show name	30 Rock
genre	Sitcom Satire
creator	Tina Fey
starring	Tina FeyAlec BaldwinTracy MorganJane KrakowskiJack McBrayerScott AdsitJudah FriedlanderKatrina BowdenKeith PowellLonny RossJohn LutzKevin BrownGrizz ChapmanMaulik Pancholy
composer	Jeff Richmond
country	United States
language	English
num seasons	5
num episodes	103
list episodes	List of 30 Rock episodes
executive producer	Lorne MichaelsTina FeyMarci KleinDavid MinerRobert Carlock
co exec	Jack BurdittJohn RiggiRon Weiner
producer	Alec BaldwinJerry KupferDon Scardino
asst producer	Jennifer DanielsonEric GurianAndrew Singer
co-producer	Irene BurnsDiana Schmidt
editor	Ken Eluto, A.C.E.
location	Silvercup StudiosLong Island, New York (primary location)NBC StudiosNew York, New York
camera	Single camera(Some multiple camera)
runtime	22 minutes
network	NBC
picture format	HDTV 1080i
first aired
last aired	present
status	Returning series
website	http://www.nbc.com/30-rock/
production website	https://www.nbcumv.com/mv/#1274681290499 }}

''30 Rock'' is an American television comedy series created by Tina Fey that airs on NBC. The series is loosely based on Fey's experiences as head writer for ''Saturday Night Live''. ''30 Rock'' takes place behind the scenes of a fictional live sketch comedy series depicted as airing on NBC; the name "30 Rock" refers to the address of the building where NBC Studios is located, 30 Rockefeller Plaza. This series is produced by Broadway Video and Little Stranger, Inc., in association with NBCUniversal.

''30 Rock'' is produced in a single camera setup, and is primarily filmed at Silvercup Studios in Long Island City, Queens, New York, with some scenes filmed on location at Rockefeller Center. The pilot episode premiered on October 11, 2006 and five full seasons have aired since. The series has an ensemble cast that currently consists of 13 regular cast members, Tina Fey, Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski, Jack McBrayer, Scott Adsit, Judah Friedlander, Alec Baldwin, Katrina Bowden, Keith Powell, John Lutz, Kevin Brown, Grizz Chapman and Maulik Pancholy.

''30 Rock'' has been a critical success, winning several major awards (including Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2007, 2008, and 2009), and achieving the top ranking on myriad critics' year-end best of 2006 and 2007 lists. On July 14, 2009, the series was nominated for 22 Emmy Awards, the most in a single year for a comedy series.

In 2009, Comedy Central and WGN America bought the syndication rights to the show, to begin in fall 2011.

Production

Conception

In 2002, Fey was the head writer and a performer on ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). She pitched the show that became ''30 Rock'' to NBC, originally as a sitcom about cable news. NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly felt that "Fey was using the news setting as a fig leaf for her own experience and [he] encouraged her to write what she knew." The show was subsequently reworked to revolve around an ''SNL''-style sketch show. After being presented to Reilly once more, the show was set to air during the 2005-2006 television season. Just before the deal went through, however, the show was nearly brushed aside by Anthony Lewis and Jack Melcher, two NBC executives who fought the idea, fearing that Fey's removal from ''SNL'' would result in a severe cut to the show's ratings. Eventually, Lewis gave in just a month before his retirement, and Melcher backed down. In May 2003, Fey signed a contract with NBC to remain in her ''SNL'' head writer position until at least the 2004–2005 television season and to develop a prime-time project to be produced by Broadway Video and NBC Universal. Filming was postponed due to Tina Fey's pregnancy.

During the 2004–2005 pilot season, a pilot was announced named ''Untitled Tina Fey Project''. The ''30 Rock'' pilot focused on the boss of a variety show who has to manage her relationships with the show's volatile star and its charismatic executive producer. The storyline evolved into one that dealt with a head writer of a variety show who dealt with both the stars as well as the show's new network executive. ''30 Rock'' was officially given the green light to air May 15, 2006, along with a 13-episode order.

The series underwent further changes during the months leading up to and following its debut. A May 2006 press release mentioned that sketches from ''The Girlie Show'' would be made available in their entirety on NBC's broadband website, DotComedy.com. The idea was to air the fictitious ''TGS with Tracy Jordan'' online. This aspect of the series was abandoned prior to its debut.

Filming

''30 Rock'' is filmed in New York City. Although establishing shots of ''30 Rock'' are often repeated, outdoor scenes are filmed on location at Rockefeller Center or in other parts of New York City. Most of the indoor scenes are filmed at Silvercup Studios in Queens. In the episodes "Cleveland" and "Hiatus," Battery Park City, Manhattan and Douglaston, Queens doubled for Cleveland, Ohio and Needmore, Pennsylvania, respectively. In the episode "Gavin Volure," stock footage of the Arkansas Governor's Mansion was used for exterior shots of the home of Steve Martin's character.

The title sequence is made up of photos and video of 30 Rockefeller Plaza and features the series regulars. The sequence ends with a time lapse of the building and then a title card reading '30 Rock'. The sequence has remained mostly the same throughout the series, although there have been changes to the videos of most of the actors.

Music

The series features a "jaunty" jazz score. Most of the incidental music melody is played by either clarinet, bass clarinet, saxophone, or strings. The music is composed by Fey's husband Jeff Richmond, who is also a producer for ''30 Rock''. Richmond wrote the theme music, which was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music. Seven short, original songs have been featured in episodes, five of which were performed by Jane Krakowski, another performed by Tina Fey and Jason Sudeikis, and another performed by Tracy Morgan. The show has also covered three existing songs, including the song "Midnight Train to Georgia" by Gladys Knight and the Pips. The song had its lyrics altered to accommodate the character Kenneth being "misinformed about the time [of the 11:45 train]." The song "Oh My" performed by The Gray Kid is heard throughout the episode "The Source Awards", which was mixed with a piano arrangement composed by Richmond. "Kidney Now!", a rendition of the popular song, "We Are the World", is performed by various artists in the Season 3 finale. Other popular songs have been featured (with blessings by the singers), like "I Will Remember You" or "Bitch".

The 30 Rock Original Television Soundtrack was released by the Relativity Music Group on November 16, 2010.

Internet content

On April 2, 2008, NBC announced ''30 Rock 360'', an online extension of the ''30 Rock'' series. The extension will feature Jack Donaghy's Online Business Courses (or ''Jack U''). Users will also be able to read Jack's blogs and upload their own business advice in video form. Users will be able to submit skits for ''TGS with Tracy Jordan'' and act out skits from ''TGS''. The feature will reopen ''Ask Tina'', an interactive question and answer platform in which users can ask Fey questions. Fey will answer the questions in video form. ''Ask Tina'' was a fixture on NBC.com's ''30 Rock'' section throughout the first season.

