11 Amazing Bodies of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Stars

The It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia stars aren't just funny; they're grounded. From Charlie Day's newfound confidence to Rob McElhenney's transformational weight loss journey, each blurb here delves into the unique approaches these beloved actors take towards their health and fitness. Learn about Glenn Howerton's intermittent fasting, Danny DeVito's unconventional pre-show routine, and Kaitlin Olson's perspective on playing multifaceted characters. Josh Groban, too!

1. Charlie Day

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Charlie Day plays the lead role of Charlie Kelly. He says to Backstage.com that creating the show has given him more confidence in his acting career. “It was ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ that gave me the confidence to say, OK, well, I don’t always have to be making something just [to have a project] to act in. I can make something for the thing itself to be unique and worthy of people’s time.”

2. Rob McElhenney

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Rob McElhenney plays Mac on the show. He notably lost a lot of weight, and shared his secrets with The Wrap. “As I started off I was doing it with chicken breast and rice and vegetables,” McElhenney said. “But when you’re four months in it and you have to muscle down 1,000 calories for the third time or fourth time in a day and you have to either eat three chicken breasts, two cups of rice and two cups of vegetables — or one Big Mac — you start to see the Big Mac and realize it’s a lot easier to get down … And then every once in a while I would eat three donuts. And every day one of my meals was a high-calorie protein shake.”

3. Glenn Howerton

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Glenn Howerton, who plays Dennis Reynolds, tells Men’s Health that he intermittent fasts. "That's the main staple of my diet," he says. "I read somewhere that you're not supposed to drink coffee first thing, which was torture for me, so now what I do is I start with a big glass of water, maybe some supplements, and then after I've been awake for about an hour and half, two hours, then I get my coffee."

4. Danny DeVito

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Danny DeVito plays Frank Reynolds on the show. He revealed his unique pre-show exercise to GQ. “I have a trampoline. I don't know if you can see it, over there. I start every night with it to get myself going. I guess you would call it exercise, but it's like getting ready to go out.”

5. Kaitlin Olson

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Kaitlin Olson plays Dee Reynolds on the show. She talked about what she enjoys about the role, and her other roles, to The Hollywood Reporter. “I’m really attracted to playing broken people. Mickey was very scrappy and self-sufficient; for Dee, [life is] just a giant competition. Neither of them had the little-girl quality D.J. has. I thought it was a nice opportunity to play something different and to have actual emotion. There’s a relationship there, and it’s one of the driving forces behind the whole season, because D.J. is a bit in the [comedy special] that Deborah’s doing. It’s nice to play a comedic character that also has some broken, raw emotion.”

6. Mary Elizabeth Ellis

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Mary Elizabeth Ellis plays The Waitress on the show. She tells Marie Claire that she wants to have more women involved in the television creating process. “I think having women behind the cameras is exciting—whether it's as a director or a writer or a producer—because it does feel like we're in the middle of this awakening of realizing that it's important for women to have a voice. But I also think it's still easy for us—as women, as writers and as directors and producers—to let it fall into the same patterns. Like, ‘and then the woman brings in the food, because the woman's the one who makes food.’ It's easy for that to happen, because that's what we've always known. We all have to hold each other accountable and point that behavior out to each other in a kind way. I guess what I'm saying is just having women behind the scenes isn't enough, we also have to be aware of what we're saying about ourselves.”

7. Artemis Pebdani

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Artemis Pebdani plays Artemis on the show. She talked about dealing with racism and cutting people out to The Daily Beast. “Being an Iranian kid in the 1980s, well, that wasn’t the easiest. I’m fair complexioned, so it would have been easier if I had just kept my mouth shut about being Iranian, but I didn’t, so I received my share of ‘antagonism’ at an early age. Now I am older, and I mostly get to choose who I am surrounded by, and I choose not-bigots.”

8. Travis Schuldt

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Travis Schuldt plays Ben Smith on the show. He tells Digital Journal that he took on a new hobby during the pandemic. “I started up a garden, which is very fun. We grow cucumbers, cantaloupes, and tomatoes. I joke with a friend of mine and I tell him that ‘I grew up in Kansas and I left Kansas to go to California and I ended up becoming a farmer in California.”

