Tina Fey Bio

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Tina Fey Pictures

Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey (born May 18, 1970) is an American writer, comedian, actress, and producer. She has won five Emmys, three Golden Globes, and two SAG Awards. Fey is best known for her work on Mean Girls, Saturday Night Live, and her starring and creative roles on 30 Rock, a situation comedy loosely based on her experiences at Saturday Night Live. Fey was selected by Barbara Walters as one of America's "10 most fascinating people of 2008". She was also listed by Time magazine as one of the most influential people of 2008 and again in 2009.

Fey became a writer on SNL in 1997. She was promoted to the position of head writer in 1999. She was added to the cast of SNL in 2000. After leaving SNL in 2006, Fey created her own television series called 30 Rock. In the series, she portrays Liz Lemon, the head writer of TGS with Tracy Jordan, a fictional sketch comedy series. In 2008, she starred in the comedy movie Baby Mama, alongside Amy Poehler.

Tina Fey: Early life

Fey was born in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. She is the daughter of Zenovia "Jeanne" (née Xenakes), a brokerage employee of Greek ancestry and Donald Fey, a university grant proposal-writer of German and Scottish ancestry.

Fey was exposed to comedy early. She recalls:

She also grew up watching SCTV and includes Catherine O'Hara among her role models.

Fey attended Cardington Elementary School and Beverly Hills Middle School in Upper Darby. By middle school, she knew she was interested in comedy, even doing an independent-study project on the subject in eighth grade. She graduated from Upper Darby High School in 1988.

Tina Fey: Career

After Fey graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.A. in drama in 1992, she moved to Chicago, Illinois in order to take night classes at The Second City. Once her Second City training began, she immersed herself in the "cult of improvisation," becoming, as she described it a decade later, "one of those athletes trying to get into the Olympics. It was all about blind focus. I was so sure that I was doing exactly what I'd been put on this Earth to do, and I would have done anything to make it onto that stage. Not because of SNL, but because I wanted to devote my life to improv. I would have been perfectly happy to stay at Second City forever."

By 1994, she was invited to join the cast of The Second City, where she performed in the Jeff Award-winning revue Paradigm Lost. Improvisation became an important influence on her initial understanding of what it means to be an actress, as she noted in an interview for The Believer in November 2003:

While in Chicago, she also made what she later described as an "amateurish" attempt at stand-up comedy. Fey is also a veteran of The ImprovOlympic.

Tina Fey - Saturday Night Live

With then-head-writer Adam McKay's help, Fey became a writer for NBC's Saturday Night Live (SNL) in 1997. By 1999, Fey was SNL's first female head writer, a milestone she downplays in light of the fact that there have not been very many head writers. As co-head writer of SNL's 25th anniversary special, Fey won a 2001 Writers Guild of America Award. She and the writing staff also won a 2002 Emmy Award for their work on the show.

In September 2005, she went on maternity leave after giving birth to her daughter Alice. Her Weekend Update role was covered by Horatio Sanz for two episodes before her return to the show on October 22, 2005, at which time she noted, "I had to get back to work. NBC has me under contract; the baby and I only have a verbal agreement."

The season was her last, as she thereafter departed to develop 30 Rock.

SNL sketches

Some recurring sketches written by Fey include:

• Parodies of Live with Regis and Kelly and The View
• The Girl with No Gaydar, co-written by Rachel Dratch
• The Boston Teens, co-written by Rachel Dratch
• Monica Lewinsky skits

She is also credited with:

• Colonel Angus, portrayed by Christopher Walken in a sketch filled with word play on the colonel's name
• Mom Jeans commercial
• "Talkin 'Bout 'Ginas" (Parody of The Vagina Monologues)
• "Old French Whore!" (game show parody with teens paired with old French prostitutes)
• "Census" (Tim Meadows questions a clueless Christopher Walken)

Weekend Update

In 2000, Fey and Jimmy Fallon became co-anchors of SNL's Weekend Update, a pairing that ended in May 2004 when Fallon last appeared as a cast member. (Fey also was co-writer of the Weekend Update segment). Fallon was replaced by Amy Poehler. It was the first time that two women co-anchored Weekend Update.

Returning host

On February 23, 2008, Fey hosted the first episode of SNL after the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike, becoming the third female cast member to host overall, the second one who worked for Lorne Michaels, and the first one to have previously worked as a Weekend Update anchor, with the exception of Chevy Chase, who co-hosted an episode in 1987 with Steve Martin and Martin Short while they were promoting their film The Three Amigos.