Cast and characters

The plot of ''30 Rock'' revolves around the cast and crew of the fictional sketch comedy series ''TGS with Tracy Jordan'' (originally called ''The Girlie Show''), which is filmed in Studio 6H inside 30 Rockefeller Plaza. The series features an ensemble cast. The series features seven roles that receive star billing during the opening credits:

Tina Fey as Liz Lemon, the protagonist of the series and head writer of ''TGS with Tracy Jordan''.

Tracy Morgan as Tracy Jordan, loose cannon, crazy, unpredictable, star of ''TGS''.

Jane Krakowski as Jenna Maroney, Original star of "The Girlie Show", limelight-seeking co-star of ''TGS'' and Liz's natural blonde best friend.

Jack McBrayer as Kenneth Parcell, a cheerful, obedient Southern-born NBC page, who "lives for television."

Scott Adsit as Pete Hornberger, the "sane," quick-witted producer of ''TGS'', who serves as Liz's most trusted friend.

Judah Friedlander as Frank Rossitano, a trucker hat-wearing, childish, sarcastic writer at ''TGS''. His hat bears a different phrase in every episode.

Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy, the decisive, controlling, suave and occasionally senseless network executive who constantly interferes with the goings-on at ''TGS''.

Beginning with season two, three characters, who were credited as guest stars during season one, received star billing after the opening credits in addition to the principal cast:

Katrina Bowden as Cerie, Liz's attractive, laid-back assistant, who usually wears revealing outfits to work, much to the delight of the writer's room.

Keith Powell as James "Toofer" Spurlock, the proud black Harvard University alumnus writer, who often butts heads with Tracy and Frank.

Lonny Ross as Josh Girard, a young and immature ''TGS'' writer and co-star, known for his impressions. Ross was written out in season four.

Beginning with season three, three characters who were credited as guest stars in the first two seasons received star billing after the opening credits in addition to Bowden, Powell, Ross, and the principal cast. They are credited only in the episodes in which they appear:

Kevin Brown as Dot Com, an erudite member of Tracy's entourage who is also a Wesleyan University-trained stage actor. The character's real name is Walter Slattery.

Grizz Chapman as Grizz, a member of Tracy's entourage.

Maulik Pancholy as Jonathan, Jack's loyal and overprotective personal assistant, who at times appears to be possibly in love with Jack.

Beginning with season four, episode seven, one character who was credited as a guest star in the first three seasons was listed after the opening credits in addition to Bowden, Powell, Brown, Chapman, and Pancholy

John Lutz as J. D. Lutz, a lazy, overweight TGS writer who is oftentimes insulted or made fun of by the rest of the staff.

Casting

Tina Fey worked with Jen McNamara and Adam Bernstein for the casting of the series. Fey's first act as casting director was to cast herself as the lead character, Liz Lemon, who is said to be much like Fey herself when she first became head writer on ''SNL''. The next actor to be cast was Tracy Morgan as Tracy Jordan, who was then a former castmate of Fey's in ''SNL''. Morgan was asked by Fey to play the role, and he believed it was "right up [his] alley and it was tailor made for [him]". Fey said that the character of Kenneth Parcell was written with Jack McBrayer in mind. McBrayer is an old friend of Fey (they worked together at Second City in Chicago), and she "really wanted him for that part and was very happy when no one objected".

Rachel Dratch, Fey's longtime comedy partner and fellow ''SNL'' alumna, was originally cast to portray Jenna. Dratch played the role in the show's original pilot, but in August 2006, Jane Krakowski was announced as Dratch's replacement, with Dratch remaining involved in the show playing various characters. Fey explained the change by noting that Dratch was "better-suited to playing a variety of eccentric side characters", and that the role of Jenna was more of a straight-ahead acting part.

Although Fey went on to say that "Rachel and I were both very excited about this new direction", Dratch said that she was not happy with the media's depiction of the change as a demotion; however, she was also skeptical about the reasons she was given for the change, and was not happy with the reduction in the number of episodes in which she would appear. Following the first season, Dratch has only appeared in a handful of episodes.

Shortly following the casting of McBrayer and Dratch, Alec Baldwin was cast as Jack Donaghy, the "totally uncensored" Vice President of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming. Fey said that the character of Jack Donaghy was written with Baldwin in mind, and she was "very pleasantly surprised when he agreed to do it". Judah Friedlander was cast as Frank Rossitano, a staff writer of ''The Girlie Show''. Friedlander had never met Fey before auditioning for a role in ''30 Rock''. His character was based on at least two writers that Fey used to work with at ''SNL'', but he has said that he "certainly brought some of [his] own things to it as well". Finally, Scott Adsit was cast as Pete Hornberger, a longtime friend of Liz's and producer of ''The Girlie Show''. Adsit, an old friend of Fey, also had his character written based on him.

Seasons

Season 1

Season one began airing in the United States on October 11, 2006, and featured 21 episodes. The season finale aired on April 26, 2007. Jack Donaghy, the "Head of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming" at General Electric (GE), is transferred to work at the NBC headquarters, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, and retool the late night sketch comedy series ''The Girlie Show''. The show's cast and crew are outraged by this; especially head writer Liz Lemon and main actress Jenna Maroney. Jack proceeds to wreak havoc on ''The Girlie Show,'' forcing Liz to hire the off-the-wall movie star Tracy Jordan. He again angers the cast and crew of ''The Girlie Show'' when he changes the name to ''TGS with Tracy Jordan'' (or just ''TGS'').

As the season progresses, the episodes become less about ''TGS'' and more about how the characters deal with juggling their lives and their jobs —specifically the protagonist, Liz Lemon, but other characters are also explored. Episodes also become less self-contained and various story arcs develop in the second half of the season. For example, the first major story arc centers on Liz's relationship with Dennis Duffy (Dean Winters), "The Beeper King." Other story arcs include: Jenna promoting her movie ''The Rural Juror''; Tracy going on the run from the Black Crusaders; Jack's engagement, which was eventually called off, to a Christie's auctioneer named Phoebe (Emily Mortimer); and another relationship of Liz's with Floyd (Jason Sudeikis).

Guest stars include Nathan Lane, Isabella Rossellini, Will Arnett, Elaine Stritch, Whoopi Goldberg, Conan O'Brien, LL Cool J and Ghostface Killah.

