Jan Levinson
Encyclopedia
Janet "Jan" Levenson (formerly Levenson-Gould) is a fictional character
from the US
television series The Office. Though her last name is commonly misspelled as "Levinson", NBC spells it as "Levenson". Her counterpart in the UK version is Jennifer Taylor-Clarke
. She is played by Melora Hardin
.
superior at the New York City
corporate headquarters of fictitious paper distributor Dunder-Mifflin
. Jan's no-nonsense style is at odds with Michael's much more casual approach. Since her office is in New York, Jan's contact with the Scranton
branch is largely by telephone, although she will make the two-and-a-half-hour drive to Scranton if necessary. She usually asks if she's on camera when talking to Michael on the speaker phone, and Michael often lies and tells her she is not, before admitting that they are—at which point she hangs up on him.
While initially based on Jennifer Taylor-Clarke from the UK version, her character develops in a wildly different direction.
Eventually, she has a long-term but troubled romantic relationship with Michael, which escalates after Dunder Mifflin fires her for increasingly erratic behavior. Her relationship with Michael only worsens when she moves into his condo and takes over, redecorating the condo and damaging his finances by running him into debt.
due partially to Jan's desire for children, a dream not shared by her ex-husband ("The Client"). Prior to that, she went by the name Jan Levenson-Gould, but dropped "Gould" following the divorce. In her personal life, Jan faced a rough year not only with her divorce but as a victim of identity theft
. She is also seeing a psychiatrist
. In a deleted scene from "Dinner Party
," it is implied that Jan grew up in West Virginia
. The "Serenity by Jan" website indicates that she had an unhappy childhood and ran away from home.
" she is still projecting a professional demeanour, hosting a seminar for the women of the office in order to encourage them to seek Management opportunities. However, in the season finale she is fired in a huge fight with David Wallace because she basically "smokes in her office all day", takes "days off without explanation", and took "too many trips to Scranton".
Jan has a strong and often fetishist
sexuality which sometimes intimidates Michael, such as when he revealed in "Women's Appreciation
" that Jan did not always abide by their safety word
"foliage". Michael also revealed that Jan enjoyed making him dress up as a school girl during role-playing sessions, and that she would videotape their sexual encounters and then show it to her therapist for critique.
Other fetishes of hers include leather, licking coffee off her lover, Cuban musicians, and frat boys.
Jan initially drives a Volvo S80
and a Volvo S60
. At the beginning of season four both her Volvo and Michael's Chrysler Sebring
are traded in for a Porsche Boxster
that they share, unsuccessfully. Jan seemed to have appropriated the Porsche, as Michael drove a PT Cruiser Convertible after their break-up. Jan, as a mother, now drives a Toyota Highlander
. The Highlander is uniquely bare-boned, contrasting Jan's Rolls-Royce
-esque stroller and her image.
Jan's surname is almost universely spelled "Levinson", NBC confirms the spelling "Levenson." Though contradicting the usage is the Season 4 DVD interior casing showing Dwight's "Power flow chart" where her name is, once again, spelled with an 'i'.
Although not a regular smoker, Jan tends to light up when put in stressful situations ("Performance Review
", "Casino Night", "Cocktails
"), and exhibits poor judgment due to what her psychiatrist deems "self-destructive tendencies".
In season three, after she secretly holidays with Michael to the Sandals Jamaica
resort, they become a couple, signing an official relationship disclosure document with HR that Michael calls their "love contract". Although Michael appears wary and even afraid of Jan and tries at times to end things with her, in the third season finale "The Job
" she gets a breast enhancement and he takes her back. In that same episode, Michael stands by her when she is fired after a huge fight with David Wallace.
In season four, Jan and Michael remain together and she starts a scented candle
business out of their house. Her behaviour however, breaks down rapidly and it is revealed that she spends all of his money and sleeps at home all day. Their relationship is strained in "The Deposition
" when Michael sides with Dunder Mifflin in Jan's wrongful dismissal
lawsuit against the company. Then, in "Dinner Party
", Jan and Michael's destructive relationship is further revealed to the horror of their guests, when they repeatedly fight, she throws a Dundie Award at his television, cries uncontrollably and is almost arrested. They eventually break up and in the fourth season finale, Michael discovers Jan is pregnant via artificial insemination
.
In season five, Jan returns in "Baby Shower
" with her new baby Astrid (which Michael pronounces as "Asturd"). Her eccentricity remains evident when she spontaneously starts singing "Son of a Preacher Man
" to her baby in front of the entire office. Michael feels no connection to the child and is glad that he and Jan are no longer together.