Fey's celebrity impressions during the episode included Ellen Page (as Juno MacGuff) and Mary Jo Buttafuoco.

Sarah Palin

Web promo for 2008 web video of Palin (Fey) and Clinton (Poehler) from NBC.com.

Fey is considered to bear a resemblance to Governor of Alaska and former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, and in the immediate aftermath of John McCain's announcement of Palin as his running mate, speculation rose as to whether Fey might portray Palin in sketches on SNL. On the 34th season premiere episode, aired September 13, 2008, Fey returned to SNL to imitate Palin in a sketch, alongside Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton. Their repartee included Clinton needling Palin about her "Tina Fey glasses". It quickly became NBC.com's most-watched viral video ever, with 5.7 million views by the following Wednesday. In an interview, SNL creator Lorne Michaels said "The whole world cast her in that role." Michaels said that she was unlikely to remain in the role for long, however. Palin's campaign said that Palin was amused, particularly because she had once dressed up as Tina Fey for Halloween, though Palin later said she had seen the sketch without hearing the audio. John McCain's top economic advisor, Carly Fiorina, called the sketch sexist. During the 2008 Emmy Awards, Fey said of Palin, "I want to be done playing this lady November 5th. So if anyone could help me be done playing this lady November 5th, that would be good for me." In an interview with TV Guide, Fey reiterated her desire that her role as Palin will be temporary. "If she wins, I'm done," said Fey. "I can't do that for four years. And by 'I'm done,' I mean I'm leaving Earth."

On September 27, she reprised her role as Palin, parodying the CBS News interview with Katie Couric, who was played by Poehler. Portions of the sketch were direct quotes and gestures from interviews with Couric on September 24. On October 4, she played the role of Palin at the 2008 vice-presidential debate, with Jason Sudeikis playing Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Joe Biden and Queen Latifah as moderator Gwen Ifill. SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels, referring to the 50 percent audience increase in the 34th season, told the New York Times, "I think the gods smiled on us with the Palin thing." On October 18, 2008, Fey came face-to-face with Palin herself, when impersonating the vice presidential candidate in a fake news conference on SNL. Later on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Fey recounted that Palin actually offered the services of her daughter Bristol to babysit Fey's daughter Alice.

The New York Times television critic Alessandra Stanley wrote that the McCain campaign apparently believes that Fey's comedy sketches have "undermined Palin's plausibility" as a candidate qualified to be Vice President, and Stanley speculated that the candidate's appearance on SNL was calculated to "disarm" Fey.

On the October 23 episode of Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday, Fey as Palin appeared alongside John McCain (played by Darrell Hammond), as President George W. Bush (played by Will Ferrell) gave his endorsement to the pair.

On November 1, Fey appeared with McCain himself in a skit that mocked the McCain campaign's lack of funds. The skit featured McCain and Fey on the set of QVC, just a few days after Barack Obama bought time on the major television networks. Items advertised during the skit included an "Ayers Freshener," which Fey thought would remind people of Bill Ayers, a set of McCain-brand pork knives, a set of 10 white "Town Hall Debate plates," commemorating the 10 town hall meetings that never happened, McCain "Fine Gold Jewelry" (alluding to the McCain-Feingold Act on Campaign Finance Reform) presented by Cindy McCain, as part of the Washington Outsider Jewelery Extravaganza, "Palin in 2012" t-shirts, and "limited-edition Joe Action Figures," including Joe the Plumber, Joe Six Pack, and a talking Joe Biden.

On November 5, 2008, Fey told reporters she was retiring her impersonation of Sarah Palin, in order to focus on 30 Rock.

Tina Fey - 30 Rock

Fey developed a sitcom, 30 Rock, for NBC's fall 2006 schedule. The show is produced by NBC and Broadway Video, with Lorne Michaels and two former producers of The Tracy Morgan Show, David Miner, who is also her manager at 3 Arts, and Joann Alfano. Fey also writes and stars in the sitcom, said to be based on her experiences at SNL.

The show received positive reviews when it debuted. Ratings improved when NBC moved it to the Thursday night "Must See TV" comedy block. NBC renewed the series for a second season, which began in October 2007.

In July 2007, Fey was nominated for an Emmy in the category of Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Liz Lemon. The show itself won the 2007 Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series. In 2008, she won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical, and won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series.

Along with the rest of the show's writing staff, Fey participated in the 2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike, which began on November 5, 2007 and concluded on February 12, 2008. While picketing in Rockefeller Center on the first day of the strike, Fey was quoted as saying, "I'm a member of the Guild and I am here to support my fellow Guild members. This strike affects the show in which I work. We put our pens down yesterday, and we will not write until negotiations resume." Fey, however, continued with her acting and producing duties on 30 Rock, as required by her contract. Production on 30 Rock ended Friday, November 9, 2007 and resumed 95 days later, at the conclusion of the writers strike, on February 12, 2008.

