Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey (born May 18, 1970) is an Emmy award-winning American writer, comedienne, actress and producer. Fey is best known for, her work on Saturday Night Live as well as her work on 30 Rock, a situation comedy loosely based on her experiences at Saturday Night Live.[1]
| Tina Fey | |
|---|---|
 Fey at the premiere of Baby Mama, 2008 | |
| Birth name | Elizabeth Stamatina Fey |
| Born | May 18, 1970 Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Years active | 1994–present |
| Spouse | Jeff Richmond (2001–present) |
| Children | Alice Zenobia Richmond |
Fey became a writer on SNL in 1997 and she was promoted to the position of head writer in 1999. She was later added to the cast of SNL in 2000.[2] 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.[2] She recently starred in the movie 'Baby Mama', alongside Amy Poehler.
Early life
Fey was born in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, the daughter of Zenobia "Jeanne" (née Xenakes),[3][4] a brokerage employee, and Donald Fey, a university grant proposal-writer.[5] Fey's father is of German and Scottish ancestry and her mother Greek American.[6]
Fey was exposed to comedy early, saying:
I remember my parents sneaking me in to see Young Frankenstein. We would also watch Saturday Night Live, or Monty Python or old Marx Brothers movies. My dad would let us stay up late to watch The Honeymooners. We were not allowed to watch The Flintstones though, my dad hated it because it ripped off The Honeymooners.[7] I actually have a very low level of Flintstones knowledge for someone my age.[8]
She also grew up watching SCTV and includes Catherine O'Hara as one of her role models.[9]
Fey attended Cardington Elementary School and Beverly Hills Middle School.[10] By middle school, she knew she was interested in comedy, even doing an independent study project on the subject in eighth grade.[7] She graduated from Upper Darby High School in 1988.[11][10]
Career
After Fey graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.A. in Drama in 1992, she moved to Chicago in order to take night classes at The Second City.[12] 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."[12]
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:[12]
When I started, improv had the biggest impact on my acting. I studied the usual acting methods at college—Stanislavsky and whatnot. But none of it really clicked for me. My problem with the traditional acting method was that I never understood what you were supposed to be thinking about when you’re onstage. But at Second City, I learned that your focus should be entirely on your partner. You take what they’re giving you and use it to build a scene. That opened it up for me. Suddenly it all made sense. It’s about your partner. Not what you’re going to say, not finding the perfect mannerisms or tics for your character, not what you’re going to eat later. Improv helped to distract me from my usual stage bullshit and put my focus somewhere else so that I could stop acting. I guess that’s what method acting is supposed to accomplish anyway. It distracts you so that your body and emotions can work freely. Improv is just a version of method acting that works for me.
While in Chicago, she also made what she later described as an "amateurish" attempt at stand-up comedy.[7] Fey is also a veteran of The ImprovOlympic.
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.[13] 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 a daughter, Alice Zenobia Richmond. 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 [oral] agreement."[14]
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, cowritten by Rachel Dratch
- Boston Teens, cowritten by Rachel Dratch
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.[15]
As 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 return and host. During her return to Weekend Update, in an editorial segment, she declared she was a "bitch" while throwing her support behind the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton. She said Hillary Clinton was also a bitch, but "bitches get stuff done" and "bitch is the new black". Fey's celebrity impressions included Ellen Page (as Juno MacGuff) and Mary Jo Buttafuoco.
Three weeks later, Fey's 30 Rock co-star, Tracy Morgan, cameoed on Weekend Update, supporting the presidential campaign of Barack Obama, referring to Fey's statement by responding with, "Bitch may be the new black, but black is the new President, bitch!"[16]
30 Rock
Fey developed a sitcom, 30 Rock, for NBC's fall 2006 schedule.[17] 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.[17] Fey also writes and stars in the sitcom, said to be based on her experiences at SNL.[1]
The show made its debut with mostly positive reviews but weak ratings; 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.[18]
In July 2007, Fey was nominated for an Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy 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 on January 27.