Jan doesn't return again until a brief appearance in the season 7 episode "Sex Ed
", where she is revealed to be working in hospital administration. When Michael has a false herpes scare, he goes to warn her of this, but he also wants to know if he overvalued their relationships. Jan proceeds to tell him at great length that things were never good between them, and that she was both subject and queen who went slumming by dating him. Michael's herpes admission is very blunt, and he later says that he can't believe how wrong he was about Jan maybe being "the one" for him. In "Threat Level Midnight
", Jan appears in Michael's film as Jasmine Windsong, a jazz singer who gives Agent Michael Scarn data on rescuing hostages before being killed by a poison dart. Jan is approached by the documentary crew for a comment and is very uncomfortable, briefly praising Michael's film completion and visibly making haste in her efforts to get away from the crew and the subject of Michael Scott.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
from the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television series The Office. Though her last name is commonly misspelled as "Levinson", NBC spells it as "Levenson". Her counterpart in the UK version is Jennifer Taylor-Clarke
Jennifer Taylor-Clarke
Jennifer Taylor-Clarke is a fictional character on the BBC2 comedy television series The Office. She is the corporate manager overseeing at least the Slough and Swindon branches of the fictitious paper merchant, Wernham-Hogg. She is portrayed by Stirling Gallacher.Jennifer, like Neil Godwin, is...
. She is played by Melora Hardin
Melora Hardin
Melora Diane Hardin is an American actress, best known for her roles as Jan Levinson on NBC's The Office and Trudy Monk on USA's Monk.-Early life:...
.
Overview
When the series begins, Jan Levenson-Gould is Michael Scott'sMichael Scott (The Office)
Michael Gary Scott is a fictional character on NBC's The Office, portrayed by Steve Carell, and based on David Brent from the original British version. Michael, the central character of the series, was the manager of the Scranton branch of paper and printer distribution company Dunder Mifflin Inc...
superior at the New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
corporate headquarters of fictitious paper distributor Dunder-Mifflin
Dunder-Mifflin
Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, Inc. is a fictional paper sales company featured in the United States television series The Office. Until very late 2009, it supposedly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol DMI,; in early 2010 it was absorbed by the Tallahassee, Florida-based...
. Jan's no-nonsense style is at odds with Michael's much more casual approach. Since her office is in New York, Jan's contact with the Scranton
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton is a city in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, United States. It is the county seat of Lackawanna County and the largest principal city in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area. Scranton had a population of 76,089 in 2010, according to the U.S...
branch is largely by telephone, although she will make the two-and-a-half-hour drive to Scranton if necessary. She usually asks if she's on camera when talking to Michael on the speaker phone, and Michael often lies and tells her she is not, before admitting that they are—at which point she hangs up on him.
While initially based on Jennifer Taylor-Clarke from the UK version, her character develops in a wildly different direction.
Eventually, she has a long-term but troubled romantic relationship with Michael, which escalates after Dunder Mifflin fires her for increasingly erratic behavior. Her relationship with Michael only worsens when she moves into his condo and takes over, redecorating the condo and damaging his finances by running him into debt.
Biography
Introduced as a very driven, successful woman, Jan has a managerial style that clashes with Michael's laid-back business style. Jan is usually reprimanding Michael for some combination of failing to fulfill his work duties, violating company policy, or trying to flirt with her. Jan generally gets more respect from the office than Michael does. Her marriage ended in divorceDivorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
due partially to Jan's desire for children, a dream not shared by her ex-husband ("The Client"). Prior to that, she went by the name Jan Levenson-Gould, but dropped "Gould" following the divorce. In her personal life, Jan faced a rough year not only with her divorce but as a victim of identity theft
Identity theft
Identity theft is a form of stealing another person's identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person's identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person's name...
. She is also seeing a psychiatrist
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
. In a deleted scene from "Dinner Party
Dinner Party (The Office)
"Dinner Party" is the thirteenth episode of the fourth season of the American comedy television series The Office—the show's sixty-sixth episode overall. Written by the writing team of Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky and directed by Paul Feig, the episode originally aired on NBC on April 10, 2008...
," it is implied that Jan grew up in West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
. The "Serenity by Jan" website indicates that she had an unhappy childhood and ran away from home.
Behavior
Jan's mental breakdown occurs over the course of season 3, coincidentally or not, over the same timeline that her relationship with Michael progresses. In the third season episode "Women's AppreciationWomen's Appreciation
"Women's Appreciation" is the twenty-second episode of the third season of the US version of The Office, and the third supersized episode of the season...
