Everybody Knows Flo From Progressive. Who Is Stephanie Courtney?

At GQ, and now at NYT Mag, Caity Weaver is a profile artist of the highest caliber, able to approach any and everything with curiosity and an sharp, infectious enthusiasm. She’s done it with superstars; she’s done it with glitter; now, she does it with Stephanie Courtney, an actor who for 15 years has made a (very good) living as what amounts to a corporate mascot. Comedy. Ambition. Business. Dreams. Fulfillment. The concept of “enough.” Nothing is too lofty for Weaver to wrestle it onto the page, and nothing is heavy enough to keep this feature from soaring off the page and into your group chat.

If my visit to the “Superstore” set can be taken as representative, being closely involved with the production of popular TV commercials for large national brands is the best possible outcome for a human life. The scale and complexity of the operation at the center of Courtney’s work is eye-popping. Every fleeting football-game-interrupting Progressive ad is the product of hours of labor from more than a hundred people. On set, a cat wrangler stood just out of frame, ready to pounce with a backup cat if the primary cat failed. Trays of lickerish delights — crostini with prosciutto, cups of ethereal parfait — were discreetly proffered, at frequent intervals, to people scrutinizing monitors. Every lens, light and politely anxious face was turned heliotropically toward Courtney, in a rented living room, trying to remember, while delivering her line, that Progressive was offering deals “for new parents” rather than “to new parents” — a possibly meaningful distinction. This wasn’t a critically acclaimed Hulu series; there was actually a lot riding on this. It needed to be the same, but slightly different, and every bit as successful as the 200 that had come before it, so that everyone would be asked to return to this job — not necessarily, perhaps not exactly, the job of their dreams, but a better job than anyone could ever hope for, bolstered by friendly faces and fantastic catering and a sumptuous corporate budget — in perpetuity.