Stephanie Courtney (born February 8, 1970) is an American actress and comedian, best known for playing the advertising character Flo in television and radio commercials for

Progressive Corporation The Progressive Corporation is an American insurance company, the third largest insurance carrier and the No. 1 commercial auto insurer in the United States. The company was co-founded in 1937 by Jack Green and Joseph M. Lewis, and is headqua ...

beginning in 2008. Courtney is also noted for her recurring roles on several television series, including the voices of Renee the Receptionist and Joy Peters on the

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representati ...

and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...

comedy ''

Tom Goes to the Mayor ''Tom Goes to the Mayor'' is an American adult animated series created by Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim for Cartoon Network's late night programming block, Adult Swim. It premiered on November 14, 2004 and ended on September 25, 2006 with a t ...

'' (2004–06), Marge on the

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** AM ...

drama ''

Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its fict ...

'' (2007), and Diane on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

comedy ''

Cavemen The caveman is a stock character representative of primitive humans in the Paleolithic. The popularization of the type dates to the early 20th century, when Neanderthals were influentially described as " simian" or "ape-like" by Marcellin Bo ...

'' (2007). She also appeared in the season 2 premiere of ''

Men of a Certain Age ''Men of a Certain Age'' is an American comedy-drama television series created by Ray Romano and Mike Royce, that ran on TNT from December 7, 2009, to July 6, 2011. The hour-long program stars Romano, Andre Braugher, and Scott Bakula as three b ...

''. She also plays Essie Karp in '' The Goldbergs''. Courtney was a member of

The Groundlings The Groundlings is an American improvisational and sketch comedy troupe and school based in Los Angeles. The troupe was formed by Gary Austin in 1974 and uses an improv format influenced by Viola Spolin, whose improvisational theater techniques ...

, an improvisational and sketch comedy theater in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Early life and education

Courtney was born in Stony Point,

Rockland County, New York Rockland County is the southernmost county on the west side of the Hudson River in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. It is about from the Bronx at their closest points. The county's population, as of t ...

, the youngest of three children of a high school history teacher father and a singer mother. In 1992, she graduated with a degree in English from

Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university with campuses in Binghamton, New York, Binghamton, Vestal, New York, Vestal, and Johnson City, New Yor ...

, where she played

Elizabeth Proctor Elizabeth Proctor (née Bassett; 1650 – after 1703) was convicted of witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. She was the wife of John Proctor, who was convicted and executed. Her execution sentence was postponed because she was pregna ...

in ''

The Crucible ''The Crucible'' is a 1953 play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692–93. Miller wrote the play as a ...

''. By then, she said, "I was never tortured over whether I wanted to become an actress. There was never another option in my mind." After graduation, she moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where her roommate was future author and columnist

Meghan Daum Meghan Elizabeth Daum (born February 13, 1970) is an American author, essayist, podcaster, and journalist. Childhood and education Although she was born in California, Daum grew up in Austin, Texas, and Ridgewood, New Jersey. She received her ba ...

. While working as evening secretary for

Smith Barney Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is an American multinational financial services corporation specializing in retail brokerage. It is the wealth & asset management division of Morgan Stanley. On January 13, 2009, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup anno ...

chairman Robert F. Greenhill, Courtney studied acting at the

Neighborhood Playhouse A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...

. She moved to

, where she roomed with her sister, actress Jennifer Courtney. The two wrote and performed the sketch "Those Courtney Girls" in Los Angeles and at the

Aspen Comedy Festival The Comedy Festival, formerly known as the US Comedy Arts Festival, was a comedy festival that ran from 1995 to 2008. The festival included stand-up comedy performances, appearances by the casts of television shows, and has a film component calle ...

. She joined the training program of the

improvisation Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

al and sketch comedy group

, and in 2004 became a member of its 30-person main company. There she met the theater's lighting director, Scott Kolanach, whom she married in 2008. During her early time in Los Angeles she worked odd jobs, including catering, to support herself. She has appeared in such films as ''

The Brothers Solomon ''The Brothers Solomon'' is a 2007 American surrealist comedy film directed by Bob Odenkirk and written by Will Forte. It features Will Arnett and Forte as the titular brothers, who set out to find romantic partners so they can give their comatose ...

'', ''

Blades of Glory ''Blades of Glory'' is a 2007 American sports comedy film directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon, written by Jeff Cox, Craig Cox, John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky, and starring Will Ferrell and Jon Heder with Will Arnett, Amy Poehler, William Fich ...

'', '' The Heartbreak Kid'', ''

Melvin Goes to Dinner ''Melvin Goes to Dinner'' is a 2003 American film adaptation of Michael Blieden's stage play ''Phyro-Giants!'', directed by Bob Odenkirk. Blieden wrote the screenplay from his stage play, and he also stars in the film (as he did in the Los Angel ...

'', and '' Fred: The Movie''.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Courtney, Stephanie Living people 1970 births 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses 20th-century American comedians 21st-century American comedians Actresses from New York (state) American film actresses American television actresses American voice actresses American women comedians Binghamton University alumni Comedians from New York (state) Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre alumni People from Stony Point, New York