But in 2008, Progressive got it right when they created Flo.
I went straight to my mom and I credit her with Flo’s personality.
I said, ‘Yes, I can become Jane Courtney!'"
From Courtney’s early career to her celebrity status as Flo from Progressive, here is her stunning transformation.
In high school, we did a fall and a spring musical …
I would even show up to rehearsals I wasn’t supposed to be at.
I loved everything about it, and I was never bored by it."
When she decided that this was her path in life, she never looked back.
There was never another option in my mind."
It’s an improv-based acting technique."
she seemed to have found her calling.
That changed everything for me.
Comedy felt a lot more comfortable.
It’s empowering to be your own writer."
“By that time, it had been some fun but very hard years.
So I was like, ‘Absolutely!'”
She joined The Groundlings 1997
When Stephanie Courtney attended her first The Groundlings show, everything changed.
In an interview withBroadwayWorldin May 2020, she said, “It blew my mind!
The cast included Mindy Sterling, Cheryl Hines, Michael McDonald, and Holly Mandel.
I signed up for classes the next day.”
“[‘Saturday Night Live’] were like, ‘Stop sending her stuff in.’
Like, ‘We’re not interested.’
I remember feeling so terrible.
Like a weird shame,” Courtney remarked toThe New York Timesin November 2023.
She worked hard to get me a commercial agent.
That “really good one” was a spot in a1999 Super Bowl commercialfor Bud Light.
Courtney continued, “I made a bunch of money and then I spent it.
That money goes fast.”
In speaking withCosmopolitan, she said, “Originally I auditioned for Joan for ‘Mad Men.’
They said, ‘You didn’t get that, but will you play a switchboard operator instead?’
I said, ‘Sure!’
“With commercial auditions, less is usually more, but this was a big character.
She was funny, she loved her job, and she loved her customers.
So I thought, ‘She’ll love them to a fault where she’s walking the line of crazy.
It’s like the love just spills over and becomes a tiny bit inappropriate.’
That’s what I came up with in the audition room.”
The happy couple also welcomed their first child together five years later.
“I booked Flo when I was just about to turn 38.
I got married at 35.
I had my kid at 40.
I’m a late bloomer.
But it tastes just as sweet when it’s late,” she quipped.
“I shouldn’t even say this, but I’m writing something for myself.
It would be a great meeting.
We’d have water.”
“[M]aybe once a month,” she told The New York Times in 2023.
That’s one of the highest compliments.
I love that so much.”