9. Brittany Daniel

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Brittany Daniel plays Carmen on the show. She talked about the process of getting in shape for her wedding in this blog post. “To commit myself to getting stronger, I wanted to create a workout program for myself that was succinct and efficient, so I enlisted my friend and Hollywood trainer extraordinaire, Jeanette Jenkins to help me out. My faithful workout partner Cyn came along for the training sessions, and we made sure they were all only 30 minutes so that she and I would have no excuses to ditch our workouts for lack of time. Jeanette designed each workout with high interval training and super sets. That way, we were able to keep our heart rate up, and burn the most calories in a short time span. The results were amazing!”

10. Jimmi Simpson

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Jimmi Simpson plays Liam McPoyle on the show. He revealed in an interview with The Imagista that he wants to learn from other actors. “The way I run my life, I enjoy surrounding myself with people who know more than me. I have been blessed to be surrounded by a lot of those people, I just love to absorb that. As far as artistic idols, when I was in college considering going after this as a career, there really were not dudes like me doing something that was interesting to me. However, when I saw Richard Burton’s work that was pretty profound for me because he was speaking to me in his performance in ways that no actor ever had with Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe, with footage of his contemporary Hamlet and the movie Becket. I had never seen an everyman just knock my dick in the dirt with their performance. He kind of reinvented what it was like to be a man and I bought what he was selling. Watching him made me realize that maybe I had something to say because I identified with what he was saying.”

11. Josh Groban

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Josh Groban has made cameos as himself on the show. He talked about his wellness secrets with GQ. “Now that it's getting warmer, what I'm trying to do is be good to my body in ways that aren't necessarily, like, lifting or going to the gym. I'm trying to be good to myself and good to my body right now outside of the theater with things like, biking a lot, or taking long walks, or, playing and doing stuff in the park. Getting exercise in ways that allow me to get a little bit of vitamin D and, and let me see the world outside the stage door. At some point, I’ll get back into the gym.”

In the world of "Parks and Recreation," the beloved cast members brought their unique talents and personalities to the screen; they felt so real, we think they're still there. Beyond their on-screen characters, these stars have fascinating stories to tell about their lives and personal journeys. From Amy Poehler's connection to Lucille Ball to Chris Pratt's transformation into an action star, each actor has a captivating narrative that goes beyond the confines of Pawnee, Indiana. (Li'l Sebastian was not available at press time.) Join us as we delve into the amazing bodies and diverse interests of the stars who brought the quirky town of Pawnee to life.

1. Amy Poehler

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Amy Poehler played the lead role of Leslie Knope on the show. In an interview with CBS News, she talked about directing the film Lucy and Desi, and how she relates to Lucille Ball. “I feel very connected to what I believe she was feeling or going through – ‘How do I balance work and family? How do I take advantage of my currency and my opportunity? How do I amplify voices? How do I take up space in the room?’ All that kind of stuff that Lucy had to deal with 50 years before I did, or women like me."

2. Aubrey Plaza

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Aubrey Plaza played the role of April Ludgate. She revealed that she is a big fan of yoga in an interview. “Wellness, to me, is: Being conscious of what you’re putting into your body and on your body, and taking care of yourself. I love yoga — that’s probably my favorite exercise because I’m not so much into cardio.”

3. Rashida Jones

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Rashida Jones starred as Ann Perkins on the show. She told Women’s Health that she loves to do a variety of workouts. "I'll go through stages when I get really into something; like, I'll start running six times a week," said Jones. "Right now I'm into pilates three times a week, which is great because it makes me feel strong."

4. Retta

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Retta played the role of Donna Meagle, and was promoted to a main cast member in the third season. She also played Ruby on Good Girls and opened up about the impact the character had to Harper’s Bazaar. “Ruby reflects the women I see in the world every day. We need to see more of us. We deserve to get our chances to be funny, bold and complex. Yet despite the reality of our existence, roles like Ruby are few and far in between. Honestly, it’s trifling when you constantly get stuck being a trope—the sassy everything: nurse, maid, teacher. Like really?”

5. Adam Scott

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Adam Scott first appeared in the show’s second season as Ben Wyatt. He talked about what roles he wanted to pursue after Parks & Rec ended to The AV Club. “After Parks And Recreation ended, I wasn’t sure what to do next. I had never been in a position of being on a TV show for such a long time. I was leaving it with more opportunities than I had going in. Parks was a life-changer for me. I didn’t know what to do next, but thought I might try something less in the comedy sphere, so I went after the Big Little Lies role. I really pursued that and was thrilled to be a part of it. After Parks, it was also hard to be considered for anything other than comedy. I had to really fight for Big Little Lies, and I auditioned and read a couple of times to prove myself. Doing that was really fun and creatively satisfying. I wanted to keep going in that direction. It’s not like I wanted to abandon comedy, but I wanted to try everything and go after material that appealed to me.”

