to be unraveling right before your eyes. There’s so much bubbling right beneath the surface—she’s never just happy or sad. I think she’s changed the most out of all the characters on the show. We have an amazing group of writers. Sometimes [executive producer] Greg Daniels will let us improvise. It’s my job to keep a straight face but there are moments when it’s hard, so we’re lucky we can do it over and over again.

You recently made your Broadway debut in Chicago. What was that like?
It was great to be able to dance and sing as Roxie Hart. She’s an amazing character: strong, funny, sexy and bad, all at once. And to have people [who‘ve never seen me perform on stage] come and say, “I had no idea that you could sing and dance!” was pretty great too!

Did your daughters stay with you while you were in New York City?
I was in the show for three months and my kids were with me for the first five weeks; then they went back to school. To be honest, my husband [actor-writer Gildart Jackson] and I had a harder time being apart. Two weeks is about all the time we can handle being separated! My four-year-old daughter, Piper, was determined not to leave New York without experiencing a carriage ride through Central Park. My daughters also visited the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, the Metropolitan Museum and the Empire State Building, and they went ice-skating at Rockefeller Center. They loved having Christmas in the city. Since we were staying in an apartment in midtown, we drew a chimney on a big piece of wrapping paper and hung it on the wall to make sure Santa could still come. And of course they loved making snow angels in fresh snow.

You’ve been working steadily for three decades. Has being part of the high-profile hit The Office changed your career?
Not really. My parents are in the business [mom Diane is an acting coach and dad Jerry is a character actor best known for his turn as Deep Throat on The X Files], and growing up, the thing I always valued and focused on was being an artist. The success that came with that was a natural progression of the work I was doing. The Office was actually my 13th pilot! I’ve always worked hard but I’ve also been committed to having a life outside of the business.

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