The show's third season premiered on October 30, 2008, during which it received its highest ratings possibly due to Fey's appearances as Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live. In January 2009, 30 Rock was renewed for a fourth season by NBC.

Tina Fey - Feature films

Tina Fey at the premiere of her film Mean Girls.

As a recurring guest on Late Night With Conan O'Brien, Fey had a running gag in which she would plug upcoming films that didn't really exist, substituting the promised clips with intentionally, obviously unrelated footage. However, in 2004, she made her feature film debut as writer and co-star of Mean Girls. Characters and behaviors in the movie are based on Fey's high school life at Upper Darby High School and on the non-fiction book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman. The cast includes other present and past cast members of SNL including Tim Meadows, Ana Gasteyer, and Amy Poehler. She also made a voice cameo in the animated film Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters as the team's mother, a giant burrito.

Fey and former SNL castmate Amy Poehler starred in Baby Mama, released April 25, 2008 and written and directed by Michael McCullers. The plot concerns a business woman (Fey) who wants a child but, discovering she has only a million-to-one chance of getting pregnant, decides to find a surrogate: "Angie" (Poehler), a white-trash schemer. The movie had mixed reviews, with a rating of 62% at Rotten Tomatoes, and grossed over $64 million at the box office.

In April 2006, Fey was working on a script for a Paramount Pictures film by the name of Curly Oxide and Vic Thrill that was based loosely on the true story of a Hasidic rock musician. Fey provided a voice for the upcoming film Ponyo, which was released in 2008. She provided the voice of Lisa in the movie.

Tina Fey - Other work

In 2000, Fey partnered with fellow SNL cast member Rachel Dratch in the critically acclaimed two-woman show Dratch & Fey at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York City, the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado, and the Chicago Improv Festival. Lorne Michaels saw her at one of the performances, which led to her becoming the co-anchor of SNL's Weekend Update. SNL's popular Boston Teens sketch originated at Second City in Chicago. Tina played Rachel Dratch's mother. She also appeared in Martin & Orloff, a surreal comedy that premiered at Austin's SXSW.

In 2007, Fey was chosen as one of the "100 People Who Shape Our World" by Time. She placed seventh on that year's Hot 100 List on AfterEllen.com, a website for lesbians. She was ranked #80 on the Maxim "Hot 100 Women of 2002", and she was included in the People's "50 Most Beautiful People 2003". Fey guest-starred on the August 13, 2007 Sesame Street episode, "The Bookaneers."

Fey appeared as a guest judge on the November 25, 2007 episode of the Food Network program Iron Chef America. She has appeared in Disney's campaign "Year of a Million Dreams" as Tinker Bell, along with Mikhail Baryshnikov as Peter Pan and Gisele Bí¼ndchen as Wendy Darling. She has also done commercials for American Express credit card.

Tina Fey: Philanthropy

Fey's charity work includes support of Autism Speaks and Love Our Children USA, which named her among their Mothers Who Make a Difference in 2009.

Fey is also the 2009 spokesperson for Light The Night, which benefits the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Tina Fey: Personal life

Fey is married to Jeff Richmond, a composer on Saturday Night Live. They met at Chicago's Second City and dated for seven years before marrying in a Greek Orthodox ceremony on June 3, 2001. They have a daughter, Alice Zenobia Richmond, who was born on September 10, 2005, in New York City, where they reside. In April 2009, Fey and Richmond purchased a 3.4 million dollar apartment in the Upper West Side.

Fey has a scar a few inches long on the left side of her chin and cheek. Responding to questions about its origin, Fey was quoted in the November 25, 2001, New York Times as saying: "It's a childhood injury that was kind of grim. And it kind of bums my parents out for me to talk about it". But in an interview with Fey and Richmond in the January 2009 issue of Vanity Fair, Richmond revealed the scar resulted from a slashing incident, which happened when she was five. Richmond said: "It was in, like, the front yard of her house, and somebody just came up, and she just thought somebody marked her with a pen." She has said she was reluctant to discuss the incident in part because "It's impossible to talk about it without somehow seemingly exploiting it."

Tina Fey: Detailed works

Tina Fey - As a writer

Tina Fey - As an actress

Tina Fey: Awards and nominations

The following awards are categorized under the year they were announced (and not necessarily the the year covered by the award ceremony).