Martin Freeman has risen to become a Hollywood superstar - but many of us still remember him from The Office.
The 50-year-old actor has played the lead role of Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit trilogy, Dr. John Watson in the BBC's popular Sherlock series and is set to star in his third Marvel Cinematic Universe movie this year.
Before Martin became a leading man, the Emmy-award winning actor was appearing in short films and episodes of The Bill and Casualty.
It was only when he was cast as Tim Canterbury in The Office that he really shot to fame - but things could have been very different.
When Martin landed a role in what could have turned out to be just a little cult comedy show, he probably could never have imagined it would lead to the glittering acting career that followed.
"I could very nearly have not been in it," admitted Martin to The Mirror in August 2019, as he originally auditioned for a completely different role.
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"It’s a showbiz story – and I don’t know if it’s become a showbiz story because I’m an actor and therefore am a tw*t and built it up to being this, but I’m pretty sure this is really what happened," he explained.
"I did my reading of Gareth, and I was on my way out the door and Stephen Merchant said, ‘Can we get Martin in to read Tim? I think that might be a good thing.’
"So I sat back down and read Tim and thank God I did because I wouldn’t have got cast as Gareth over Mackenzie Crook because he was so perfect for it."
In contrast to some of his The Office co-stars, Martin looks and speaks exactly like his character in real life, which meant he was much-loved by viewers.
"I loved him, I really loved him," he said about Tim. "I was able to put a lot of me in him as someone who is an observer of stuff and finds things ridiculous and awkward and embarrassing a lot of the time."
One of the best parts of the role was working with show creator Ricky Gervais, who was renowned for breaking character on set and making everyone laugh.
"He is one of the best natural actors I’ve worked with," stated Martin. "And if he’s not making you laugh at any given moment, life is a waste of time."
"Like, it’s not actually worth living unless you are convulsing in pain at something he’s just said.
"Brilliant, but on the other hand really infuriating – you think, ‘Mate, this is your show, stop making everyone laugh!
"Deliberately corpsing me isn’t going to get the day finished because I can’t carry on if you’re making me laugh’."
Martin believes it was a "pathological thing" for Ricky to make everyone on set fall over laughing while they were supposed to be filming.
"Ricky was absolutely terrible because I think he saw it as a badge of honour that if you weren't laughing, he wasn't doing his job," Freeman said on People magazine’s Couch Surfing in April 2018.
"So, if you weren't corpsing and ruining a scene, then he wasn't happy.
"I had to sort of remind him several times, 'This is your show. We got to finish by six. We're not going to finish it.' He was obsessed with being a child who made people laugh."
Martin became forever known as 'Tim from The Office', but speaking to The Guardian in 2004 he admitted he feared he may be typecast for the rest of his career.
"It has cast a very long shadow and obviously I'm very proud of the work we all did," he explained.
"I do think about getting away from it, but if something else came along that was f***ing brilliant, even if it was a bit like Tim, I'd probably say yes, because brilliant is very hard to come by.
"But obviously I don't want to be seen as that character for the rest of my life - I'd like it to be seen as one of a number of things I'm proud to have done.
"But then I'm proud of plays I did in front of 200 people that no one gives a shit about who wasn't there, and that doesn't negate it for me."
However, he was immediately cast in Christmas smash hit Love Actually as a porn star and his career went from strength to strength.
Although his kids weren't too impressed and are actually bigger fans of the US version of The Office.
Martin has a son and daughter, Joe and Grace, whose mother is his long-term ex-partner Amanda Abbington, who he was with from 2000 to 2016.
When asked if they were impressed their dad is a famous actor in 2018, he told The Mirror: "My kids don’t give a s***.
"After I played Tim, I was in Love, Actually because Richard Curtis loved The Office, and I could honestly say at that point ‘I’m in a number one film in America and Britain’.
"Great, I could retire on that, that’s something to tell your kids. But they don’t give a s***, they’re texting."
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