Who is Jan Levinson in The Office?

Show

The Office

Played by

Melora Hardin

First episode

“Pilot”Season 1, Episode 1, aired March 24, 2005

Role

Main cast

Network

NBC

Occupation

VP of Northeast Sales, Dunder Mifflin corporate

Show run

2005 to 2013

Also known as

Janet Levinson, Jan Levinson-Gould

Jan Levinson is the corporate executive who keeps Michael Scott in line from Dunder Mifflin's New York office, at least until she starts dating him. Played by Melora Hardin, she is sharp, ambitious, and more unpredictable with every season, and a visit from Jan almost always means trouble for Scranton.

On The Office, Jan Levinson's story runs through Michael Scott (Ex-boyfriend), Ryan Howard (Replacement at corporate), Holly Flax (Michael's next love), Dwight Schrute (Salesman), and Jim Halpert.

Who is Jan Levinson?

Jan is Dunder Mifflin's vice president of Northeast sales and Michael's direct supervisor. In the early episodes she is the face of corporate, arriving in Scranton to talk about downsizing, health plans, and policy, and she has very little patience for Michael's jokes and detours.

Her polished professional front starts to crack in season two, when a client dinner at Chili's ends with Jan and Michael kissing. From then on she is caught between her career and an attraction to a man she clearly finds exasperating, and that tug of war gives the character her comic tension.

Personality and comedy

Jan's comedy is the comedy of control slipping away. She starts out as the most composed person in any room and gradually becomes the most volatile, swinging between icy professionalism, sudden affection, and impulsive decisions that leave everyone around her scrambling.

Melora Hardin plays her completely straight, which is what makes her so funny: Jan never thinks she is the joke. Later in the series she reinvents herself with total confidence, from launching a scented candle business to recording an album, and she treats every new venture as if it were obviously brilliant.

Key storylines

After the kiss in "The Client," Jan holds Michael at arm's length for most of season two. By season three they are a real couple, going public at a cocktail party thrown by CFO David Wallace. Her erratic behavior catches up with her in the season three finale, when corporate fires her and gives her job to Ryan Howard.

In season four Jan moves into Michael's condo, drains his savings, and sues Dunder Mifflin for wrongful termination, using his diary as evidence. Their relationship falls apart in spectacular fashion at the "Dinner Party" she hosts with Michael. She returns at the end of the season pregnant through a sperm donor, and early in season five she arrives at her own office baby shower having already given birth to her daughter, Astrid.

Later appearances and legacy

Jan pops up a few more times after her main run. In season seven Michael tracks her down during a cold sore panic and finds her working as a hospital administrator with a Doris Day cover album to her name, and she plays a doomed lounge singer in his homemade action movie "Threat Level Midnight." In season nine she turns out to be the mystery client at the Scranton White Pages in "The Whale," and she is last heard on the phone in "Couples Discount," canceling that account.

Melora Hardin is credited as starring cast from season two's "Boys and Girls" through season five's "Baby Shower." Hardin was part of the improv-friendly supporting cast the producers assembled early on, and Kate Flannery, who went on to play Meredith, had originally auditioned for the role of Jan.

Jan Levinson: frequently asked questions

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