Paul Bevan Lieberstein (born February 22, 1967) is an American actor, screenwriter, television director and television producer. A Primetime Emmy Award winner, he is best known as a writer, executive producer, and supporting cast member on the NBC sitcom The Office, playing the role of Toby Flenderson. He served as the series' showrunner from seasons five to eight.

Early life Lieberstein grew up in Westport, Connecticut, the son of Judith and Stanley Lieberstein.New York Times New York Times Wedding Announcement He is Jewish. He attended Staples High School where he wrote his first comedy script with some friends; he also played the vibraphone in the band. He then attended Hamilton College, 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 of some kind"). He wrote references to the fact that Office character Andy Bernard was a member of Chi Psi from Cornell into the storyline of several episodes. 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 I could so I could write".

Career Lieberstein and a writing partner got an agent with William Morris and moved to Los Angeles, living just off Hollywood Boulevard. 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 asked him to join the King of the Hill staff. He was a co-executive producer for 25 episodes in Season 6 of The Drew Carey Show, 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. On April 3, 2020, he announced plans for a sitcom about office life while isolated due to the COVID-19 pandemic; 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 producers of The Office. He worked in the writer's room from the start of the American 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 SuicideGirls 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 SuicideGirls 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 website

Personal life Lieberstein's sister, Susanne, was the president of programming for YouTube Premium (previously holding this position at MTV), and is married to screenwriter and producer Greg Daniels. 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 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.

Lieberstein's work on The Office has resulted in numerous awards. In June 2007, he shared in a Daytime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Broadband Program – Comedy", for his work on The Office: Accountants webisodes.34th Annual Creative Arts & Entertainment Emmy Awards , from the Emmy Awards website 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 for "Outstanding Comedy Series".

Lieberstein received an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts degree from Hamilton College on May 22, 2011.

Filmography Acting Year Title Role Notes 2005–2013 The OfficeToby Flenderson 141 episodes 2008 The Office: The Outburst 2 episodes2009 The Office: Blackmail Episode: "Pay Day" The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard Selleck Last Customer2014 Bad Teacher Evaluator Episode: "Evaluation Day" The Newsroom Richard Westbrook 2 episodes2016 Togetherness Greg Episode: "Geri-ina" The Mindy Project Cuddle Spot Man Episode: "Mindy Lahiri is DTF" 2017 People of Earth Assessor 5 episodes 2018 Song of Back and Neck Fred Also director, writer, and producer2019 The Big Break Ted Short film Top Shelf Singles Evan Caldwell Post-production; short film 2023 Not an Artist Dominic 2025 Platonic Dr. Melfi Episode: "The Office Party" 2026 Rick and Morty Little Mike (voice) Episode: "Rick Days, Seven Nights"

Directing, producing, writing Year Title Role Notes Director Producer Writer 1992 Clarissa Explains It All Episode "President Ferguson" 1994 Weird Science 3 episodes 1995–1996 The Naked Truth 3 episodes 1997–2000 King of the Hill Produced 50 episodes, wrote 12 episodes 2000–2001 The Drew Carey Show Produced 27 episodes, wrote 3 episodes 2002 Greg the Bunny Produced 2 episodes, wrote "Greg Gets Puppish" 2002–2003 The Bernie Mac Show Produced 22 episodes, wrote 2 episodes 2003 Dead Like Me Episode "The Bicycle Thief" 2005–2013 The Office Directed 7 episodesProduced 166 episodesWrote 16 episodes 2006 The Office: The Accountants 10 episodes 2013–2014 The Mindy Project 3 episodes 2014 The Newsroom Directed "Oh Shenandoah", produced 6 episodes2018 Song of Back and Neck Ghosted Produced 6 episodes, wrote "The Wire" 2020 Space Force Produced 4 episodes, wrote "It's Good to Be Back on the Moon" 2022 Out of Office 2023 Lucky Hank Co-wrote three episodes; also co-developer 2025 The Paper Directed "TTT vs the Blogger", wrote "The Ohio Journalism Awards"

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