Paul Lieberstein
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Paul Bevan Lieberstein (born February 22, 1967) is an American actor, screenwriter, television director and television producer. A
Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Owned and operated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the P ...
winner, he is best known as a writer, executive producer, and supporting cast member on the NBC sitcom ''
The Office ''The Office'' is the title of several mockumentary sitcoms based on a British series originally created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant as '' The Office'' in 2001. The original series also starred Gervais as manager and primary charac ...
'', playing the role of Toby Flenderson. He served as the series'
showrunner A showrunner is the top-level executive producer of a television series. The position outranks other creative and management personnel, including episode directors, in contrast to feature films, in which the director has creative control over th ...
from seasons five to eight.


Early life

Lieberstein grew up in
Westport, Connecticut Westport is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. Located in the Gold Coast (Connecticut), Gold Coast along the Long Island Sound, it is northeast of New York City and is part of the Western Connecticut Planning Region, Connec ...
, the son of Judith and Stanley Lieberstein.New York Times
New York Times Wedding Announcement
He is
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. He attended Staples High School where he wrote his first sitcom with some friends and played the vibraphone in the band. He then attended
Hamilton College Hamilton College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York, Clinton, New York. It was established as the Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and received its c ...
, where he joined Chi Psi as well as a band called "Picture This" (not the pop band of the same name). He graduated in 1989 with a major in economics (he "wanted to be a
financier An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital the investor usually purchases some species of property. Types of in ...
of some kind"). Lieberstein wrote references to the fact that ''Office'' character Andy Bernard was a Chi Psi from Cornell into the storyline of several episodes of the show. After college, Lieberstein moved to New York City, where his first job was as an auditor at Peat Marwick International, a job that lasted six months. He followed that with part-time work at his father's law firm, "working as little as ecould so ecould write".


Career

Lieberstein and a writing partner got an agent with William Morris and moved to
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, living just off
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. He landed his first writing job on '' Clarissa Explains It All'', but was fired after one season when he and his writing partner split up. He then had short stints in a few other writer rooms, including '' Weird Science'' and '' The Naked Truth'', before his brother-in-law
Greg Daniels Gregory Martin Daniels (born June 13, 1963) is an American screenwriter, television producer, and director. He has worked on several television series, including writing for ''Saturday Night Live'' and ''The Simpsons'', adapting '' The Office'' ...
asked him to join the ''
King of the Hill ''King of the Hill'' is an American animated sitcom created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels that initially aired on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox from January 12, 1997, to September 13, 2009, with four more episodes airing in First-run syndicati ...
'' staff. He was a co-executive producer for 25 episodes in Season 6 of ''
The Drew Carey Show ''The Drew Carey Show'' is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 13, 1995, to September 8, 2004. Set in Cleveland, Ohio, the series revolved around the retail office and home life of "everyman" Drew Carey, a fictionaliz ...
'', and a supervising producer for two episodes in that season: the season-opening "Drew Pops Something on Kate" (which he also wrote, along with "Drew and the Motorcycle" and "Drew and the Activist, Part I"), and "Buzzie Wuzzie Liked His Beer". Lieberstein was also a producer on the third and final season of the television drama series '' The Newsroom''. In November 2017, it was announced that he would replace Kevin Etten as showrunner of '' Ghosted''. In 2018, Lieberstein wrote and directed his first feature film, '' Song of Back and Neck'', which made it into
Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...
. On April 3, 2020, he announced plans for a sitcom about office life while isolated due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
; the project eventually became the television film '' Out of Office''.


'' The Office''

On June 12, 2008, '' Variety'' magazine reported that Lieberstein would become one of the
executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...
s of ''The Office''. He worked in the writer's room from the start of the US adaptation and was asked by Greg Daniels to act as well, as Daniels wanted some of the writers to know what it was like on the other side of the camera. Lieberstein has said he "attended 'The Office' acting school" and was often thrown by Steve Carell's improv during scenes. On March 22, 2012, it was announced that Lieberstein would step down from his showrunner role to focus on a planned spin-off series featuring Rainn Wilson as Dwight Schrute, tentatively called '' The Farm''. Lieberstein was set to be the showrunner, but in October 2012, it was announced that NBC was not accepting the series. In a
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interview, Lieberstein said that "as an actor, which is just a very small percentage of me, I don't feel Toby while I'm writing. It's the hardest of the characters to access".2006 interview with Paul Lieberstein
by Daniel Robert Epstein, at the
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website
In an interview for his alma mater, Hamilton College, he commented on the bigger picture:Roll Credits
, a profile of Lieberstein from the
Hamilton College Hamilton College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York, Clinton, New York. It was established as the Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and received its c ...
website


Personal life

Lieberstein's sister, Susanne, was the president of programming for
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(previously holding this position at MTV), and is married to screenwriter and producer
Greg Daniels Gregory Martin Daniels (born June 13, 1963) is an American screenwriter, television producer, and director. He has worked on several television series, including writing for ''Saturday Night Live'' and ''The Simpsons'', adapting '' The Office'' ...
. His brother, Warren Lieberstein, was married to Paul's ''The Office'' co-star Angela Kinsey. His cousin, Paul Faust, inspired and portrayed "Cool Guy Paul", as seen in ''
The Office ''The Office'' is the title of several mockumentary sitcoms based on a British series originally created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant as '' The Office'' in 2001. The original series also starred Gervais as manager and primary charac ...
'' episode " Chair Model". Lieberstein married Janine Serafin Poreba on July 19, 2008, at the New York City restaurant Battery Gardens. He has served on the advisory board of directors for Young Storytellers, an arts education nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles.


Awards

Lieberstein's first Emmy Award was as a producer, sharing a 1999 Emmy for " Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or Less)" for his work in ''
King of the Hill ''King of the Hill'' is an American animated sitcom created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels that initially aired on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox from January 12, 1997, to September 13, 2009, with four more episodes airing in First-run syndicati ...
''. Lieberstein's work on ''The Office'' has resulted in numerous awards. In June 2007, he shared in a
Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NA ...
for "Outstanding Broadband Program – Comedy", for his work on ''The Office: Accountants'' webisodes. As an actor, Lieberstein shared in a 2006 Screen Actors Guild Award for "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series"; as a writer, he shared a 2006 Writers Guild of America Award for the series, in addition to a WGA Award nomination for "The Coup". As co-executive producer, he shared a 2006
Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...
for "Outstanding Comedy Series". Lieberstein received an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts degree from Hamilton College on May 22, 2011.


Filmography


Acting


Directing, producing, writing


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lieberstein, Paul 1967 births Living people 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American male actors 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American screenwriters American comedy writers American male screenwriters American male television actors American male television writers American television directors American television writers Daytime Emmy Award winners Hamilton College (New York) alumni Jewish American comedy writers Jewish American male actors Jewish American screenwriters American television producers Male actors from Westport, Connecticut Writers from Westport, Connecticut Primetime Emmy Award winners Screenwriters from Connecticut Screenwriters from New York (state) Staples High School alumni Television producers from Connecticut Television producers from New York (state) Writers Guild of America Award winners Comedians from Connecticut American male comedians Jewish American comedians Jewish male comedians