She holds a bachelor of arts in theatre, as well as a minor in journalism, from Truman State University, where she originally enrolled as a pre-law history major. While attending college in Missouri, she performed with a touring Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre group and, upon her move to Los Angeles, began performing Commedia dell’arte with the Zoo District Theatre. She continued to spend the next few years of her career appearing in bit parts in small indie films, such as Employee of the Month, Lucky 13, and The Specials, as well as guest spots on the television shows Six Feet Under, That ’70s Show, Cold Case, Miss Match, Strong Medicine, Undeclared, What I Like About You, and Off Centre. in 2003, she held a starring role in The Girl’s Guide to Summer, a 2003 Instant Films short (a competition similar to the nationally held 48 Hour Film Project, only based in Los Angeles) directed by Instant Film’s co-founder (and camera operator) Charles Papert. While her film career was slowly taking off, Fischer took matters into her own hands, writing, producing, directing and starring in her own mockumentary, LolliLove. “From doing that book I got this idea…When we started it, it wasn’t even supposed to be a real movie. Soon after The Office premiered, Fischer was focused on the show’s success; in an April 2005 interview with her alma mater’s student newspaper, she said: “Honestly it would be great to get to play Pam for a long, long time.
