Which Oscar-winning actress played Sabre CEO Jo Bennett on "The Office"?

Kathy Bates played Sabre CEO Jo Bennett on The Office. Jo Bennett is the formidable founder and chief executive of Sabre, the company that buys Dunder Mifflin during the show’s sixth season and temporarily changes the Scranton branch’s leadership.

Bates first appears as Jo in the episode “Sabre,” which aired in 2010. Her character is a confident, wealthy business executive from Florida who brings a more corporate and sometimes unpredictable style to the paper company. Jo’s arrival affects Michael Scott, David Wallace, Gabe Lewis, and the rest of the Scranton staff as Sabre reorganizes the business.

Bates was already an Oscar-winning performer before joining the sitcom. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Misery at the 1991 ceremony. Jo Bennett later returns in the seventh-season premiere, “Nepotism,” and remains an important part of the Sabre storyline. Viewers sometimes confuse her with Nellie Bertram or Jan Levinson, but Bates specifically played Jo Bennett.