Season 2

Season two began airing in the United States on October 4, 2007, and featured 15 episodes. The second season was originally intended to consist of 22 episodes but the order was cut to 15 due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. The season finale aired on May 8, 2008. After Liz broke up with Floyd in the summer, she is looking for ways to rebound. When Jerry Seinfeld confronts Jack about a new marketing campaign which featured clips of Seinfeld's sitcom, ''Seinfeld'', in all NBC shows, he has a chance encounter with Liz that gives her some much needed advice. During the ''TGS'' summer hiatus, Jenna becomes overweight due to performing in the Broadway show ''Mystic Pizza: The Musical'' (based on the real 1988 film ''Mystic Pizza''). Tracy has encountered some marital problems with his wife Angie Jordan (Sherri Shepherd) and they become separated, but later reunite.

During the season, Jack develops a relationship with a Democratic congresswoman named Celeste "C.C." Cunningham (Edie Falco). They later break up. An arc that was established in the first season but becomes more apparent in the second regards Jack running for the GE chairmanship against his archnemesis Devon Banks (Will Arnett). The season ends with Liz planning to adopt a child after believing she was pregnant with Dennis' baby. Kenneth also travels to Beijing to be a page at the 2008 Summer Olympics and Tracy invents a pornographic video game. Jack ends the season working at a new government job in Washington, D.C., but plans to get fired by proposing a "gay bomb."

Season 3

''30 Rock'' returned with a third season as part of NBC's fall schedule, airing immediately after ''The Office''. The show experienced a large ratings and popularity spike this season after Tina Fey's highly praised performance as Sarah Palin on SNL. This is also the season where the show made Emmy history, being nominated for 22 Emmy awards. The season consisted of 22 episodes. Oprah Winfrey guest starred in the second episode, playing herself, as well as Jennifer Aniston playing Liz's ex roommate. Salma Hayek also appeared for a multi-episode arc, portraying Jack's new girlfriend, Elisa. Other guest stars this season included John Lithgow, Kerry Butler, Megan Mullally and Steve Martin. Jon Hamm played Liz's love interest and neighbor for several episodes. Alan Alda appeared in the season's final two episodes as Milton Greene, Jack's biological father. The season finale featured multiple musical guests, including Talib Kweli, Michael McDonald, Norah Jones, Steve Earle, Moby, Clay Aiken, the Beastie Boys, Adam Levine, Mary J. Blige, Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow, Rhett Miller, Cyndi Lauper, Sara Bareilles, Wyclef Jean, and Rachael Yamagata, performing "Kidney Now!", an organ donation drive spoof of ''We Are The World'' and "Just Stand Up!".

Season 4

The fourth season of ''30 Rock'' premiered on October 15, 2009. Like the previous season 3, it also consisted of 22 episodes. A recurring story arc early in the season revolved around Jack's request that Liz cast a new actor for ''TGS'', and Liz's subsequent search for the perfect comedian, much to the dismay of Jenna and Tracy, who fear losing their spotlight. The later half of the season focused on two complementary story arcs: Jack's inability to choose between two mistresses, and Liz's inability to find a boyfriend to live up to her expectations and Jenna's relationship with a Jenna Maroney impersonator. The season has also featured such guest stars as Julianne Moore, Jon Bon Jovi, Cheyenne Jackson, Sherri Shepherd, Will Forte, Elizabeth Banks, Michael Sheen, Matt Damon, and James Franco.

Season 5

On March 5, 2010, NBC announced ''30 Rock'' had been renewed for a fifth season, which aired in the 2010–2011 TV season on the Thursday 8:30 p.m. time slot and premiered on September 23.

On July 31, 2010, NBC announced that an episode of 30 Rock's fifth season would be filmed and broadcast live, twice, on the evening of October 14, 2010. The two separate recordings resulted in a live telecast of the episode to American viewers in both the West and East Coast, to ensure both would view a live performance. Filmed in front of a live audience, the episode aired at 8:30 p.m. EDT and PDT on NBC. A ratings success, the episode was also met with positive reviews.

On November 15, 2010, NBC announced that ''30 Rock'' would be moving to 10/9c starting January 20.

Season 5 focuses on Liz Lemon's continuing relationship with Carol Burnett (Matt Damon), Jack's start into fatherhood with fiancée Avery (Elizabeth Banks), struggling with the merger of NBCUniversal with Kabletown, Tracy's foray into getting an EGOT, and Kenneth's attempt to get back to NBC. Aside from featuring the return of Rachel Dratch in the Live Show, other guest stars include Matt Damon, Elizabeth Banks, Paul Giamatti, Sherri Shepherd, Queen Latifah, Rob Reiner, John Amos, Jon Hamm, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bill Hader, Chris Parnell, Kelsey Grammer, Buck Henry, David Gregory, John Slattery, Daniel Sunjata, Will Forte, Kelly Coffield Park, Elaine Stritch, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, Alan Alda, Cheyenne Jackson, Robert De Niro, Dean Winters, Ken Howard, Vanessa Minnillo, Brian Williams, Richard Belzer, Ice-T, John Cho, Chloe Moretz, Terrance Mann (as oceanographer Robert Ballard), Cristin Milioti (as Abby Flynn in "TGS Hates Women"), Eion Bailey, Adriane Lenox. Michael Keaton and Margaret Cho (as Korean dictator and Avery's kidnapper Kim Jong-il).

Season 6

On November 15, 2010, NBC announced ''30 Rock'' had been renewed for a sixth season, which is set to air at the beginning of 2012, due to Tina Fey's pregnancy.

Effect

Critical reception

''30 Rock'' has been well received by critics but has struggled to attract viewers. Robert Abele of ''LA Weekly'' declared that the show was "A weirdly appropriate and hilarious symbol of our times." ''The Wall Street Journal'''s Dorothy Rabinowitz wrote that "The standard caution is relevant – debut episodes tend to be highly polished. All the more reason to enjoy the hilarious scenes and fine ensemble cast here." Some less favorable reviews were received from Brian Lowry of ''Variety''. Lowry said that "Despite her success with 'Mean Girls,' [Tina] Fey mostly hits too-familiar notes in the pilot. Moreover, she's a limited protagonist, which is problematic." Criticism was also received from Maureen Ryan of the ''Chicago Tribune'', who said that "''30 Rock'' is less than the sum of its parts, and, as an entry in the single-camera comedy sweepstakes, it fails to show either the inspired inventiveness of ''Arrested Development'' or provide the surprisingly perceptive character studies of ''The Office''." ''Metacritic'' gave the pilot episode a Metascore—a weighted average based on the impressions of a select thirty-one critical reviews—of 67 out of 100.

