Coupe was born and raised in Plymouth, New Hampshire, to Ernest and Kathryn. She has two brothers, Sam and Thom. Coupe attended Plymouth Regional High School in her hometown and graduated in 1999. She is of French, English and Scottish heritage.

After college, Coupe took classes in improvisational comedy at The Groundlings and ImprovOlympic. In 2003, Coupe toured France playing a soldier in an all-female version of King Lear. In November 2005, her one-woman sketch show The Patriots premiered at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York and won her the breakout performer award at HBO’s U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado in March 2006.

Coupe was active in her high school’s theatre program. Her roles included Bonnie in Anything Goes and a Mundy sister in Dancing at Lughnasa. Coupe graduated from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in 2006.

In 2007, Coupe appeared in I Think I Love My Wife. She went on to appear in the short-lived MTV series Short Circuitz and on the eighth episode of the first season of Flight of the Conchords, entitled “Girlfriends”, as well as an episode of Unhitched. She was a series regular in HBO’s unaired 12 Miles of Bad Road and had a recurring role in Samantha Who?

In March 2009, Coupe was cast as Callie in the ABC pilot, No Heroics, an adaptation of the UK series of the same name. In 2012, Coupe played the female lead and love interest to Daniel Henney in the independent film Shanghai Calling, filmed in Shanghai, China. Coupe also appeared in the 2011 movie What’s Your Number? with Anna Faris and Chris Evans.

From April 2011 to May 2013, Coupe starred on the ABC ensemble comedy series Happy Endings alongside Elisha Cuthbert, Zachary Knighton, Adam Pally, Damon Wayans, Jr. and Casey Wilson. Despite critical acclaim and a cult following, the show was cancelled by ABC after concluding its third season on May 3, 2013. Since Happy Endings’s cancellation, Coupe played a recurring role in the third season of House of Lies and starred alongside Jay Harrington in the USA Network comedy series Benched, which premiered on October 28, 2014. Coupe later starred in the ABC thriller Quantico playing the recurring role of FBI agent Hannah Wyland.

Coupe announced her engagement to Darin Olien, founder of lifestyle brand SuperLife, via Instagram on November 27, 2014. They were married on December 24, 2014 while on vacation in New Zealand. Coupe and Olien filed for divorce in 2018.

She most recently starred as Tiger on the Hulu comedy series Future Man, which premiered November 14, 2017. The third and final season aired in 2020.