Tina Fey

Elizabeth Tina Fey (born May 18, 1970) is an American comedian, actress, and writer from a predominantly Greek neighborhood in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia.

She studied drama at the University of Virginia, graduating in 1992.

A veteran of Second City and ImprovOlympic in Chicago, Fey became a writer for NBC's Saturday Night Live (SNL) in 1997. After two years, Fey became SNL's first female head writer. Now co-head writer, she and the rest of the writing staff won an Emmy in 2002 for their work on the show.

Fey, like many of the show's writers, first appeared on-air as an extra. She became a featured player on SNL in 2000 by co-anchoring the Weekend Update segment with Jimmy Fallon. She partnered with fellow 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. She also appeared in Martin & Orloff, a surreal comedy which premiered at Austin's SXSW (South by Southwest).

Fey wrote the script for and stars in the movie Mean Girls, scheduled for release in 2004. She adapted the script from the book Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescence, by Rosalind Wiseman, ISBN 0609609459. The cast includes other present and past cast members of SNL.

She is also developing a sitcom for NBC.

Examples of her Weekend Update work

• Despite explosive violence in the West Bank this week, negotiators remain hopeful that a U.S.-sponsored summit could end the conflict. Israeli and Palestinian officials say they are eager to sign an agreement so they can dip it in gasoline, light it on fire and throw it at each other.
• Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman say their split is amicable, and they want everyone to know that after the divorce is final, their two adopted children will be returned to the prop department at Universal Studios.
• New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is once again expressing outrage at an art exhibit, this time at a painting in which Jesus is depicted as a naked woman. Said the mayor, "This trash is not the sort of thing that I want to look at when I go to the museum with my mistress."
• In order to feel safer on his private jet, actor John Travolta has purchased a bomb-sniffing dog. Unfortunately for the actor, the dog came six movies too late.
• It was announced that Ricky Martin will perform at the Lincoln Memorial as part of President Bush's inauguration. Apparently, Mr. Bush's first step in restoring the dignity of the presidency is having a soap star sing She Bangs at the foot of the Great Emancipator.
• Gale Norton, President Bush\'s controversial nominee for Secretary of the Interior, told a Senate committee this week, 'I intend to make the conservation of America's national treasures my highest priority.' At the top of her list is the American Bald Oil Magnate.
• In Washington last week, officials from the National Rifle Association met with a group of 200 high school students. There were no survivors.