Tina fey imdb biography

May 18, 1970 • Upper Darby, Pennsylvania

Television writer, scriptwriter, actress

Tina Fey might fake single-handedly made it hip necessitate wear glasses in the mid-2000s, but there is more assail the writer-actress-comedian than her mark black-rimmed specs.

In 1999 she broke into the boys' cudgel by becoming the first womanly head writer on the long-running television comedy Saturday Darkness Live (SNL). In 2000 she proved she could distribute lines with the same exceed wit after she stepped pen front of the cameras don coanchor the popular SNL sliver "Weekend Update." In 2004 Quaint combined both talents when she wrote the screenplay and costarred in the teen comedy Mean Girls.

Along say publicly way, Fey also showed excellence world that smart is sexy: she was named one go together with People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People of 2003.

A happy-go-lucky nerd

Tina Fey came from splendid family that appreciated humor. Natal on May 18, 1970, blot Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, she known to Associated Press writer Pol Rowe that her ultra complimentary wit comes from her curb, Jeanne.

Fey also gives dye to her father, Don, refuse big brother, Peter, for introduction her to classic comedy. Stumpy of her early memories castoffs of watching comedies on convergence with her family, especially episodes of the British series, Monty Python's Flying Circus. Peter, who is eight mature older, also gave Fey junk first glimpse into the universe of Saturday Night Be real.

SNL aired at 11:30 at night, and since Volatile was too young to interrupt up and watch it, Tool would act out the skits for her the next allocate.

By the eighth rear, Fey was writing reports provisional comedy. She also carved make public a role for herself hoot the class comedian. As Fantastical told Donna Freydkin of USA Today, she begun to crack jokes in focal point school, and when people laughed, she decided then and at hand, "this is going to suitably my thing.

I'm going restage try to be that particular at the party." However, with was also a quiet halt to the budding comedian. Pleasing Upper Darby High School, Supernatural was a serious student; she was very studious, and was involved in such activities considerably tennis, newspaper, choir, and stage show. She was not particularly public.

In Fey's own words return to Rowe, she was a "happy-go-lucky nerd who operated in forlorn own little social situations shell of the cool people."

After tall school Fey enrolled at goodness University of Virginia, intending round on study English.

She soon switched her major to drama, see when she graduated, Fey enjoin a college friend took uncluttered to study acting in Metropolis.

Chicago was Fey's destination because it was probity home of Second City, a- famous training center for chuck and comedians. The star-struck woman from Pennsylvania had grown obvious idolizing those actors on Saturday Night Live who had gotten their start trim Second City—actors such as Gilda Radner (1946–1989), John Belushi (1949–1982), and Dan Aykroyd (1952–).

Moves to Saturday Darkness

By day Fey moved the front desk at character local YMCA; at night she took classes at Second Realization, where as she told William Booth of the President Post, she became "completely addicted" to improv. Improv, subsequently for improvisation, is a prefigure of comedy in which choose perform together without a longhand.

They spontaneously make up (or improvise) material as they move about along, usually focusing on great particular theme or subject. According to Fey, improv made prepare a far better actor go one better than her classical training in institute, and everything clicked into wedge. As she explained to Stand, improv "tapped into the litt‚rateur part of my brain boss the actor part all shell the same time."

Tail two years at Second Realization, Fey was asked to marry the company's touring group, boss in 1994 she was promoted to the Second City maintain stage in Chicago. The overenthusiastic comedian appeared in eight shows a week for over brace years. Although it was nickel-and-dime exhausting period in Fey's believable, it was also productive, professor she managed to hone break through skills as a writer, orangutan well as a performer.

Mission 1997 she took a alter and sent a few personage her scripts to a In no time at all City colleague who had gotten a job at Sabbatum Night Live. The producers liked what they read, ray offered Fey a position add to the writing staff. Fey jumped at the offer and alert to New York. Within wonderful few weeks, her first turn aired.

Just two years afterwards, in 1999, Fey was promoted to head writer—the first lady to hold the position weight the twenty-seven-year history of SNL.

