John Krasinski once risked his own life to save a woman from drowning. The 38-year-old actor has revealed that during his travels as a teenager he found himself caught in a riptide whilst swimming in the sea, and although the current was dangerous, he risked drowning in order to save a woman who had also been swept up by the waves. He recalled: “One of the places I went was this amazing beach called Manuel Antonio that I didn’t realise had an insane riptide. While I was swimming there – this is a story I’ve never told anybody – this Costa Rican girl and an American guy were swimming right next to me, and we were knee-deep.

“I went underwater for a second, and when I came back up he was screaming at the top of his lungs. Literally in three seconds the girl had been swept 150 yards out. “In that moment, I didn’t ask anyone. There was no one to help me. I just went out and tried to save her. And then of course when I got out there, I was in a crosscurrent with her.”

The ‘Office’ star – who has four-year-old Hazel and 20-month-old Violet with his wife Emily Blunt – insists his decision to help the stranded woman was a “survival instinct”, and he was surprised when she asked him to “let her die”. John – who eventually saved the woman – added to Playboy magazine: “It was one of those moments of ‘Oh my God, you just made a poor choice and it might cost you your life.’ But I didn’t think about it like that. It was just this survival instinct.

“It was really weird – like the girl was asking me to let her die. But I got her back. When I got within 20 yards or so of the shore, some surfers came out.

“Granted, not everybody needs to have life-or-death experiences, but that changed my entire life. All of a sudden I grew up.”