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Guess Which Office Star Was a Real-Life Student of...Mr. Jon Hamm?!

No, Steve Carell isn't crushing on the Mad Men star, but one of these ladies certainly is

By Megan Masters Feb 04, 2010 5:55 PMTags
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Did you know that several years before Jon Hamm became an award-winning TV star, he was teaching drama at John Burroughs High School in St. Louis?

And did you also know that one of The Office's finest was one of his students?

Turns out, long before Jon was kissing Tina Fey and January Jones, all the high schoolers wanted to kiss him. "He was a heartthrob!" the mystery gal gushes of her former teacher turned Mad Men megastar. "All the girls would sign up for his class…for a good reason!"

So who is it? Here's a hint: She has brownish-hair, has played the receptionist, and has been one-half of one our favorite will-they-won't-they couples (which we're also giving dish on here)...

Supercute new receptionist, Ellie Kemper!

"In addition to being really handsome, he was an excellent teacher," Ellie tells us. "He taught me drama work, mostly improvisation, which I did a lot of in college and in New York. It's my favorite thing to do." It's nice to know Jon's not just another pretty face, but brilliant in the classroom, too.

We discovered this connection from Mr. Hamm himself, who told our Ashlan Gorse at Sundance: "One of my students is actually Ellie Kemper, who's now on The Office. It's really cool to see them blossom and find their own way in." Awww.

Paul Drinkwater/NBC

Speaking of the hot and charming male coworkers, we begged and pleaded for some inside Intel on the budding Andy-Erin romance, and while tight-lipped, Ellie dished that there are some roadblocks ahead for Ed Helms' smooth operator.

"When we came back [from Christmas], it was still a very awkward and confused courting process, where neither of them is being totally direct. They both like each other but there are some missteps taken."

Seriously, the romantic waiting games played by the powers that be over at The Office are maddening—in the best way, of course. But there is some good news to report! In fact, in the upcoming Valentine's Day episode, Ellie teases, "Andy professes his love outright." Love?! Squee!

"But"—there's always a but!—"the profession gets misinterpreted," she explains. Ellie does promise that things are resolved between the two by the end of the Valentine's Day ep, then says with a laugh, "I don't know what a normal courting process is, but theirs is definitely not any kind of normal." (Is it ever at Dunder Mifflin?)

This week, we'll actually get to see if there's any truth behind talk that one of the Dunder Mifflin newbies will get in the way of Andin (there has to be a better moniker than that).

"There are plenty of obstacles to get in the way of their romance. But I'm not sure that it'll turn out to be Gabe specifically," Ellie tells us, referring to her real-life pal and incoming fresh face around The Office, Zach Woods.

And if you can stand to wait just a few more weeks, Ellie is most excited about the upcoming St. Patrick's Day episode. "There's a twist there that I read and thought, 'Nah, this isn't going to stay,' and it's staying! It's really funny," she teases. "It's an Andy-Erin thing."

Woo-hoo! So basically, Andy and Erin are on the road to romance, only instead of a Jim and Pam-esque happy ending, they're on more of a Michael-Holly path. Oh well, we predict these two make it official in T-minus four more seasons.

Watch The Office tonight on NBC.

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Follow Kristin Dos Santos on Twitter, @kristinalert.