At the end of 2006, ''LA Weekly'' listed ''30 Rock'' as one of the best "Series of the Year." The show also appeared on similar year end "best of" 2006 lists published by ''The New York Times'', ''The A.V. Club'', ''The Boston Globe'', ''The Chicago Sun-Times'', ''Entertainment Weekly'', ''The Los Angeles Times'', ''The Miami Herald'', ''People Weekly'', and ''TV Guide''. The ''Associated Press'' wrote that NBC's "Thursday night comedy block—made up of ''My Name Is Earl'', ''The Office'', ''Scrubs'', and ''30 Rock''—is consistently the best night of prime time viewing for any network." In 2007, it appeared on ''The Boston Globe'''s "best of" list as well as the "best of" lists of ''The Chicago Sun-Times'', ''The Chicago Tribune'', ''Entertainment Weekly'', ''The Los Angeles Times'', ''Newark Star-Ledger'', ''The New York Times'', ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', ''The San Francisco Chronicle'', ''The San Jose Mercury News'', ''TV Guide'' and ''USA Today''. ''30 Rock'' was named the best series of 2007 by ''Entertainment Weekly''.

In December 2009, ''Newsweek'' magazine ranked ''30 Rock'' as the best comedy on TV for the past decade, and at the end of 2010, ''Metacritic'' reported that the show ranked 12th place in their list of collected Television Critic Top Ten Lists.

Awards and nominations

Capping its critically successful first season, ''30 Rock'' won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series and Elaine Stritch was awarded an Emmy in September 2007 for her work as a guest actress in "Hiatus." Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin were nominated in the Outstanding Lead Actress and Outstanding Lead Actor in a comedy series categories respectively. "Jack-Tor" and "Tracy Does Conan" were both nominated in the category of Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. ''30 Rock'' received four Creative Arts Emmy Awards. Alec Baldwin received the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical in 2007. Baldwin also received the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series in 2007. The show also received various other guild award nominations during its first season.

In 2008, Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin both won Screen Actors Guild Awards. The series took home the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy Series in 2008. It also received the Danny Thomas Producer of the Year Award in Episodic Series – Comedy from the Producers Guild of America in 2008. ''30 Rock'' received 17 Emmy nominations, for its second season, meaning it was the second most nominated series of the year. These 17 nominations broke the record for the most nominations for a comedy series, meaning that ''30 Rock'' was the most nominated comedy series for any individual Emmy year. The previous holder of this record was ''The Larry Sanders Show'' in 1996 with 16 nominations. ''30 Rock'' also won the Television Critics Association Award for "Outstanding Achievement in Comedy."

Also in 2008, ''30 Rock'' completed a sweep of the major awards for best comedy series at that year's Primetime Emmy Awards. The show won Outstanding Comedy Series, Alec Baldwin was recognized as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, and Tina Fey was given the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. This marks the eighth time in the history of the Emmy awards that a show won best series plus best lead actor and actress. Tina Fey also won the award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series for the episode "Cooter".

At the 2008 Golden Globe awards, ''30 Rock'' won the award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy, Alec Baldwin won Best Actor in a Television Musical or Comedy, and Tina Fey won Best Actress in a Television Musical or Comedy. For the show's 2007 episodes, ''30 Rock'' received a Peabody Award at the 67th Annual Peabody Awards. Upon announcing the award, the Peabody Board commended the show for being "not only a great workplace comedy in the tradition of ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'', complete with fresh, indelible secondary characters, but also a sly, gleeful satire of corporate media, especially the network that airs it."

In 2009, ''30 Rock'' received a record-breaking 22 Primetime Emmy Award nominations and won five Emmy Awards, including Best Comedy Series and Best Actor in a Comedy Series (Alec Baldwin).

Ratings

Below, "Rank" refers to how well ''30 Rock'' rated compared to other television series which aired during primetime hours of the corresponding television season. The television season tends to begin in September, of any given year, and end during the May of the following year. "Viewers" refers to the average number of viewers for all original episodes (broadcast in the series' "Regular Timeslot") of ''30 Rock'' aired during the television season. Although the viewer average may be higher for some seasons than others, the rank will not necessarily be higher. This is due to the number of programs aired during primetime. In some seasons there may be more regular programs aired during primetime than in others. The "Season premiere" is the date that the first episode of the season aired. Similarly, the "Season finale" is the date that the final episode of the season aired.

Season	!	Episodes	Season premiere	Season finale	TV season	Rank	Viewers
! style="background:#F9F9F9;text-align:center"	Wednesday 8:00 P.M. (October 11, 2006 – November 1, 2006)Thursday 9:30 P.M. (November 16, 2006 – March 8, 2007) Thursday 9:00 P.M. (April 5, 2007 – April 26, 2007)		October 11, 2006	April 26, 2007	style="font-size:11px;text-align:center"	#102	5.8
! style="background:#F9F9F9;text-align:center"	Thursday 8:30 P.M. (October 4, 2007 – December 6, 2007)Thursday 9:00 P.M. (December 13, 2007)Thursday 8:30 P.M. (January 10, 2008 – April 17, 2008)Thursday 9:30 P.M. (April 24, 2008 – May 8, 2008)		October 4, 2007	May 8, 2008	style="font-size:11px;text-align:center"	#94	6.4
! style="background:#F9F9F9;text-align:center"	Thursday 9:30 P.M. (October 30, 2008 – May 14, 2009)		October 30, 2008	May 14, 2009	style="font-size:11px;text-align:center"	#69	7.5
! style="background:#F9F9F9;text-align:center"	Thursday 9:30 P.M. (October 15, 2009 – May 20, 2010)Thursday 9:00 P.M. (January 14, 2010)Thursday 8:30 P.M. (April 22, 2010)		October 15, 2009	May 20, 2010	style="font-size:11px;text-align:center"	#86	5.9
! style="background:#F9F9F9;text-align:center"	Thursday 8:30 P.M. (September 23, 2010 – December 9, 2010)Thursday 10:00 P.M. (January 20, 2011 – May 5, 2011) Thursday 10:30 P.M. (April 28, 2011)		September 23, 2010	May 5, 2011	style="font-size:11px;text-align:center"	#106	5.3

The pilot episode generated 8.13 million viewers, the series' highest ratings until that of its third season premiere which garnered 8.5 million viewers. In its original timeslot of Wednesday at 8:00PM EST, the show averaged 6.23 million viewers. ''30 Rock'' aired on Wednesdays for its first four episodes. The season's lowest ratings were achieved by "Jack the Writer" and "Hard Ball" which both achieved 4.61 million viewers. The season two premiere, "SeinfeldVision," was viewed by 7.33 million viewers, the highest rating since the pilot. ''30 Rock'' entered a hiatus due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike on January 10, 2008. The episode that aired on that date was viewed by 5.98 million viewers. The second season finale, "Cooter", which aired on May 8, 2008, was viewed by 5.6 million viewers.

