Rainn Wilson in The Rocker Courtesy of 20th Century Fox

After almost a decade of playing bit parts in feature films like Galaxy Quest and Sahara, and a reoccurring role in Six Feet Under, Rainn Wilson made a splash as the irrepressible brown nose Dwight Schrute in The Office. Now he's got his own Dwight bobblehead, a cult following, and the lead role in the summer's most metal comedy, The Rocker.

When Robert "Fish" Fishman (Rainn Wilson) is rudely dumped by his band mates as their group Vesuvius is on the brink of heavy metal stardom, he lays down his drummer's sticks and takes one degrading customer service job after another. Twenty years later, little has changed and he is living with his sister and her family in the attic in their suburban Cleveland home. That is, until his nephew's band A.D.D., which has just landed a gig on prom night, needs a drummer. Though Fish's over exuberance gets him booted out after just one practice, the band needs him once they're all grounded from rehearsing together. And when a videotaped practice session, featuring a nude and sweaty Fish, gets uploaded to a viral video website, A.D.D. takes off and Fish gets one last shot at glory in The Rocker.

In this exclusive Premiere.com interview, Wilson recalls his dorky high school years, those endless years of struggling as a stage actor, and why Rick Allen is the greatest drummer, like, ever.

You're in your 40s and have hit your stride as a comedic actor. Fish is a 41-year-old washed-up drummer given a second chance. How much of Rainn is in Fish?
How much Rainn is in Fish? [laughs] Yeah, definitely something I can relate to is Fish finding himself. He gets to live his dream in his 40s and I do too, although it is so different because this was never my dream: to get into acting and be a movie star. I didn't get into acting to be a celebrity.

You thought that you were going to be a stage actor for the rest of your career?
Yeah. Absolutely. No, really. Honestly. I am honestly saying that. I am not making that up at all. I mean, I always knew I was going to do some TV or film or that maybe I would need to do a part on a sitcom or something like that in order to be cast in other plays. I just wanted to be a great actor, and I wanted to be a working actor. I wanted to get paid and not have to wait tables and not have to drive my damnable moving van. So, people asked me when I hosted Saturday Night Live, "Is that your dream come true?" I'm like, "Dude, my dream come true is I get to buy a house with money I make as an actor. I have health insurance, and I have a pension. This is fantastic!" I never thought that this all was going to be happening.

And you never thought that you would be considered a comedian?
Not at all. I started in the theater as Edmund in Long Day's Journey into Night. I did a lot of serious roles out there: Shakespeare and classical theater. The reason I went to L.A. was I just wanted to get cast in better plays in New York. I was like, "Look, the only way that I am ever gonna play Mercutio at Lincoln Center is if I go get a TV show, because that is the only people they cast to come back to the theater. That is just how New York works.

You went to Tisch School of the Arts at NYU and lived in New York. Do you miss the city at all?
I totally miss New York. I love New York City. I don't miss the trucking. I would like to love in New York with some money, because I was always on the verge of poverty. I would always get the day-old, six-for-a-dollar bagels down at The Bagel Buffet on Sixth Avenue and Waverley.

So you've had your fair share of apartments like the one in the basement of the Chinese shop that Fish occupies in The Rocker?
Oh yeah. I think even living in the basement of Mr. Lee's House of Lee Food, I have lived in worse places than that. And with rats, by the way.