Fact: Dwight Schrute is a weirdo. How else do you describe someone who wears the tuxedo his grandfather was buried in? Because he was so believable in the role of Schrute, Rainn Wilson often has to convince fans of The Office that he and his character are not the same person.
"[Everyone] thinks I'm Dwight ... that I'm this kind of annoying, difficult, nerdy, creepy guy. And they don't know Rainn Wilson," Wilson told Big Think. "Although I'm a little bit nerdy, annoying and creepy, I'm not as much as Dwight Schrute."
Wilson is the first to admit he used to be a nerd in school. He played Dungeons and Dragons and the bassoon and was part of the chess team, computer club, and marching band. But Wilson was happy. And isn't that what matters most? "It was this weird little stinky petri dish of nerd-dom where we could just express our humor and our weirdness," Wilson told Seattle's KUOW. "And I'm really grateful for that."
Wilson has since gotten married and had a son. He is a vegan and devoted follower of the Baha'i Faith. He and his family don't live on a beet farm like Schrute, but they do own farm animals, including horses and pot belly pigs. They also have a zonkey because apparently that's a real thing.