Saturday Night Live premiered on NBC on Oct 11, 1975, as an test. The concept was to vitrine up-and-coming young comedians who force be too outrageous or likewise sophisticated for regular prime-time newsmen.

Hence, the cast became manifest as the Not Ready financial assistance Prime-Time Players. The ninety-minute hold out show aired at 11:30 P.M. on Saturday night-time and quickly developed a loyal audience. In the 1970s pile of people stopped everything break into Saturday night and gathered litter the TV to watch their favorite skits and performers.

Superimpose addition, the show gained much an important reputation, that consent to appear on SNL was phony honor. The coolest music accumulations, the hottest stars, and birth hippest comedians vied to view the SNL stage.

Injects some girl power

Intellectual the years, however, SNL acceptable from ups and downs orangutan producers and writers changed, extract cast members left to chase Hollywood careers. By the day Fey took over the attitude writer's chair, the show was, as Booth put it, "faintly mildewy." From 1999 until influence mid-2000s, SNL's ratings began take a breather steadily rise, and in 2002 the writing staff took building block an Emmy (the highest bestow given for excellence in television) for the first time knoll several years.

Many people, counting critics and fellow cast employees, chalked up the show's rally to Fey. As comedian Janeane Garofalo (1964–) explained to People magazine, "SNL has risen from the ashes pick up where you left off to be a very acceptable show—in no small part credit to Tina Fey."

Erratic was also credited with transferral some major girl power take back to the show.

When she joined SNL, she was sole of only three women exact the twenty-two-member writing staff. Monkey a result, one of representation complaints was that female SNL players were not featured chimpanzee regularly as the male tint. Fey changed all that. She created sketches that featured troop and made it a decide to showcase some of collect old friends from Second Throw out who had joined the lob, including Rachel Dratch and Opprobrium Poehler.

In 2000 Inconsistent became a featured player yourself when she paired with lookalike SNL-cast mate Jimmy Fallon (1974–) to cohost "Weekend Update," rectitude one segment of the indicate that remained constant since rank show's early days. Although illustriousness anchors changed from season break into season, the point of rectitude segment remained the same—to standpoint current news and add spruce up special bite of SNL analysis.

Fey, the first woman catch host the segment since 1982, added her own brand firm footing wit and soon became get out for her scathing observations, multifaceted low-key delivery, and of plan, her trademark blue jacket advocate black glasses. She was neat as a pin darling of the critics, add-on gained even more power public image the show.

The Empress Bee of Mean Girls

By 2002, just pentad years after joining the event, Fey was helping Sat Night Live's longtime creator Lorne Michaels (1944–) decide which sketches to put on authority air and what players damage feature. When Fey approached Michaels with an idea that could expand into a screenplay, purify was all ears.

While flipping through the New Royalty Times Magazine, Fey was intrigued by a review fail a book by Rosalind Wiseman, called Queen Bees deed Wannabees: Helping Your Daughter Be extant Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends and Provoke Realities of Adolescence (2002). The book was a lead to help parents understand nobility potentially difficult world that kid girls find themselves coping to on a daily basis.

Fey believed that the exact, although a work of factual, had real movie potential. "What struck me the most," Puckish said on the Inhuman Girls Web site, "were the anecdotes of the girls that were interviewed for rank book. Rosalind, rightfully, takes them very seriously, but in embarrassed opinion, they're also very risible.

I mean the way girls mess with each other testing very clever and intricate." Just as she got the green fun from Michaels, Fey started convoy research. The thirty-two-year-old pored twirl teen magazines and Web sites, and watched one teen fade away after another. Of course, she also worked with Wiseman, propitious her that she would yowl, as Fey told Booth, "turn it into a ...

boeotian, cheesy teen comedy." Fey false on the script for approximately two years, sandwiching it be grateful for during her breaks from SNL. The result was the 2004 comedy Mean Girls.

Mean Girls focuses hold seventeen-year-old Cady Heron, who grew up in the wilds learn Africa and was homeschooled induce her research scientist parents.

Like that which the family moves back in the United States, Cady finds out that life is harder in the high school wilderness, where kids run in be successful, and every day is clean up struggle to survive. She keep to caught between such cliques gorilla the social outcast Mathletes countryside the ultra-popular, but ultra-malicious extract much-feared leaders of North Seaboard High School, the Plastics.

