Paul Lieberstein is an actor, TV producer, screenwriter and director. He is prominent for playing the fun killer Toby Flenderson in the NBC sitcom, The office. Paul portrayed the nemesis of the show’s main character, Steve Carrell’s Michael Scott.
Lieberstein was also one of the show’s writers and producers. In The Office, he was one of the people who worked both on and off screen. Throughout his career, Lieberstein has moved through the ranks of a showrunner, writer, and eventual director for shows such as: The Office, The Newsroom, The Mindy Project and Netflix seriesspace poweramong other things.
He is also an Emmy winner for his work as a writer and producer on the critically acclaimed animation show, King of the Hill. Lieberstein has also won numerous other awards as a writer and producer. Read more about him; his childhood, his career before writing, his married life, movies and upcoming works in the headlines below.
Contents
- 1 Paul Lieberstein is Jewish – What was his childhood like?
- 2 Lieberstein has two siblings
- 3 How Paul Lieberstein became a writer?
- 4 Paul Lieberstein has been married to his wife, Janine Parebo, since the late 2000s
- 5 Paul Lieberstein never thought of becoming an actor
- 6 He left ‘The Office’ to develop his spin-off ‘The Farm’
- 7 Lieberstein struggled with back pain for years; Later made a movie about it
- 8 Paul Lieberstein is related to the office producer, Greg Daniels
- 9 Paul is also related to his office co-star, Angela Kinsey
- 10 How rich is Paul Lieberstein; His ability and others
- 11 Paul Lieberstein Other facts
Paul Lieberstein is Jewish – What was his childhood like?
Lieberstein is the son of Jewish parents. Paul’s mother, Judith is a… clinical psychologist while his father, Stanley, was a partner at the St. Onge, Steward, Johnston and Reens law firm in Stamford in the late 2000s. Liebertein’s father specialized in intellectual property law.
Actor Paul Lieberstein, 55, is from West Hartford, Connecticut. Lieberstein was born on February 22, 1967.
Paul Lieberstein graduated from Hamilton College
Lieberstein graduated from Hamilton College in 1989 with a BA in economics. Originally, he wanted to become a financier.
Years later, in May 2011, the Westford native would receive an honorary doctorate in fine arts from Hamilton. He is also an ex-student of Conard High School; it was where he wrote his first sitcom with some friends. With Conard, Lieberstein was also in a band that played vibraphone.
Lieberstein has two siblings
The Mindy Project director has two siblings, Warren Lieberstein and Susanne Daniels. Warren, Lieberstein’s brother, also produced some episodes of The Office.
Warren wrote and produced episodes such as Koi Pond and Cafe Disco. Additionally, Warren is also mentioned in the Goodbye Michael episode of the show as Rory Flenderson, Toby Flenderson’s brother. He comes across as a man who happens to be the resident of Boulder, Colorado, just as Michael is about to move there with Holly.
On the other hand, Paul’s sister, Susanne, is the president of programming for YouTube Premium. She previously performed the same role for MTV.
How Paul Lieberstein became a writer?
After college, Paul moved to New York and started working as an auditor at Peak Marwick International. He stayed there for about six months, after which the Connecticut native did a day job at his father’s law firm.
He eventually escaped that job by writing a special TV script that eventually kicked off his writing career. Before that, Lieberstein and his writing partner first got an agent and moved to LA. In the west, they initially lived near Hollywood Boulevard.


One of Lieberstein’s first jobs as a writer was on the popular Nickelodeon series, Clarissa explains it all. Hamilton graduate wrote for the episode, President Ferguson. However, he would lose the job after one season when the Emmy winner and his pen partner parted ways.
Was he in a movie?
Lieberstein’s debut in film as a writer and producer came via the 2018 comedy film, Song of back and neck. In the film that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, Paul plays the lead role, Fred.
As for his recent projects, weird science writer is apparently working on a new workplace comedy film, Out of office, which unfolds the story of employees who work from home. His other movie, At a distance, where he again served as an executive producer, is also currently in post-production.
‘At a distance’ and ‘Out of office’ are the second and third times that Paul has directed films. There is also the upcoming feature, no artist, and Top shelf singlesa short movie.
Paul Lieberstein has been married to his wife, Janine Parebo, since the late 2000s
Paul married Janine Poreba, a resident of Manhattan in mid-July 2008. The couple tied the knot at Battery Gardens, a New York restaurant. Paul and Poreba’s wedding was presided over by Rev. Dr. James G Speer, a Presbyterian minister. Janine kept her original name.


