Eliza Kate Coupe (/ˈkp/; born April 6, 1981)[1] is an American actress, comedian and model, known for playing Jane Kerkovich-Williams in the ABC comedy series Happy Endings, Denise "Jo" Mahoney in the final two seasons of the medical comedy-drama Scrubs, her starring role as Tiger on the Hulu comedy series Future Man, and her recurring role as Hannah Wyland in Quantico. She starred in the Fox comedy Pivoting in 2022. Most recently, she had supporting roles in the Netflix series Murderville and the CBS legal drama So Help Me Todd.

Eliza Coupe
Coupe at ABC's 2010 Summer Press Tour
Born
Eliza Kate Coupe

(1981-04-06) April 6, 1981 (age 43)
Alma materCalifornia Institute of the Arts
Occupations
  • Actress
  • comedian
  • model
Years active2006–present
Spouses
Randall Whittinghill
(m. 2007; div. 2013)
(m. 2014; div. 2018)
(m. 2023)

Early life

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Coupe was born and raised in Plymouth, New Hampshire to Ernest and Kathryn.[2] She has two brothers, Sam and Thom.[3] She attended Plymouth Regional High School in her hometown and graduated in 1999. She is of French, English and Scottish heritage.[4]

Coupe was active in her high school's theatre program. Her roles included Bonnie in Anything Goes and a Mundy sister in Dancing at Lughnasa.[citation needed] She graduated from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in 2006.[5]

Career

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After college, Coupe took classes in improvisational comedy at The Groundlings and ImprovOlympic.[6] In 2003, she toured France playing a soldier in an all-female version of King Lear. In November 2005, her one-woman sketch show The Patriots premiered at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York and won her the Breakout Performer Award at HBO's U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado in March 2006.[7]

In 2007, she appeared in I Think I Love My Wife. She appeared in the short-lived MTV series Short Circuitz. She was in "Girlfriends", episode 8 of the first season of Flight of the Conchords; and in an episode of Unhitched. She was a series regular in HBO's unaired 12 Miles of Bad Road and had a recurring role in Samantha Who?

She had a recurring role as Dr. Denise "Jo" Mahoney in Season 8 of the TV series Scrubs and the companion web series Scrubs: Interns. She was made a regular in Season 9, the final season of the series.[8]

In March 2009, Coupe was cast as Callie in the ABC pilot, No Heroics, an adaptation of the UK series of the same name. In 2012, she played the female lead and love interest to Daniel Henney in the independent film Shanghai Calling, filmed in Shanghai, China.[5] She also appeared in the 2011 movie What's Your Number? with Anna Faris and Chris Evans.

From April 2011 to May 2013, Coupe starred on the ABC ensemble comedy series Happy Endings alongside Elisha Cuthbert, Zachary Knighton, Adam Pally, Damon Wayans, Jr. and Casey Wilson. Despite critical acclaim and a cult following, the show was cancelled by ABC after concluding its third season on May 3, 2013. Since Happy Endings's cancellation, She played a recurring role in the third season of House of Lies and starred alongside Jay Harrington in the USA Network comedy series Benched, which premiered on October 28, 2014. She later starred in the ABC thriller Quantico playing the recurring role of FBI agent Hannah Wyland.[9]

Coupe also starred as Tiger on the Hulu comedy series Future Man, which premiered November 14, 2017.[10] The third and final season aired in 2020.[11]

In April 2020, she was cast as Amy in the Fox comedy series Pivoting.[12] It debuted on January 9, 2022 with positive reviews,[13] but the show was cancelled after one season.[14]

Personal life

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Coupe was married to acting teacher Randall Whittinghill from December 2007 to June 2013.[15]

She announced her engagement to Darin Olien, founder of lifestyle brand SuperLife, via Instagram on November 27, 2014.[16] They were married on December 24, 2014 while on vacation in New Zealand.[17] They filed for divorce in 2018.[18]

On May 22, 2023 Coupe married professional skateboarder, Billy Marks.

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
2006 The Day the World Saved Shane Sawyer Allison Short film
2007 I Think I Love My Wife Lisa
2010 Somewhere Hotel Room Neighbour
2011 What's Your Number? Sheila
2012 Shanghai Calling Amanda
2013 Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues Sea World Trainer
2014 The Last Time You Had Fun Ida
2015 It's Us Joe
2017 The 4th Stacy
2017 Naked Vicky
2018 Making Babies Karen Kelley
2020 The Estate Lux