On December 29, 2006, Nielsen Media Research (NMR) reported the results of having, for the first time, monitored viewers who use a digital video recorder to record shows for later viewing. NMR reported that ''30 Rock'' adds nearly 7.5% to its total audience every week as a result of viewers who use a DVR to record the show and then watch it within a week of its initial airing. A March 2007 report from ''MAGNA Global'', based on NMR data about viewership ranked by among adults 25–54, shows that as of the time of the report ''30 Rock'''s viewers have a median income of $65,000, high enough to place the show tied at 11th in affluence with several other shows. This is during a period where for the season ''30 Rock'' is tied at No. 85 in the 18–49 demographic. During its second season, ''30 Rock'' ranked in fourth place, against all primetime programming, for television series' which are watched by viewers with income above $100,000. Following Fey's popular impressions of Alaskan governor Sarah Palin on ''Saturday Night Live'', the third season premiere was seen by 8.5 million viewers, making it the highest viewed episode in the series. The premiere earned a 4.1 preliminary adults 18–49 rating, an increase of 21% from the second season premiere.

In other countries

''30 Rock'' also airs in other countries; ratings and rankings for some of these markets include:

Latin America: Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4 and currently 5 are aired on Sony Entertainment Television, a cable network in the Latin American market which shows a number of U.S. prime time programs from NBC, CBS, ABC and the Lifetime network, as well as syndicated U.S. series.

Canada: The series premiered on the CTV network on October 10, 2006, a day before its premiere in the United States. The network aired the first four episodes of the series, but dropped the show effective November 30, 2006 after a brief run during which it never entered the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement Nielsen top 30. CTV later re-added the show to its lineup on Sundays at 8:30pm, but moved the show to its secondary A-Channel system for the series' second season. From the third season onward, it has aired on Citytv.

United Kingdom: The first season premiered on October 11, 2007 on Five. The premiere was watched by 700,000 viewers, which was 6% of all people watching television in the country at the time it was broadcast. ''30 Rock'' originally aired at 10:45pm, but was moved to 11:05pm, airing back-to-back episodes. Season two was broadcast from February 20, 2009 at 9pm on Five USA. Season three began airing on Comedy Central (UK) from Monday October 5, 2009, and season four from April 19, 2010. The fifth season began broadcasting from February 10, 2011.

Trinidad and Tobago: Available only via cable or other pay-for television (satellite or DirecTV) with new episodes shown on NBC and CityTV with repeats on SONYTV.

Jamaica: Available only via cable or other pay-for television (satellite or DirecTV) with new episodes shown on NBC and CityTV.

South Africa: All four seasons have been aired on M-Net and M-Net Series.

Ireland: Seasons 1, 2, 4 have shown on 3e & Season three began airing on Comedy Central (UK) (also broadcast in Ireland) on Monday October 5, 2009; and season four from April 19, 2010. The fifth season began broadcasting from February 10, 2011.

Germany: ZDFneo, a new digital channel from ZDF, was launched on November 1, 2009, with the German-dubbed version of ''30 Rock'' as its flagship program. The series' free television debut that night on that channel registered a 0.0 rating, with fewer than 5000 viewers tuning in. TNT Serie, a German version of the TNT channel, broadcast the series to cable and pay satellite viewers since February 2009.

Greece: 30 Rock originally airs on Universal Channel Greece. The first season of the series finished airing on Alter Channel in July 2010.

Portugal: The first two seasons have aired on FOX:Next which is currently airing Season 3. The first two seasons have also aired on RTP2.

Poland: It airs on channel TVN7 and Canal+.

Slovenia: Season 1 came to POP TV on 12 April 2010 (airing from Monday to Thursday). It concluded on 17 May 2010. Season 2 began airing on January 4, 2011 (Monday to Thursday) and finished on January 26. Season 3 started the next day, on January 27 (same timeslot).

Spain: Known as "Rockefeller Plaza", seasons 1, 2 and 3 have aired on laSexta and other channels. The fourth season hasn't been aired yet.

Croatia: Nova TV aired Seasons 1 and 2, currently airing Season 3 (always at Sunday midnight time slot).

India: Star World has aired the first four seasons over the years, the 4th in 2010. FX started airing reruns on October 1, 2010.

Hong Kong: ATV World has aired Seasons 1-3 from July 2010 to Oct 2010 (Mon-Tue, Thu-Fri 8:30pm)

Australia: Seven Network broadcast the first season Mondays and Wednesdays at 22.30, from December 4, 2007. The second season began showing on June 9, 2008, now on Mondays at 23.30, and the third from February 2, 2009 in the same timeslot. From December 2009, the third season was rebroadcast at the earlier time of 22.30 Mondays and Tuesdays, where it grew significantly in popularity, but the fourth was nonetheless broadcast Mondays at 23.30 once more, beginning February 1, 2010. However, 7mate has since aired the show in the earlier timeslot of 21:30, Mondays. Season five is now broadcast at 22:30, Thursdays from October 21, 2010.

Israel: It airs on Yes Comedy, currently broadcasting Season 5.

Italy: The first two seasons aired on Lei, Sky's television channel oriented to female audience. Starting from season 3, it airs on Sky Uno. On April 11, 2011 national channel Rai 4 started airing all seasons free to air.

Republic of Macedonia: Only the first season aired on Sitel TV, monday to friday at 21:00 but due to low ratings it was transferred to 23:30.

Similarities to other media

Two shows debuting on 2006–07 NBC lineup, ''30 Rock'' and ''Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip'', revolved around the off-camera happenings on a sketch comedy series. Similarities between the two led to speculation that only one of them would be picked up. Baldwin said "I'd be stunned if NBC picked up both shows. And ours has the tougher task, as a comedy, because if it's not funny, that's it." Kevin Reilly, then president of NBC Entertainment, was supportive of Fey, describing the situation as a "high-class problem":

}}

Evidence of the overlapping subject matter between the shows, as well as the conflict between them, arose when Aaron Sorkin, the creator of ''Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip'', asked Lorne Michaels to allow him to observe ''Saturday Night Live'' for a week, a request Michaels denied. Despite this, Sorkin sent Fey flowers after NBC announced it would pick up both series, and wished her luck with ''30 Rock''. Fey said that "it's just bad luck for me that in my first attempt at prime time I'm going up against the most powerful writer on television. I was joking that this would be the best pilot ever aired on Trio. And then Trio got canceled." Fey wound up "beating" Sorkin when ''Studio 60'' was canceled after one season and ''30 Rock'' was renewed for a second. Though ''30 Rock'''s first-season ratings proved lackluster and were lower than those of ''Studio 60'', ''Studio 60'' was more expensive to produce.

