Tina Fey

Tina Fey (born Elizabeth Stamatina Fey, 18.5.1970)

Tina Fey is a comedian, writer and producer. She is one of the writers for Saturday Night Live and has won six Emmys for her work.

Tina Fey: Childhood

Tina Fey was born in the Upper Darby area of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, to Zenovia and Donald Fey. She has a mixed ancestry of Greek (on her mother's side), German and Scottish (on her father's side).

Tina's parents encouraged her to watch comedy as a child, letting her stay up to watch Honeymooners and sneaking her in to the cinema to see Young Frankenstein.

As a child, Fey studied at Cardington Elementary School and Beverley Hills Middle School. In the eighth grade, she did a comedy project, at which point her love of the subject was really starting to take form.

Tina Fey: Comedy Career

Tina Fey studied drama at the University of Virginia and graduated in 1992. She then moved to Chicago, Illinois, to study at The Second City theatre school. Two years later, Fey was invited to join the core Second City theatre group and performed in Paradigm Lost.

In 1997, Fey enlisted the help of Adam McKay, who landed her a role as a writer for the hugely popular Saturday Night Live. By 1999, she became the first female head writer on Saturday Night Live. Fey won a Writers Guild of America Award in 2001 for her role in co-writing the Saturday Night Live 25th Anniversary show. The team of writers also went on to win an Emmy Award for their writing in 2002.

Fey was absent from the 'Weekend Update' section of the show for two episodes when she was on maternity leave for the birth of her daughter Alice. Horatio Sanz replaced her for those two episodes before she returned to work, joking "I had to get back to work. NBC has me under contract; the baby and I only have a verbal agreement." Fey was co-anchor of 'Weekend Update' with Jimmy Fallon. When Fallon left as a cast member, he was replaced by Amy Poehler.

Fey left Saturday Night Live to work on a new show, 30 Rock but in February 2008 she returned to host the first show of Saturday Night Live after the Writers Guild of America strike. Whilst hosting the show, she performed an impression of Ellen Page (as her role in Juno). She also returned to the show in September 2008 to perform an impression of Sarah Palin, John McCain's running mate in the 2008 US Presidential elections against Barack Obama. In a later episode, she returned to the role, with George W. Bush played by Will Ferrell.

Tina Fey developed the sitcom 30 Rock for NBC, which she not only writes but also stars in. The show won an Emmy award for Outstanding Comedy Series and Fey herself won an Emmy for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series. She also won a Golden Globe award for Best Actress in a Comedy.

In 2004, Tina Fey wrote and co-starred in Mean Girls, which also starred Lindsay Lohan. She also starred in Baby Mama, along with her Saturday Night Live co-star Amy Poehler.

Tina Fey: Personal Life

Tina Fey married Jeff Richmond in 2001. Richmond is a composer on Saturday Night Live and the pair met whilst they were both at The Second City.