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
2007 Nick Cannon Presents: Short Circuitz Various Episode #1.3
2007 Flight of the Conchords Lisa Episode: "Girlfriends"
2008 Unhitched Julia Episode: "Pilot"
2008 12 Miles of Bad Road Gaylor Shakespeare 6 episodes
2008 Samantha Who? Willow 2 episodes
2009 Royal Pains Katie Episode: "Crazy Love"
2009–10 Scrubs Denise Mahoney Recurring role (Season 8); Main role (Season 9); 24 episodes
2011 Community Special Agent Robin Vohlers Episode: "Intro to Political Science"
2011–13 Happy Endings Jane Kerkovich-Williams Main role; 57 episodes
2012 Happy Endings: Happy Rides Jane Kerkovich-Williams Web series
2013 The Millers Janice 2 episodes
2014 House of Lies Marissa McClintock 4 episodes
2014 Benched Nina Whitley Lead role; 12 episodes
2015 Casual Emmy 5 episodes
2015 Superstore Cynthia 1 episode
2015–2016 The Mindy Project Chelsea 4 episodes
2015–2018 Quantico Hannah Wyland Recurring role
2016 Wrecked Rosa 2 episodes
2017–2020 Future Man Tiger[19]

Main role

2018 Rob Riggle's Ski Master Academy Preggers Main role
2018 Angie Tribeca Dr. Autumn Portugal Episode: "The Force Wakes Up"
2019 Veronica Mars Karsyn Episode: "Spring Break Forever"
2019 Stumptown Guest Star Episode: "November Surprises"
2019 Sherman's Showcase Guest Star Episode: "White Music"
2021 DuckTales Molly Cunningham (voice) Episode: "The Lost Cargo of Kit Cloudkicker"
2022 Pivoting Amy[20] Main role
2022 Reboot Nora Guest role
2023 So Help Me Todd Veronica Caron Guest role

References

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  1. ^ "Annual Report of the Town of Plymouth, New Hampshire (volume 1981)". Retrieved February 13, 2016.
  2. ^ Stephens, Samantha (November 24, 2011). "Eliza Coupe's follows her heart home". The Portsmouth Herald. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  3. ^ Vestal Robson, Shannon (March 21, 2012). "Eliza Coupe Talks About Getting R-Rated on Happy Endings and Her 90210 Guest Star". PopSugar. Archived from the original on July 4, 2013. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  4. ^ Tarnoff, Brooke (February 12, 2013). "Questions and Answers With Eliza Coupe". NextMovie. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  5. ^ a b Ziemba, Christine N. (March 15, 2013). "Shanghai Calling's Eliza Coupe on Learning Mandarin, Comedy and Life after CalArts". California Institute of the Arts. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  6. ^ Quinn, Dave (February 14, 2013). "'Happy Endings' Star Eliza Coupe on Improv and Learning Chinese for 'Shanghai Calling'". Backstage. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  7. ^ Brown, Janelle (July 17, 2006). "Eliza Coupe: 10 Comics to Watch". Variety. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  8. ^ Goldman, Eric (July 15, 2009). "Scrubs Intern Made Regular". IGN. Archived from the original on July 19, 2009. Retrieved July 17, 2009.
  9. ^ Roots, Kimberly (November 12, 2015). "Quantico Recruits Happy Endings Alum Eliza Coupe for 'Hardcore' Arc". TVLine. Archived from the original on November 13, 2015. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
  10. ^ Kurland, Daniel (November 14, 2017). "Future Man: How Eliza Coupe's Tiger Defies Conventions". Den of Geek.
  11. ^ Chitwood, Adam (April 3, 2020). "'Future Man' Comes to an Uneven Yet Fittingly Weird End in Season 3 – Review". Collider. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  12. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (April 21, 2020). "Eliza Coupe To Star In Fox Comedy Pilot 'Pivoting'; Tristram Shapeero To Direct". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 10, 2021.
  13. ^ Nemetz, Dave (January 7, 2022). "'Pivoting' Review: Fox Comedy, Eliza Coupe, Ginnifer Goodwin, Maggie Q". TVLine. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
  14. ^ "'Pivoting' Canceled by Fox in Nail-Biter After One Season". May 14, 2022.
  15. ^ Harp, Justin (February 27, 2013). "'Happy Endings' Eliza Coupe, husband Randall Whittinghill divorcing". Digital Spy. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
  16. ^ Michaud, Sarah (November 27, 2014). "Eliza Coupe Engaged to Darin Olien". People. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
  17. ^ "Eliza Coupe Marries Darin Olien In New Zealand". ABC News. December 25, 2014. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  18. ^ Webber, Stephanie (April 3, 2018). "Happy Endings' Eliza Coupe, Husband Darin Olien Split After Nearly Four Years of Marriage". Us Weekly. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  19. ^ Goldberg, Lesley (September 9, 2016). "'Future Man,' From Seth Rogen and Starring Josh Hutcherson, Ordered to Series at Hulu". The Hollywood Reporter.
  20. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (April 21, 2020). "Eliza Coupe To Star In Fox Comedy Pilot 'Pivoting'; Tristram Shapeero To Direct". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
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