Nicholas Offerman (born June 26, 1970) is an American actor, writer, comedian, and woodworker who is known for his role as Ron Swanson in the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation, for which he received the Television Critics Association Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy. Offerman is also known for his role in The Founder, in which he portrays Dick McDonald, one of the brothers who developed the fast food chain McDonald\'s. His first major television role since the end of Parks and Recreation was as Karl Weathers in the FX series Fargo, for which he received a Critics\' Choice Television Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Movie/Miniseries.\n', '

Offerman was born in Joliet, Illinois and grew up in Minooka, Illinois. He is the son of Cathy (née Roberts), a nurse, and Ric Offerman, who taught social studies at a junior high school in nearby Channahon. Offerman was raised Catholic. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1993. That year, he and a group of fellow students co-founded the Defiant Theatre, a Chicago-based theatre company.\n', '

Offerman lived in Chicago in the mid-1990s, where he participated with theatre companies such as Steppenwolf, Goodman, and Wisdom Bridge. At Steppenwolf, he also worked as a fight choreographer and master carpenter. During this time, Offerman became acquainted with Amy Poehler, who was heavily involved with the Chicago improv comedy scene.\n', '

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