6. Chris Pratt

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After playing the lovable Andy Dwyer, Chris Pratt has transitioned to starring in action films, like Guardians Of The Galaxy and Jurassic World. He told Men’s Health that his diet has changed with his career. “I can’t believe I would eat five cheeseburgers for lunch. I lived in a constant state of ‘Oh, god. I’m freaking sick. I’ve eaten so much.’ And that was happiness at that time. Now, it’s the exact opposite. Now, eating is boring. But, the times between eating, I feel great. Before, eating was fun, but in the times in between, I felt like crap.”

7. Rob Lowe

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Rob Lowe starred as Chris Treager from the second season onwards. He notably is a spokesperson for the Atkins diet. “It may not be easy, but it’s not complicated,” Lowe said to The Healthy. “When I started working with Atkins, it was a very good fit because that is my number one thing: watch those carbs, add healthy proteins, cut the sugar. Everything falls into place after that, whether it’s more specifics of the diet or workout regimen or sleep or any of that. All important—but none of it as important as watching your carbs, [eating] healthy proteins, and cutting sugar.”

8. Paul Rudd

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Paul Rudd had a recurring role as Bobby Newport on the show. He shared how he got in shape for Ant-Man with Men’s Health. “The most important part of training is sleep. People will set their alarm and then sleep for four hours and they’ll get up so that they can train. They’re doing themselves a disservice. If you can somehow get eight hours of sleep.”

9. Jenny Slate

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Jenny Slate had a recurring role as Mona Lisa Saperstein. She shared one of her biggest skincare secrets with Vogue. “I like processes that seem like a little nature witch would be a part of. After my morning bath, I like to put rose oil on myself really, really slowly. It may sound silly, but it makes me happy. It helps me be very aware that I’m caring for myself.”

10. Billy Eichner

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Billy Eichner played Craig Middlebrooks on the show. He shared his wellness secrets in an interview with Esquire. "I have discipline," he says. "I ran this morning. Now I'm here. I did a million things in between. And I'll be up all night working. When I want something to happen, I have a very good work ethic. Including this."

11. Ben Schwartz

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Ben Schwartz played Jean Ralphio Saperstein on the show. In an interview with Interview Magazine, he shared his secrets for limiting his time on the phone. “There’s a mode that I use called sleep mode. You put it on sleep mode and that way your phone doesn’t show any texts or emails and it always stays dim. That’s changed everything.”

The Office is enjoyed so much these days, it's like it never left the air. Beyond their iconic characters, these actors and actresses offer insights into their fitness routines, self-care rituals, and personal philosophies on health. From mindfulness to plant-based diets, from yoga to dance, discover how these talented individuals maintain balance in their lives while sharing their unique approaches to well-being. Join us on a journey that reveals the amazing bodies, both inside and out, of the remarkable cast members who brought Dunder Mifflin to life.

1. Mindy Kaling

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Mindy Kaling played Kelly Kapoor and also did some writing on The Office. She talked about her approach to exercise and wellness to People. "I've tried really hard to let go of this idea of losing weight for vanity reasons and really trying to think of how I can be healthy," Kaling said. "And for me, healthy is working out, moving my body a lot, keeping hydrated, and then not having negative connotations around working out and making me feel like if I don't do this, then I won't be something else. And that's taken a long time to kind of shed those old ideas of working out."

2. Jenna Fischer

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Jenna Fischer played Pam Beesly on the show. She is a big fan of practicing yoga. “When I do yoga regularly, I feel so good," she told Good Housekeeping. "It's my mind, body, and spirit cleanse. After a long weekend of play dates and sporting events and kid birthday parties, I can't tell you how much I crave my Monday morning yoga class.”

3. John Krasinski

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John Krasinski went from playing Jim Halpert to Jack Ryan. He shared how he got in shape for the role to Men’s Health. “I gotta be honest: It was brutal at times. We did tons of metabolic work, dragging sleds and all this stuff I've seen NFL players do."

4. Steve Carell

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In an interview with Mashable, Steve Carell talked about how he approached playing Michael Scott. “I think Michael's a decent dude with a lot of heart, but based on his childhood and the things he lacked growing up, things he was deprived of, he was so hungry for acceptance," Carell said. "I don't think he had the strongest templates in the world to go by, but I think he also learned and evolved and became a better person along the way. He became more aware once he was able to start stepping outside of himself and his own little eccentricities so he could see a little bit more of the world around him."

