Steve Carell, suprise candidate for “Silver Fox of the year”, turned a very handsome 55 last week. In his honor, I’ve been rewatching The Office on Netflix (I mean, I’m always rewatching The Office but this week it felt special.) and thinking about all Carell’s other work. Even before he was the boss everyone loves to hate, Carell had a career in comedy. From his bit role in Bruce Almighty to his loving depiction of The 40 Year Old Virgin, his talent showed every time he was on screen. Here are five performances proving Steve Carell really can do it all.
5. Anchorman
Early on, it seemed Carell was stuck behind a news desk. His aforementioned appearance in Bruce Almighty was followed just one year later by his role as Brick Tamland in Anchorman. At this point, much of his appeal was in physical comedy and inappropriate yelling. And in case you’ve forgotten (who could forget??) it’s Brick that brought us the now meme-worthy “I love lamp”. Soon after Anchorman, Carell became a more nuanced actor, and began showing his range.
