B.J. Novak as Ryan Howard

Ryan Bailey Howard on NBC's The Office is played by B.J. Novak. Having an MBA from University of Scranton's Kania School of Management, Ryan is a salesman at the paper products distributing company, Dunder Mifflin. He does not intend to be a permanent employee in the company, and does not want to stay for long, as he does not want to be nicknamed around the office even after he leaves. However, his fear became reality when he accidentally caused a fire after he attempted to make a cheese pita in the office's kitchenette. He was nicknamed "The Fire Guy" after that incident.

Due to his temporary employee status, Ryan was often called "Temp" by Dwight and Michael, the Regional Manager. In addition, he was often the victim of Michael's pranks, which he passes off without complaint. He never got to make a sale, and this made him very discontent about his job. However, developments came around when he became a full-time employee of the company after Jim was transferred to the Stamford branch. His promotion brought him more interaction with Michael the boss, who treated him as his personal assistant.

Dwight also tried to make amends with Ryan once Jim left, admitting that Dwight and Jim never got along. Dwight added that Ryan is too superior to accept that others know more than he does and that certain individuals can teach him a few things.

Ryan also had an on-again, off-again relationship with gossipy Kelly, who wanted to get married and have kids immediately, as opposed to Ryan who wanted a very sexual relationship. Later on, the two stabilize their relationship and continued to go strong despite their differences.

Apparently, Michael developed a man crush on Ryan, in effect frightening Ryan, who was closely working with his boss as a personal assistant. However, there was no sexual tension between the two as Ryan was straight and was eventually promoted to become Michael's boss.



(Photo courtesy of NBC)