5. Angela Kinsey

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Angela Kinsey played Angela Martin on the series. She tells Women’s Day that she always makes time for herself, and shared her favorite way of doing so. "I like to sit on the back porch [in the morning] and have a cup of tea, and sometimes I get a whole 10 minutes," she says. "I just sit, and I don't look at my phone; I just watch the day wake up a little."

6. Rashida Jones

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Rashida Jones played the recurring role of Karen Filippelli. She likes to dance to stay in shape. Jones tells Health that dancers on So You Think You Can Dance are inspiring to her. "Those dancers are ridiculously strong and amazing," she said. "It makes me want to move my body (in a much less graceful way)."

7. Ed Helms

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Ed Helms played Andy Bernard on the show. He talked about following his bliss to Men’s Health. “Personal responsibility is one of the most important things in life. I struggle with it all the time. No matter how good or bad things are going, you’ve gotta just take responsibility for yourself. I always say, ‘If you’re eating a shit sandwich, chances are you ordered it.’ The same thing goes for the filet mignon.”

8. Ellie Kemper

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Ellie Kemper played the role of Erin Hannon. She talked about how she balances work and her personal life to SELF. “I’m trying to work out just about every day, but I’ve been listening to my body, too. When I feel fatigued, I know that sleep is more important than exercise on that particular day…Keeping a good balance of work, rest, exercise and goal-setting. Also, ice cream at the end of the day always helps.”

9. Amy Ryan

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Amy Ryan played the role of Holly Flax on the show. She makes sure to take care of her skin. Ryan tells New Beauty that she likes to get facials, and named her go to expert. “Joanna Vargas for facials. I believe in aging naturally, while taking good care of my skin.”

10. Melora Hardin

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Melora Hardin starred as Jan Levinson on the show. She shared some of her tips for dealing with stress with First For Women. “We all feel overwhelmed, exhausted, and anxious at times,” she says. “One of my favorite things to recite to myself in those moments is a poem by Mary Oliver, called Everything That Was and its words, like ‘Every day has something in it whose name is forever,’ remind me that every day, even a stressful one, is a true gift!”

11. Rainn Wilson

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Rainn Wilson starred as Dwight Schrute. On Instagram, he revealed that he has started a plant-based diet. “I noticed that I had more energy! I was sleeping better and deeper. I didn’t need naps in the afternoon as much. I started to drop some pounds. And, bonus, it’s supposed to be good for the planet.”

12. Kate Flannery

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Kate Flannery played the role of Meredith Palmer. She talked about her fitness secrets in an interview with Closer Weekly. “I mostly do the elliptical. I do like low impact or I do the treadmill. I don’t do super high impact, just because it’s not worth it yet. But yeah, it’s been such a gift and I feel like I’ve had much more energy.”

13. Catherine Tate

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Catherine Tate talked about playing Nellie Bertram on the show to MLive. “I was a massive, massive fan of the British version. I think it is a piece of modern art. And when I heard they were going to do it in America, I was like, oh what? And then I saw it and I was like, I saw what you did and you raised it. Then they asked me to be in it and it was amazing.”

14. BJ Novak

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BJ Novak starred as Ryan Howard and also did some writing for the show. He talked about being the director of the film Vengeance to NPR. "When I'm the boss of a film set, I am humbled and in awe of all the jobs that everybody has to do," he says. "How do I keep everyone happy, how do I keep them motivated ... I was much nicer and more professional and more respectful of everyone's job than I've ever been when I realized that it fell on my shoulders."

15. Phyllis Smith

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Phyllis Smith talked about playing Phyllis Vance on Den Of Geek. “It was a good nine years. A quick nine years. The first season we started out, they kept us all on set, all the periphery characters, all the time, because they weren’t sure what element of the office was going to be shot. So they had to have the backs of our heads or this or that. So for the whole first season, we were there all the time pretty much – even if we weren’t on camera, we’d be on set. Then as the years progressed, they said, ‘We’re not going to see them. Don’t bring them in!’ They knew how to splice it down so that we wouldn’t be sitting there for 12 hours and not be on camera. The scripts were wonderful. It kind of morphed, you know, after Steve [Carrell] left. The showrunner changed. It went on a different path for a while, but then when the old showrunner came back, it got back on track.”