One early promo for ''30 Rock'' portrayed Alec Baldwin mistakenly thinking he would meet Sorkin, and when asked on her "Ask Tina" space what she thought of the criticism that ''30 Rock'' received, Fey jokingly replied that people who did not like it were probably confusing it with ''Studio 60''. However, none of ''30 Rock's'' producers have given ''Studio 60'' any serious criticism, positive or negative. In a November 1, 2006 interview, Fey said she had seen the first two episodes of ''Studio 60''. When asked what her impressions were, she jokingly replied, "I can't do impressions of Bradley Whitford and Matthew Perry."

At least five ''30 Rock'' episodes have briefly parodied ''Studio 60'': "Jack the Writer" contains a self-referring walk and talk sequence, such sequences being commonly used on ''Studio 60'' and Aaron Sorkin's previous shows. "Jack-tor" – Liz tries to quote global education statistics, only to mess up and realize that she does not know what she is talking about.

"Jack Meets Dennis" – Liz says the upcoming show will be "worse than that time we did that Gilbert and Sullivan parody". The second episode of ''Studio 60'', "The Cold Open," included a parody of the "Major-General's Song" on the show-within-the-show.

"The Fabian Strategy" - In the ending sequence Kenneth watches the credits for TGS, which include Ricky and Ronnie as writers, the two ex-head writers on ''Studio 60''.

"Plan B" - Aaron Sorkin appears as himself as Liz is attempting to get a new job at NBC's The Sing-Off. Sorkin explains to Liz that he, too, is having trouble finding work writing for television, despite having written such works as The West Wing, A Few Good Men, and The Social Network. Liz offers to add "Studio 60" to that list, but is told by Sorkin to "shut up."

Some critics have compared ''30 Rock'' to ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'', with parallels drawn between the relationship of Liz and Jack and that of Mary Richards and Lou Grant. It has also been compared to ''That Girl''. Like ''That Girl'' and ''Mary Tyler Moore'', ''30 Rock'' is a sitcom centering on an unmarried, brunette career woman living in a big city where she works in the television industry. ''That Girl'' was parodied in the opening segment of ''30 Rock'''s pilot. The entire cast has also been compared to various characters that appeared on ''The Muppet Show''.

Syndication

It was announced in 2009 that off-network syndication rights for ''30 Rock'' had been acquired by Comedy Central and WGN America for a combined value in the range of $800,000 an episode.

Internet and DVD

Episode downloads and online streaming

Weekly installments of ''30 Rock'' are available to download for a per-episode fee, to U.S. residents only, via the "NBC Direct" service, Amazon Unbox and Apple's iTunes Store. In addition to paid downloads, the first four seasons can be streamed on Netflix, but this requires a paid subscription. Both NBC.com and Hulu.com stream episodes for free, but only the five most current installments are available for viewing.

DVD releases

!Name	!Region 1	!Region 2	!Region 4	!Discs	!Extras
	Season One		September 4, 2007		March 17, 2008		April 30, 2008		3		Episode commentaries, Outtakes and Deleted scenes (Region 1 only).
	Season Two		October 7, 2008		May 25, 2009		January 8, 2009		2		table read for the episode "Cooter (30 Rock)>Cooter," ''30 Rock'' Live at the UCB Theatre, a behind-the-scenes look at an episode of ''Saturday Night Live'' which was hosted by Tina Fey, and The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Presents: An Evening With ''30 Rock''.
	Season Three		September 22, 2009		April 5, 2010		November 11, 2009		3		Episode commentaries, Outtakes, Deleted scenes, The table read for the episode "Kidney Now!", behind-the-scenes with the Muppets, 1-900-OKFACE, The Making of "He Needs a Kidney", Photo Gallery.
	Season Four		September 21, 2010		February 14, 2011		November 3, 2010		3		Episode commentaries, Deleted scenes, Behind-the-scenes, Extended episodes, ''Ace of Cakes'' episode, "Tennis Night in America" music video, Photo Gallery.
	Season Five		November 29, 2011					3		Episode commentaries, Deleted scenes,

References

External links

Fully Quoted Episodes

Category:2000s American comedy television series Category:2010s American comedy television series Category:2006 American television series debuts Category:American television sitcoms Category:Best Musical or Comedy Series Golden Globe winners Category:Emmy Award winning programs Category:English-language television series Category:Metafictional works Category:NBC network shows Category:Peabody Award winning television programs Category:Satirical television programmes Category:Showbiz TV shows Category:Television series about television Category:Television series by NBC Universal Television Category:Television shows set in New York City

ar:30 روك (مسلسل أمريكي) bg:Рокфелер плаза 30 cs:Studio 30 Rock da:30 Rock de:30 Rock et:30 Rock es:30 Rock fr:30 Rock ko:30 ROCK id:30 Rock it:30 Rock he:רוק 30 ms:30 Rock nl:30 Rock ja:30 rock no:30 Rock pl:Rockefeller Plaza 30 pt:30 Rock ro:30 Rock ru:Студия 30 fi:30 Rock sv:30 Rock tr:30 Rock uk:30 потрясінь zh:超級製作人

name	Tina Fey
birth name	Elizabeth Stamatina Fey
birth date	May 18, 1970
birth place	Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania, U.S.
occupation	Actress, comedian, writer, producer
years active	1994–present
spouse	Jeff Richmond (2001-present)
children	2 }}

Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey (; born May 18, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer, known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''), the NBC comedy series ''30 Rock'', and films such as ''Mean Girls'' (2004), ''Baby Mama'' (2008), and ''Date Night'' (2010).

Fey first broke into comedy as a featured player in the Chicago-based improvisational comedy group The Second City. She later joined ''SNL'' as a writer, later becoming head writer and a performer, known for her position as co-anchor in the ''Weekend Update'' segment. In 2004 she adapted the screenplay ''Mean Girls'' in which she also co-starred. After leaving ''SNL'' in 2006, she created the television series ''30 Rock'', a situation comedy loosely based on her experiences at ''SNL''. In the series, Fey portrays the head writer of a fictional sketch comedy series. In 2008, she starred in the comedy film ''Baby Mama'', alongside former ''SNL'' co-star Amy Poehler. Fey next appeared in the 2010 comedy films ''Date Night'' and ''Megamind''.