" she is still projecting a professional demeanour, hosting a seminar for the women of the office in order to encourage them to seek Management opportunities. However, in the season finale she is fired in a huge fight with David Wallace because she basically "smokes in her office all day", takes "days off without explanation", and took "too many trips to Scranton".
Jan has a strong and often fetishist
Sexual fetishism
Sexual fetishism, or erotic fetishism, is the sexual arousal a person receives from a physical object, or from a specific situation. The object or situation of interest is called the fetish, the person a fetishist who has a fetish for that object/situation. Sexual fetishism may be regarded, e.g...
sexuality which sometimes intimidates Michael, such as when he revealed in "Women's Appreciation
Women's Appreciation
"Women's Appreciation" is the twenty-second episode of the third season of the US version of The Office, and the third supersized episode of the season...
" that Jan did not always abide by their safety word
Safeword
A safeword is a code word or series of code words that are sometimes used in BDSM for a submissive to unambiguously communicate their physical or emotional state to a dominant , typically when approaching, or crossing, a physical, emotional, or moral boundary...
"foliage". Michael also revealed that Jan enjoyed making him dress up as a school girl during role-playing sessions, and that she would videotape their sexual encounters and then show it to her therapist for critique.
Other fetishes of hers include leather, licking coffee off her lover, Cuban musicians, and frat boys.
Jan initially drives a Volvo S80
Volvo S80
The Volvo S80 is a mid-size executive saloon/sedan from Swedish automaker Volvo Cars, and was introduced in 1998 to take the place of the rear-wheel drive Volvo 960/S90 saloons in the model range. The Volvo S80 was built at the Torslanda Plant in Gothenburg, Sweden. Unlike most Volvo models, it...
and a Volvo S60
Volvo S60
The Volvo S60 is a compact executive sedan produced by the Swedish automaker Volvo from 2000. Two generations of the sedan have been produced to date.-First generation :...
. At the beginning of season four both her Volvo and Michael's Chrysler Sebring
Chrysler Sebring
The Chrysler Sebring is a line of mid-size cars that was sold by Chrysler from 1995 to 2010.The Sebring came in three generations. The first, from 1995 to 2000, was available first only as a coupe and starting in 1996 as a convertible. The two body designs did not share many components nor any...
are traded in for a Porsche Boxster
Porsche Boxster
The Porsche Boxster is a mid-engined roadster built by Porsche. The Boxster is Porsche's first road vehicle to be originally designed as a roadster since the 550 Spyder....
that they share, unsuccessfully. Jan seemed to have appropriated the Porsche, as Michael drove a PT Cruiser Convertible after their break-up. Jan, as a mother, now drives a Toyota Highlander
Toyota Highlander
The Toyota Highlander is a midsize crossover SUV produced by Toyota. It is a taller, heavier version of the Toyota Camry.Announced in April 2000 at the New York Auto Show and arriving in late 2000 in Japan and January, 2001, in North America, the Highlander became the first car-based midsize SUV or...
. The Highlander is uniquely bare-boned, contrasting Jan's Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce (car)
This a list of Rolls-Royce motor cars and includes vehicles produced by:*Rolls-Royce Limited *Rolls-Royce Motors , which was owned by Vickers between 1980 and 1998, and after that by Volkswagen...
-esque stroller and her image.
Jan's surname is almost universely spelled "Levinson", NBC confirms the spelling "Levenson." Though contradicting the usage is the Season 4 DVD interior casing showing Dwight's "Power flow chart" where her name is, once again, spelled with an 'i'.
Although not a regular smoker, Jan tends to light up when put in stressful situations ("Performance Review
Performance Review
"Performance Review" is the eighth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's fourteenth episode overall. It was written by Larry Wilmore and directed by Paul Feig...
", "Casino Night", "Cocktails
Cocktails (The Office)
"Cocktails" is the seventeenth episode of the third season of the US version of The Office. It aired on February 22, 2007 on NBC. It is written by Paul Lieberstein and directed by Alias and Lost creator J. J. Abrams....
"), and exhibits poor judgment due to what her psychiatrist deems "self-destructive tendencies".