Paul’s wife, Poreba, is the daughter of a physics teacher at Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School in New York and a teacher at Bard High School Early College, also in New York. Janine, the New Yorker, started dating the People of the Earth actor in 2007.
The couple are also parents to a daughter. Paul’s wife is the magna cum laude graduate of Harvard who now reportedly works as an English teacher at Santa Monica College.
Paul Lieberstein never thought of becoming an actor
A writer from the beginning, Lieberstein apparently never intended to appear in The Office episode, let alone as an integral part of the cast. For his role as Toby, Paul never even had credit as an actor.
He was reportedly going to be a one-time face, but later, after an NBC executive loved the dynamic between Michael and Paul’s portrayal as an HR of the Dunder Mifflin, Toby became a regular series. Lieberstein admitted in an interview that while the show’s writer’s transition to acting was swift, his co-actors helped him along the way.
He left ‘The Office’ to develop his spin-off ‘The Farm’
While the father of one of them stayed with “The Office” for nine seasons, either as a writer or otherwise, Lieberstein left the show for a while after the eighth season. He did it to focus on developing the show’s spin-off, “The Farm,” about the story of Dwight Schrute, one of the quintessential characters on The Office.
Unfortunately, NBC never green-lit the idea and the show never came to fruition. However, the studio condensed Lieberstein’s idea of The Farm into the original series itself and gave it an entire episode with the same title.
Lieberstein struggled with back pain for years; Later made a movie about it
Like his character in the movie, Song of back and neckIn fact, Paul has suffered from back pain for decades. The condition that reportedly started when he was in his 20s was so bad that the Newsroom director says he often couldn’t move his neck. In an interview, he said how hard it would often be for him to look at things while moving his whole body.
In addition, Paul was unable to drive. Furthermore, none of the remedies ranging from chiropractors, physiotherapists, surgeons and back rollers helped the space power author.
Finally, his wife Janine gave him a book about anger and suppressed emotions. After reading that Lieberstein realized that the pain was more of a psychological issue. ‘The King of the Hill’ producer gradually worked on that and eventually relieved his back and neck pain.
Daniels is the screenwriter and television producer of The office in addition to other shows, including: Parks And Recreation, King Of The Hill, People Of Earth, Space Force, and Upload, among other things. Daniels is also Paul’s brother-in-law; Greg is the husband of Lieberstein’s sister, Susanne.
In fact it was Greg by whom Paul got the writing job at The Office. The ex-employee of the law firm had worked with Daniels before and had known him for a long time as well. As such, they did King of Hill together.


When Daniels started “The Office,” Paul stopped at the pilot because he loved what was happening. He wanted to see the production since he was a fan of The Office, the UK version, and the original.
After working with Paul on previous projects, Daniels eventually asked him to write for the show, which the situational comedian agreed. With Greg, Lieberstein had also won his first Emmy as a producer in 1999 for their work on King of The Hill.
Paul and his’The office’ co-star, Angela Kinsey (Angela) were related in real life. Kinsey was Lieberstein’s sister-in-law. The actress was married to Lieberstein’s brother Warren in real life and the two even had a daughter when they were together. In fact, Kinsey and Warren were expecting their child during the fourth season of The Office.


However, Lieberstein’s brother and Angela would divorce after 10 years of marriage. Following Warren’s divorce, Kinsey married actor Joshua Snyder in 2016. In the same year, Paul’s brother also tied the knot with the ‘crazy ex girlfriend’ writer and producer Audrey Wauchope with whom he already has a daughter named Hazel.
How rich is Paul Lieberstein; His ability and others
Although he has far fewer credits as an actor than his Office colleagues, Paul is still one of the richest writers in Hollywood. Working behind the scenes for years, Paul has amassed a net worth of more than $15 million.
The figure may pale in comparison to his former colleagues such as John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer and others, but he is reportedly as wealthy as the Dwight Schrute actor and his other Office co-star, Rainn Wilson.
Paul Lieberstein Other facts
- Paul was also once on the advisory board of Young Storytellers. It is a Los Angeles-based non-profit arts education organization.
- Although Paul and his brother Warren are similar in appearance, contrary to rumors they are not twins.