She has received seven Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, and four Writers Guild of America Awards. She was singled out as the performer who had the greatest impact on culture and entertainment in 2008 by the Associated Press, which gave her its AP Entertainer of the Year award for her satirical portrayal of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in a guest appearance on ''SNL''. In 2010, Fey was the recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, the youngest-ever winner of the award.

Early life

Fey was born in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, a township just west of Philadelphia. She is the daughter of Zenobia "Jeanne" (née Xenakes) – a brokerage employee of Greek descent – and Donald Fey, a university grant proposal-writer of German and Scottish descent. She has a brother, who is eight years older, named Peter.

Fey was exposed to comedy early. She recalls:

She also grew up watching ''Second City Television'' (''SCTV'') and cites Catherine O'Hara as a role model.

Fey attended Cardington Elementary School and Beverly Hills Middle School in Upper Darby. By middle school, she knew she was interested in comedy, even doing an independent-study project on the subject in eighth grade. Fey attended Upper Darby High School, where she was an honor student, a member of the choir, drama club, and tennis team, and co-editor of the school's newspaper. She also anonymously wrote the newspaper's satirical column, ''The Acorn''. Following her graduation in 1988, Fey enrolled at the University of Virginia, where she studied playwriting and acting. She graduated in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in drama.

Career

Early career

After graduating, Fey originally had plans to do graduate work in drama at DePaul University in Chicago, but she "just got this feeling like it wasn't going to work out ...[that] they were going to take my money and then cut me from the program." She moved to Chicago anyway, knowing about the improvisational comedy troupe, The Second City. She took night classes at Second City, and had a day job working at the front desk of a YMCA facility in Evanston to pay for her classes. Once her Second City training began, she immersed herself in the "cult of improvisation", becoming, as she described it later, "like 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."

In 1994, she joined the cast of The Second City, where she performed eight shows a week, for two years. She was also in the revues ''Citizen Gates'' (1996) and ''Paradigm Lost'' (1997), where she performed alongside Scott Adsit, Kevin Dorff, Rachel Dratch, Jenna Jolovitz, and Jim Zulevic. 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:

While in Chicago, Fey also made what she later described as an "amateurish" attempt at stand-up comedy. She also performed at the ImprovOlympic theater.

''Saturday Night Live'' (1997–2006)

While performing shows with the Second City in 1997, Fey submitted several scripts to NBC's variety show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''), at the request of its head writer Adam McKay, a former performer at Second City. She was hired as a writer for ''SNL'' following a meeting with ''SNL'' creator Lorne Michaels, and moved to New York. Fey told ''The New Yorker'', "I’d had my eye on the show forever, the way other kids have their eye on Derek Jeter." Originally, Fey "struggled" at ''SNL''. Her first sketch to air starred Chris Farley in a Sally Jessy Raphael satire. Fey went on to write a series of parodies, including one of ABC's morning talk show ''The View''. She co-wrote the "Sully and Denise" sketches with Rachel Dratch, who plays one of the teens.

Fey played an extra in one of the episodes in 1998, and after watching herself, decided to diet and lost 30 pounds. She told ''The New York Times'', "I was a completely normal weight. But I was here in New York City, I had money and I couldn't buy any clothes. After I lost weight, there was interest in putting me on camera." In 1999, McKay stepped down as head writer, which led Michaels to approach Fey for the position. She became ''SNL'''s first female head writer, a milestone she downplays.

In 2000, Fey began performing in sketches, and she and Jimmy Fallon became co-anchors of ''SNL's Weekend Update'' segment. Fey said she did not ask to audition, but that Michaels approached her. Michaels explained that there was "chemistry" between Fey and Fallon. Michaels, however, revealed that choosing Fey was "kind of risky" at the time. Her role in ''Weekend Update'' was well-received by critics. Ken Tucker of ''Entertainment Weekly'' wrote: "...Fey delivers such blow darts – poison filled jokes written in long, precisely parsed sentences unprecedented in ''Update'' history – with such a bright, sunny countenance makes her all the more devilishly delightful." Dennis Miller, a former cast member of ''SNL'' and anchor of ''Weekend Update'', was pleased with Fey as one of the anchors for the segment: "...Fey might be the best ''Weekend Update'' anchor who ever did it. She writes the funniest jokes". Robert Bianco of ''USA Today'', however, commented that he was "not enamored" of the pairing.

In 2001, Fey and the writing staff won a Writers Guild of America Award for ''SNL'''s 25th anniversary special. The following year at the 2002 Emmy Awards ceremony, she and the writing team won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program.

The pairing of Fey and Fallon ended in May 2004 when Fallon last appeared as a cast member. He was replaced by Amy Poehler. It was the first time that two women co-anchored ''Weekend Update''. Fey revealed that she "hired" Poehler as her co-host for the segment. The reception to the teaming of Fey and Poehler was positive, with Rachel Sklar of the ''Chicago Tribune'' noting that the pairing "has been a hilarious, pitch-perfect success as they play off each other with quick one-liners and deadpan delivery".

The 2005–2006 season was her last; she thereafter departed to develop ''30 Rock''.

''30 Rock'' (2006–present)

In 2002, Fey suggested a pilot episode for a situation comedy about a cable news network to NBC, who rejected it. The pilot was reworked to revolve around an ''SNL'' style series, and was accepted by NBC. She signed a contract with NBC in May 2003, which allowed her to remain in her ''SNL'' head writer position at least through the 2004–2005 television season. As part of the contract, Fey was to develop a primetime project to be produced by Broadway Video and NBC Universal. She began developing the pilot project under the working title ''Untitled Tina Fey Project''. The pilot, directed by Adam Bernstein, centered on the head writer of a variety show and how she managed her relationships with the show's volatile star and its executive producer. In October 2006, the pilot aired on NBC as ''30 Rock''. Although the episode received generally favorable reviews, it finished third in its timeslot.

The network renewed the series for a second season, which began in October 2007. The show's third season premiered on October 30, 2008. The premiere episode set records for the highest ratings of the series. In January 2009, NBC renewed ''30 Rock'' for the 2009–2010 season.