Along with the rest of the show's writing staff, Fey participated in the 2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike, which began at 12:01 AM 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."[19] Fey, however, continued with her acting and producing duties on 30 Rock, as required by her contract[20] Production on 30 Rock ended Friday, November 9,[21] and resumed at the end of the writers strike.
Episodes written for 30 Rock
So far, Fey has independently written eight episodes of 30 Rock and co-written four episodes. They are:
- "Pilot"
- "The Aftermath"
- "Tracy Does Conan"
- "The Head and the Hair" (co-written with John Riggi)
- "Black Tie" (co-written with Kay Cannon)
- "Up All Night"
- "The C Word"
- "Hiatus"
- "SeinfeldVision"
- "Somebody to Love" (co-written with Kay Cannon)
- "MILF Island" (co-written with Matt Hubbard)
- "Cooter"
Feature films
Fey wrote the script for and co-starred in the 2004 movie Mean Girls. Characters and behaviors in the movie are based on Fey's high school life[22] 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.
On April 25, 2008, Baby Mama, Fey's collaboration with former Saturday Night Live castmate Amy Poehler, was released. The plot concerns a business woman (Fey) who wants a child but discovers she has only a million-to-one chance of getting pregnant then decides to find a surrogate, "Angie" (Poehler), a white-trash schemer. The movie had mixed reviews, with a rating of 61% at Rottentomatoes.com, and has made over $60 million dollars to date.[23]
As of April 2006, Fey was working on a script for a Paramount Pictures film by the name of Curly Oxide and Vic Thrill that is said to be based loosely on the true story of a Hasidic rock musician.[24] On the Internet Movie Database, Fey is still listed as writer of this film, which is still listed as "announced", with a projected release for 2009.[25]
Other work
In 2000, Fey partnered with fellow SNL cast member Rachel Dratch in the critically acclaimed[26] 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 which premiered at Austin's SXSW.
In 2007, Fey was chosen as one of the 100 People Who Shape Our World by Time magazine. She placed seventh on that year's Hot 100 List on AfterEllen.com, a website for lesbian (LGBT) women. She was ranked #80 on the Maxim Hot 100 Women of 2002[12] and she was included in the People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People 2003. Fey guest-starred on the August 13, 2007 Sesame Street episode, "The Bookaneers."[27]
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 campaign "Year of a Million Dreams" as Tinker Bell, along with Mikhail Baryshnikov as Peter Pan and Gisele Bündchen as Wendy Darling.[28] She has also done a commercial for American Express credit card.[29]
Personal life
Fey is married to Jeff Richmond, a composer on SNL. They met at Chicago's Second City and dated for seven years before marrying in a Greek Orthodox ceremony on June 3, 2001.[30] They have a daughter, Alice Zenobia Richmond, who was born on September 10, 2005, in New York City.[31][32]
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."[33]
Fey is known as a committed environmentalist and has noted that, apart from recycling, she also drives a Lexus hybrid.[34]
On June 2, 2008, Tina Fey was announced as the "Sexiest Woman in the World" by readers of lesbian/bisexual Web site AfterEllen.com in their Annual Top 100 List.[35]
Fey is a Star Wars fan, which is why many episodes of her show, 30 Rock, have references to Star Wars.
