Eliza Kate Coupe (born April 6, 1981) 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 Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television series ...

comedy series ''

Future Man Roy Wilfred Wooten (born October 13, 1957), also known as RoyEl, best known by his stage name Future Man (also written Futureman and known to fans as Futche) is an American musician, inventor and composer. He is best known as a member of jazz ...

'', and her recurring role as Hannah Wyland in '' Quantico''. She starred in the Fox comedy '' Pivoting'' in 2022. Most recently she had a supporting role in the Netflix series Murderville, episode-Who Killed Santa.

Early life

Coupe was born and raised in Plymouth, New Hampshire to Ernest and Kathryn. She has two brothers, Sam and Thom. She attended

Plymouth Regional High School Plymouth Regional High School (PRHS) is a public high school in Plymouth, New Hampshire, United States. Surrounding towns that attend PRHS are Plymouth, Ashland, Holderness, Campton, Rumney, Wentworth, Warren, Ellsworth, Waterville Valley ...

in her hometown and graduated in 1999. She is of French, English and Scottish heritage. Coupe was active in her high school's theatre program. Her roles included Bonnie in ''

Anything Goes ''Anything Goes'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The original book was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, heavily revised by the team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The story concerns madcap ant ...

'' and a Mundy sister in ''

Dancing at Lughnasa ''Dancing at Lughnasa'' is a 1990 play by dramatist Brian Friel set in County Donegal in Ulster in the north of Ireland in August 1936 in the fictional town of Ballybeg. It is a memory play told from the point of view of the adult Michael Eva ...

''. She graduated from

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...

(CalArts) in 2006.

Career

After college, Coupe took classes in improvisational comedy at

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 techniq ...

and ImprovOlympic. In 2003, she toured France playing a soldier in an all-female version of ''

King Lear ''King Lear'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his daughters. He becomes destitute and insane a ...

''. In November 2005, her one-woman sketch show ''The Patriots'' premiered at the

Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (shorter UCB Theatre) is an American improvisational theatre company and training center founded by the Upright Citizens Brigade troupe members Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh. Prior to ...

in New York and won her the Breakout Performer Award at HBO's

U.S. Comedy Arts 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 call ...

Aspen, Colorado Aspen is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,004 at the 2020 United States Census. Aspen is in a remote area of the Rocky Moun ...

in March 2006. In 2007, she appeared in ''

I Think I Love My Wife ''I Think I Love My Wife'' is a 2007 American romantic comedy film starring Chris Rock, Gina Torres and Kerry Washington. Rock co-wrote the film with Louis C.K. and also directed and produced it. It is a remake of the 1972 French film '' Love i ...

''. 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 ''Unhitched'' (previously known as ''The Rules for Starting Over'') is an American sitcom that aired as a mid-season replacement on Fox from March 2 to 30, 2008. The series was originally scheduled to premiere at 9:30 p.m. ET, but aired 30 ...

''. She was a series regular in HBO's unaired ''

12 Miles of Bad Road ''12 Miles of Bad Road'' is a television show originally created for HBO centered on a Texas matriarch who must reconcile her booming real estate business and immense wealth with the day-to-day struggles of her dysfunctional family life. Cast T ...

'' and had a recurring role in ''

Samantha Who? ''Samantha Who?'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on ABC from October 15, 2007, to July 23, 2009. The series was created by Cecelia Ahern and Donald Todd, who also served as producers. Although highly rated during its fir ...

'' She had a recurring role as Dr. Denise "Jo" Mahoney in Season 8 of the TV series '' Scrubs'' and the companion

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single in ...

'' Scrubs: Interns''. She was made a regular in Season 9, the final season of the series. 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 Daniel Phillip Henney (born November 28, 1979) is an American actor and model. He first came into international prominence with his television debut as Dr. Henry Kim on the Korean drama '' My Lovely Sam Soon'' (2005). He has gone on to star in ...

in the independent film ''

Shanghai Calling ''Shanghai Calling'' is a 2012 American romantic-comedy film written and directed by Daniel Hsia and produced by Janet Yang. Starring Daniel Henney, Eliza Coupe, and Bill Paxton, ''Shanghai Calling'' is a story about a group of Americans from di ...

'', filmed in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. She also appeared in the 2011 movie ''

What's Your Number? ''What's Your Number?'' is a 2011 American romantic comedy film directed by Mark Mylod and starring Anna Faris and Chris Evans. Written by Gabrielle Allan and Jennifer Crittenden, it is based on Karyn Bosnak's book ''20 Times a Lady''. It was ...

'' with

Anna Faris Anna Kay Faris (; born November 29, 1976) is an American actress. She rose to prominence for her work in comedic roles, particularly the lead part of Cindy Campbell in the ''Scary Movie'' film series (2000–2006). She has appeared in a number ...

and Chris Evans. From April 2011 to May 2013, Coupe starred on the ABC ensemble comedy series '' Happy Endings'' alongside

Elisha Cuthbert Elisha Ann Cuthbert Phaneuf (; born 30 November 1982) is a Canadian actress and model. As a child actress, she made her first televised appearance as an extra in the Canadian horror-themed series for children '' Are You Afraid of the Dark?'' and ...

Zachary Knighton Zachary Andrew Knighton (born October 25, 1978) is an American actor, most widely known for starring as Dave Rose on the ABC comedy series '' Happy Endings''. Prior to that, he co-starred as Dr. Bryce Varley on ABC's science fiction series ''Fl ...

, Adam Pally, Damon Wayans, Jr. and

Casey Wilson Cathryn Rose "Casey" Wilson (born October 24, 1980) is an American actress, comedienne, and screenwriter. She starred as Penny Hartz in the ABC comedy series '' Happy Endings'' for which she was twice nominated to the Critics' Choice Television ...

. Despite critical acclaim and a cult following, the show was cancelled by ABC after concluding its third season on May 3, 2013. Since ''Happy Endingss cancellation, She played a recurring role in the third season of '' House of Lies'' and starred alongside

Jay Harrington James H. Harrington III, professionally known as Jay Harrington, (born November 15, 1971) is an American actor. He is known for his role as the title character in the ABC sitcom ''Better Off Ted'' in 2009-2010 and since 2017 as Sgt. David "Deacon ...

in the

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madi ...

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. Coupe also starred as Tiger on the

comedy series ''

'', which premiered November 14, 2017. The third and final season aired in 2020. In April 2020, she was cast as Amy in the Fox comedy series '' Pivoting''. It debuted on January 9, 2022 with positive reviews, but the show was cancelled after one season.

Personal life

Coupe was married to acting teacher and

puppeteer A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object, called a puppet, to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden fr ...

Randall Whittinghill from December 2007 to June 2013. She announced her engagement to

Darin Olien Darin Olien is an American author and podcast host. With a B.A. in exercise physiology and an unaccredited M.A. in psychology, he labels himself a "wellness expert", promotes "superfoods" and co-starred as well as produced the Netflix docuseries ...

, founder of lifestyle brand SuperLife, via

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

on November 27, 2014. They were married on December 24, 2014 while on vacation in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

. They filed for divorce in 2018. Coupe was diagnosed with

dyslexia Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...

and

ADHD Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by excessive amounts of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that are pervasive, impairing in multiple contexts, and otherwise age-inap ...

in childhood.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coupe, Eliza 1981 births Living people Actresses from New Hampshire American film actresses American television actresses American women comedians American people of French descent American people of English descent American people of Scottish descent California Institute of the Arts alumni People from Plymouth, New Hampshire 21st-century American actresses Comedians from New Hampshire 21st-century American comedians