THE OFFICE Actress Melora Hardin Describes Her Heartbreak in Losing Role in BACK TO THE FUTURE

Melora Hardin has had a consistent career in TV and film, known best for her recurring role as Jan in The Office. But the one role that she was most bummed about losing out on definitely would have also been one that she would have been associated with for the rest of her life.

As a teen, Hardin was cast in the role of Marty McFly's love interest, Jennifer Parker, in the 1985 classic Back to the Future.

The actress had already shot for several weeks opposite Eric Stoltz as Marty when the news came down that he was being recast with Family Ties breakout star Michael J. Fox. Soon after, Hardin was out too and she described the letdown in a recent interview with EW.

"Back to the Future was a huge disappointment. I was 17, you know. I burst into tears. It was very sad. There were quite a few of those that I remember, you know, things that never really got made. But that I remember being very tough."

After Fox was brought in, executives weren’t happy with the fact that though Hardin and Stoltz had good chemistry, Fox was a good eight inches shorter, and Hardin had a few inches on him as well.

"It was apparently the two female executives at the time that thought that it was emasculating for their lead male character to be in scenes with a woman that was taller than him," Hardin recalled earlier this year.

But then, as now, Hardin kept a positive spirit, noting, "If I had done it, I'm sure it would have all gone in a different way. I wouldn't have done The Office."

Hardin reflected to EW that "to be where I am, you have to have failed more than you've succeeded. I think people don't realize that when they look at it from the outside — you have to really be somebody who's comfortable with failure, and with putting yourself on the line all the time.

“That failure doesn't mean anything about you. You just have to fail better, and keep failing better ... to be able to really weather this career choice."

Hardin did well for herself, going on to land the lead role on ABC's series adaptation of Dirty Dancing, and then to Absolute Power, and to Monk, and eventually, one of her most beloved roles, as the intense Jan Levinson on The Office. I also love her character in the movie 17 Again.