Tina Fey
☼ Born on 18 December 1970, in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, USA
Biography
Elizabeth Stamatina Fey was born in 1970 in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, just west of Philadelphia, to Xenobia "Jeanne" (Xenakes), a brokerage employee, and Donald Henry Fey, who wrote grant proposals for universities. Her mother is Greek, born in Piraeus, while her father had German, Northern Irish, and English ancestry. Going by the name of Tina, Fey considered herself a "supernerd" during her high school and college years. She studied drama at the University of Virginia, and after graduating in 1992, she headed to Chicago, the ancestral home of American comedy. While working at a YMCA to support herself, she started Second City's first set of courses. After about nine months, a teacher told her to just skip ahead and audition for the more selective Second City Training Center. She failed but about eight weeks later, she re-auditioned and got into the year-long program. She ended up spending many years at The Second City in Chicago where many SNL cast members first started out. Then in 1995, Saturday Night Live (1975) came to The Second City's cast, including Fey's friend, Adam McKay, as a writer, searching for new talent. What they found was Tina Fey. When Adam was made Head writer, he suggested Fey should send a submission packet over the summer with six sketches, 10 pages each. Tina took the advice and sent them. After Lorne Michaels met her and saw her work she was offered a job a week later. She admitted that she was extremely nervous working in the legendary Studio 8H; being
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a foot shorter than everyone else, younger, and being one of the only female writers at the time. After a few years, Tina made history by becoming the first female head writer in the show's history. Tina also made her screen debut as a featured player during the 25th season by co-anchoring Weekend Update with Jimmy Fallon. Since Tina and Jimmy have taken over Weekend Update it has been considered the best ever. This year she made it to full fledged star by becoming a regular cast member, though she is hardly on the show, besides Update. And during the past two summers, Tina and Rachel Dratch performed their two-woman show to critical acclaim in both Chicago (1999) and New York (2000) and made their Aspen Comedy Festival Debut. Tina is married to Jeff Richmond, a Second City director and lives in New York City.
In the role of actor
Mean Girls (2024) (14/01/2024)
The Broadway musical based on the 2004 teen comedy is adapted for the big screen in Mean Girls. Cady Heron (Angourie Rice) has recently returned to the United States after living in Kenya with her mother (Jenna Fischer) and is enrolled in North Shore High School. Cady quickly befriends outcasts Janis ‘Imi’ike (Auli’i Cravalho) and […]
A Haunting in Venice (20/09/2023)
A Halloween séance ends in murder in A Haunting in Venice. Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) has retired from murder investigations and is now living in solitude in Venice. However, Poirot is visited by his old friend, mystery novelist Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey), who invites Poirot to join her at a Halloween party hosted by palazzo […]
Who Killed Maggie Moore(s)? (18/07/2023)
A small-town sheriff investigates the murders of two women with the same name in Who Killed Maggie Moore(s)? Jordan Sanders (Jon Hamm) is a small-town police chief investigating the murder of a woman named Maggie Moore (Louisa Krause), whose burnt remains were found in her car. Accompanied by his always-joking Deputy Reddy (Nick Mohammed), Jordan […]
Soul (27/12/2020)
The near-death experience of a musician results in him reevaluating the purpose of his life in Soul. Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx) is an aspiring jazz pianist, who considers his current position as a middle-school music teacher to be a dead end. However, Joe receives a huge opportunity when he gets a gig to play with […]
Muppets Most Wanted (26/03/2014)
Following their 2011 comeback, the Muppets return for a world tour and heist hijinks. Not knowing how to proceed after their reunion, the Muppets are approached by Dominic Badguy (Ricky Gervais), who offers to be their manager for a new world tour. However, in reality Dominic is in league with the criminal mastermind Constantine, who […]
The Invention of Lying (04/10/2009)
The Invention of Lying is Ricky Gervais‘ second major staring role in North America, following last year’s Ghost Town. I do have to say that this film better shows off Gervais’ talent as a comedian. The comedy in the film comes from how the film takes place in a world where everyone tells the truth […]