Relationship with Michael
Jan and Michael first get together in "The Client" when they work together on a sales pitch to a particularily lucrative client and she is impressed by his sales ability. They have a one-night stand which Jan initially refuses to acknoweldge or allow Michael to talk about. Over the course of season two, Jan generally tries to deny feelings for Michael until finally on the season finale "Casino Night" she drives to Scranton to attend the office Casino Party, only to learn that Michael is dating Carol.In season three, after she secretly holidays with Michael to the Sandals Jamaica
Sandals Resorts
Sandals Resorts is an operator of all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean and part of Sandals Resorts International , parent company of Sandals Resorts, Beaches Resorts, Grand Pineapple Beach Resorts and The Royal Plantation Collection. Sandals Resorts has a total of 15 couples-only properties,...
resort, they become a couple, signing an official relationship disclosure document with HR that Michael calls their "love contract". Although Michael appears wary and even afraid of Jan and tries at times to end things with her, in the third season finale "The Job
The Job (The Office)
"The Job" is the third season finale of the U.S. version of The Office, and the show's 52nd and 53rd episode overall. It aired in the United States on April 19, 2007 on NBC. It is the season's second hour-long episode...
" she gets a breast enhancement and he takes her back. In that same episode, Michael stands by her when she is fired after a huge fight with David Wallace.
In season four, Jan and Michael remain together and she starts a scented candle
Candle
A candle is a solid block or cylinder of wax with an embedded wick, which is lit to provide light, and sometimes heat.Today, most candles are made from paraffin. Candles can also be made from beeswax, soy, other plant waxes, and tallow...
business out of their house. Her behaviour however, breaks down rapidly and it is revealed that she spends all of his money and sleeps at home all day. Their relationship is strained in "The Deposition
The Deposition (The Office)
"The Deposition" is the twelfth episode of the fourth season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's sixty-fifth episode overall. Written by consulting producer Lester Lewis and directed by Julian Farino, the episode originally aired in the United States on November 15,...
" when Michael sides with Dunder Mifflin in Jan's wrongful dismissal
Wrongful dismissal
Wrongful dismissal, also called wrongful termination or wrongful discharge, is an idiom and legal phrase, describing a situation in which an employee's contract of employment has been terminated by the employer in circumstances where the termination breaches one or more terms of the contract of...
lawsuit against the company. Then, in "Dinner Party
Dinner Party (The Office)
"Dinner Party" is the thirteenth episode of the fourth season of the American comedy television series The Office—the show's sixty-sixth episode overall. Written by the writing team of Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky and directed by Paul Feig, the episode originally aired on NBC on April 10, 2008...
", Jan and Michael's destructive relationship is further revealed to the horror of their guests, when they repeatedly fight, she throws a Dundie Award at his television, cries uncontrollably and is almost arrested. They eventually break up and in the fourth season finale, Michael discovers Jan is pregnant via artificial insemination
Artificial insemination
Artificial insemination, or AI, is the process by which sperm is placed into the reproductive tract of a female for the purpose of impregnating the female by using means other than sexual intercourse or natural insemination...
.
In season five, Jan returns in "Baby Shower
Baby Shower
"Baby Shower" is the fourth episode of the fifth season of the television series The Office, and the show's seventy-sixth episode overall. The episode aired in the United States on October 16, 2008 on NBC....
" with her new baby Astrid (which Michael pronounces as "Asturd"). Her eccentricity remains evident when she spontaneously starts singing "Son of a Preacher Man
Son of a Preacher Man
"Son of a Preacher Man" is a song recorded by Dusty Springfield in September 1968 and featured on the album, Dusty in Memphis. It was written by John Hurley and Ronnie Wilkins. The rights to cover "Son of a Preacher Man" were originally offered to Aretha Franklin, who turned it down...
" to her baby in front of the entire office. Michael feels no connection to the child and is glad that he and Jan are no longer together.
Jan doesn't return again until a brief appearance in the season 7 episode "Sex Ed
Sex Ed (The Office)
"Sex Ed" is the fourth episode of the seventh season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's 130th episode overall. Written and directed by Paul Lieberstein, the episode aired on NBC in the United States on October 14, 2010...
", where she is revealed to be working in hospital administration. When Michael has a false herpes scare, he goes to warn her of this, but he also wants to know if he overvalued their relationships. Jan proceeds to tell him at great length that things were never good between them, and that she was both subject and queen who went slumming by dating him. Michael's herpes admission is very blunt, and he later says that he can't believe how wrong he was about Jan maybe being "the one" for him. In "Threat Level Midnight
Threat Level Midnight
-Production:This episode was written by executive producer B. J. Novak, who also portrays Ryan Howard on the show. It was directed by Tucker Gates, his fourth directing credit of the series...
", Jan appears in Michael's film as Jasmine Windsong, a jazz singer who gives Agent Michael Scarn data on rescuing hostages before being killed by a poison dart. Jan is approached by the documentary crew for a comment and is very uncomfortable, briefly praising Michael's film completion and visibly making haste in her efforts to get away from the crew and the subject of Michael Scott.