Stephanie Courtney

Early life and education

Courtney was born in Stony Point, Rockland County, New York the youngest of three children of a high school history teacher father and a singer mother. In 1992 she graduated from Binghamton University with a degree in English, where she had played Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible. 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, where her roommate was future author and columnist Megan Daum. While working as evening secretary for Smith Barney chairman Robert S. Greenhill, Courtney studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse.

She moved to Los Angeles, 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. She joined the training program of the improvisational and sketch comedy group The Groundlings, 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, Blades of Glory, The Heartbreak Kid, Melvin Goes to Dinner, and Fred: The Movie.