References
- ^ a b Friend, Tad (2006-04-24). "Who's On First Dept.: Shows About Shows". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ a b "Tina Fey Biography". Yahoo. Retrieved 2008-08-12.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ A `grounded' Tina Fey expands her territory to movies. | The Philadelphia Inquirer (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service) (, 2004)
- ^ Fey revealed on Rachel Ray that her mother was born as Zenobia, but the name was changed at school to Jean/Jeanne due to difficulty of pronunciation -hence Fey's own daughter's middle name is Zenobi
- ^ "Tina Fey - Biography". The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ Heffernan, Virginia (2003-11-03). "Annals of Entertainment: Anchor Woman: Tina Fey Rewrites Late-Night Comedy". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ a b c Fey, Tina (2006-11-01). "Interviews: Tina Fey" (Interview). Interviewed by Noel Murray. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ Whitty, Stephen (2004-04-25). "'SNL' writer sneaks uplifting messages into teen movie". The Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey) (Final Edition ed.). p. 1. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
{{cite news}}:|edition=has extra text (help) - ^ "Tina Fey - 'SNL' vet pilots '30 Rock'". Variety. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
- ^ a b "Wall of Fame -- Tina Fey". Upper Darby High School Wall of Fame. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ "Tina Fey Gets the Last Laugh", Fox News, April 25 2004. Accessed November 28, 2007. "Back in the late 1980s, Fey and the other "AP-class brainiac nerds," as she called her clique, used to sit together in the lunchroom at suburban Philadelphia's Upper Darby High School, making up nasty nicknames for their classmates."
- ^ a b c d Fey, Tina (2003-11). "Believer Interview with Tina Fey" (Interview). Interviewed by Eric Spitznagel. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
{{cite interview}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Fey, Tina (2004-05-10). "SuicideGirls Interview with Tina Fey" (Interview). Interviewed by George Everit. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ "New Mom Fey Returns to 'SNL'". Zap2It TV News. 2005-10-20. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
{{cite news}}: Text ",00.html" ignored (help); Text "1" ignored (help); Text "98150" ignored (help) - ^ Brownfield, Paul (2008-04-20). "Fey and Poehler gamble with 'Baby Mama'". LA Times. Retrieved 2008-05-21.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Television News: Sound Bites". ew.com. 2008-03-21. Retrieved 2008-05-21.
- ^ a b ""30 Rock" (2006)". The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ "'30 Rock' renewed by optimistic NBC". msnbc.msn.com. 2007-04-08. Retrieved 2008-05-21.
- ^ Gorman, Steve (2007-11-05). "Hollywood writers start strike after talks collapse". Reuters.com. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ Zeitchik, Steven (2007-11-06). "High-profile writers Rock picket line in N.Y." The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ Baldwin, Alec (2007-11-11). "What the Strike is Costing Us". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ Fey, Tina (2004-04). "Blackfilm.com interview with Tina Fey" (Interview). Interviewed by Tonisha Johnson. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
{{cite interview}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Baby Mama Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes
- ^ Steinberg, Jacques (2006-04-06). "Tina Fey's Brash Bid for Prime Time". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ Curly Oxide and Vic Thrill (2009)
- ^ Watson, Katie. "What's a Featured Player? Dratch Explains". Saturday-Night-Live.com. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ ""Sesame Street" (2007)". The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2007-08-13.
- ^ Celebrity Photos Show Where Dreams Come True from the Disney Parks & Resorts website within Go.com
- ^ "Writer, Performer Tina Fey Joins American Express' "Are You a Card Member?" Campaign". americanexpress.com. 2007-09-05. Retrieved 2008-05-21.
- ^ Associated Press (2005-04-28). "Tina Fey Pregnant". CNN.com. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ Associated Press (2005-10-01). "'SNL' Star Tina Fey Gives Birth to Girl". SFGate.com. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ Jevens, Darel (2005-09-13). "From the 'SNL' Update desk: Fey a new mom Chicago Sun-Times - Find Articles". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ Witchel, Alex (2001-11-25). "COUNTERINTELLIGENCE; 'Update' Anchor: The Brains Behind Herself". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ Fey, Tina (2007-09-16). "Craveonline.com: Tina Fey Gets The Gold" (Interview). Interviewed by Fred Topel. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ AfterEllen.com Staff (2008-06-01). "The 2008 AfterEllen.com Hot 100". AfterEllen.com. Retrieved 2008-06-17.
External links
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