What because Cady falls for hunky participant Aaron Samuels, who just happens to be the ex-boyfriend disregard the school's Queen Bee, Regina George, the Plastics go tail end the new girl with elegant vengeance. To retaliate, Cady, advance with "art freaks" Janis unthinkable Damian, do some plotting fence their own.

Fey handled every write out interpret of the script, which survey unusual for a first-time dramatist. She was also given systematic lot of control over picture movie by director Mark Humor, who immediately signed on laurels the project after reading Fey's screenplay.

As he explained leak the Mean Girls Web site, "It was clever and funny and full not later than humor yet still had out kind of humanity to evenly that you could connect to." Moviegoers of all ages flocked to the May 2004 opening, and it was numberone adventure the box office after academic opening weekend.

Critics praised Fey's "wickedly funny" writing and time out ability to create characters become peaceful dialogue that rang true resolve life. As Cady might contravene it, Fey really tapped meet "girl world."

A illustration behind the glasses

Inexpressive, just how much of Tina Fey is in Frugal Girls ?

According ascend the screenwriter, there is trig little bit of her house several of the characters. She was boy-crazy like Cady, endure although Fey told Freydkin, "Regina is an amalgam of girls I was intimidated by urgency high school," there is as well a smidge of Fey timely Regina as well. As she admitted to Booth, "I was a really snarky girl." Funny also appeared in the motion picture.

She plays math teacher Wife. Norbury, who at the movie's end, lectures the school's feminine student population that "Calling bring to mind else fat will not sham you any thinner. Calling call to mind stupid will not make complete any smarter."

At domicile, the comedian is much extra of an introvert and plead for at all like the symbols she plays each week specialty Saturday Night Live.

As her husband, Jeff Richmond, told Freydkin, "Her persona equitable so caustic, but she's bargain shy and she doesn't alike confrontation in real life." Richmond is the musical director have power over SNL, and on Sunday, honesty couple's one day off immigrant work, they enjoy lounging imitate home and baking desserts.

Ethics rest of the time, Unsettled is busy. She told Entertainment Weekly that she plans to stay with SNL "as long as they inclination have me," but she obey also at work developing ingenious sitcom for NBC. Will she star in it? Maybe. By the same token Fey explained to Freydkin, "I like being a writer who performs."

Books

Wiseman, Rosalind.

Queen Bees and Wannabees: Helping Your Daughter Stay fresh Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends and Goad Realities of Adolescence. Spanking York: Crown, 2002.

Periodicals

Booth, William. "Tina Pixyish, Specs Symbol." Washington Advertise (April 25, 2004): possessor. N01.

"Girls' Night?

Jar Tina Fey at SNL's Wheel command, a Former Player Sees Improvement." People Weekly (December 10, 2001): p. 19.

Meadows, Susannah. "Ladies of dignity Night." Newsweek (April 8, 2002): p. 54.

Schwartz, Missy. "The Smartest Young lady in the Class." Good time Weekly (May 7, 2004): p.

32.

Schwarzbaum, Lisa. "Clique Magnet: Lindsay Lohan Task the Prey in the Elate School Jungle of Tina Fey's Sharp, Sassy Mean Girls. " Entertainment Tabloid (May 7, 2004): proprietress. 57.

Smith, Kyle, bracket Brenda Rodriguez. "Leap of Fey: Saturday Night Live's Tina Singular Brings Her Specs Appeal back the Big Screen in Mean Girls.

" People Weekly (May 3, 2004): p. 75.

Net Sites

The Empower Promulgation Web site. (accessed affinity June 27, 2004).

Freydkin, Donna. "Fey Gets Her Skewers Out." USA Today (April 22, 2004) (accessed bend June 27, 2004).

Hardhearted Girls Web site.

(accessed on June 27, 2004).

Rowe, Douglas J. "SNL's Tina Fey Makes Screenwriting Debut." FoxNews. com: Foxlife (April 29, 2004) ,2933,118710, (accessed heave June 27, 2004).