In 2007, Fey received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series. The show itself won the 2007 Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series. In 2008, she won the Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, and Emmy awards all in the category for Best Actress in a Comedy Series. The following year, Fey again won the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award in the same categories, and was nominated for an Emmy Award. In early 2010, Fey received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress, and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Lead Actress. ''30 Rock'' was renewed for the 2010–2011 season in March 2010. It will return for the 2011-2012 season, though due to Fey's pregnancy with her second child, the season premiere will be delayed until midseason.

Impersonation of Sarah Palin

From September to November 2008, Fey made frequent guest appearances on ''SNL'' to perform a series of parodies of Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. On the 34th season premiere episode, aired September 13, 2008, Fey imitated Palin in a sketch, alongside Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton. Their repartee included Clinton needling Palin about her "Tina Fey glasses". The sketch quickly became NBC.com's most-watched viral video ever, with 5.7 million views by the following Wednesday. Fey reprised this role on the October 4 show, on the October 18 show where she was joined by the real Sarah Palin, and on the November 1 show where she was joined by John McCain and his wife Cindy. The October 18 show had the best ratings of any ''SNL'' show since 1994. The following year Fey won an Emmy in the category of Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her impersonation of Palin. Fey returned to ''SNL'' in April 2010, and reprised her impression of Palin in one sketch titled "Sarah Palin Network". Fey once again did her impression of Palin when she hosted ''Saturday Night Live'' on May 8, 2011.

In December 2009, ''Entertainment Weekly'' put her impersonation on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, writing, "Fey's freakishly spot-on ''SNL'' impersonation of the wannabe VP (and her ability to strike a balance between comedy and cruelty) made for truly transcendent television."

Other work

In 2000, Fey partnered with fellow ''SNL'' cast member Rachel Dratch in the Off Broadway two-woman show ''Dratch & Fey'' at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York City. The production was well received by critics. Tim Townsend of ''The Wall Street Journal'' in review of ''Dratch & Fey'', wrote that the fun part of watching them perform was "seeing how comfortable they are with each other". He concluded that the production "isn't about two women being funny. [...] Dratch and Fey are just funny. Period." One of the ''SNL'' sketches, "Sully and Denise", originated at Second City in Chicago.

On August 13, 2007, Fey made a guest appearance on the children's television series ''Sesame Street'', in the episode, "The Bookaneers". She appeared as a guest judge on the November 25, 2007 episode of the Food Network program ''Iron Chef America''. Fey has appeared in Disney's campaign "Year of a Million Dreams" as Tinker Bell, along with Mikhail Baryshnikov as Peter Pan and Gisele Bündchen as Wendy Darling. She has also done commercials for American Express credit card.

On February 23, 2008, Fey hosted the first episode of ''SNL'' after the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. For this appearance, she was nominated for an Emmy in the category of Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program. Fey hosted ''SNL'' for a second time on April 10, 2010, and for her appearance she received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.

On April 5, 2011, her book, an autobiographical comedy entitled ''Bossypants'', was released. It received a positive review from ''the New York Times''.

Feature films

In 2002, Fey appeared in the surreal comedy ''Martin & Orloff''. She made her debut as writer and co-star of the 2004 teen comedy ''Mean Girls''. Characters and behaviors in the movie are based on Fey's high school life at Upper Darby High School and on the non-fiction book ''Queen Bees and Wannabes'' by Rosalind Wiseman. The cast includes other past cast members of ''SNL'' including Tim Meadows, Ana Gasteyer, and Amy Poehler. The film received favorable reviews, and was a box office success, grossing $129 million worldwide.

In a 2004 interview, Fey expressed that she would like to write and direct movies in which she has small parts. In 2006, Fey worked on a movie script for Paramount Pictures, which was to feature Sacha Baron Cohen, by the name of ''Curly Oxide and Vic Thrill'', based loosely on the true story of a Hasidic rock musician. In 2007, she was cast in the animated comedy film ''Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters'' as the Aqua Teens' mother, a giant burrito.

Fey and former ''SNL'' castmate Amy Poehler starred in the 2008 comedy ''Baby Mama''. The movie was written and directed by Michael McCullers. The plot concerns Kate (Fey), a business woman, who wants a child but, discovering she has only a million-to-one chance of getting pregnant, decides to find a surrogate: Angie (Poehler), a white-trash schemer. ''Baby Mama'' received mixed reviews, but many critics enjoyed Fey's performance. Todd McCarthy of ''Variety'' wrote: "Fey is a delight to watch throughout. Able to convey Kate's intentions and feelings through the simple looks and inflections, she never melodramatizes her situation; nor does her efficient, perfectionist side become overbearing." The movie grossed over $64 million at the box office.

Fey's projects after 2008 include her lending her voice to the character Lisa in the English language version of the Japanese animated film ''Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea'' (titled ''Ponyo'' for its U.S. release). In 2009, she appeared in ''The Invention of Lying'', alongside Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Rob Lowe, and Christopher Guest. Her next film role was in Shawn Levy's 2010 comedy ''Date Night'', a feature that focuses on a married couple, played by Fey and Steve Carell, who go on a date; however, the night goes awry for the two. Also in the same year, she voiced Roxanne Ritchie, a television reporter, in the DreamWorks animated film ''Megamind'' (2010). With a total worldwide gross of $321 million, ''Megamind'' is Fey's most commercially successful picture to date. It earned $173 million outside the U.S. and $148 million domestically.

In July 2010 it was announced that Fey will star in an upcoming comedy entitled ''Mommy & Me'' alongside Meryl Streep, who will play her mother. The film will be directed by Stanley Tucci.

In the media

Fey was ranked in the Hot 100 List at number 80 on ''Maxim'' magazine in 2002. She was named one of ''People'' magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in 2003, and one of ''People'' magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People in 2007, 2008, and 2009. In 2007, she was included in ''People'''s 100 Most Beautiful issue. Also in 2007, Fey placed seventh on the Hot 100 List on AfterEllen.com. She repeated the appearance the following year, however, being voted as number one on the list.

In 2001, ''Entertainment Weekly'' named Fey as one of their Entertainers of the Year for her work on ''Weekend Update''. She again was named one of the magazine's Entertainers of the Year in 2007, and placed number two in 2008. In 2009, Fey was named as ''Entertainment Weekly'''s fifth individual in their 15 Entertainers of the 2000s list. The newspaper editors and broadcast producers of the Associated Press voted Fey the AP Entertainer of the Year as the performer who had the greatest impact on culture and entertainment in 2008, citing her impression of Sarah Palin on ''SNL''. She has appeared on ''Forbes''' annual Celebrity 100 list of the 100 most powerful celebrities in 2008, 2009, and 2010, at No. 99, No. 86, and No. 90 respectively.

In 2007, the ''New York Post'' included Fey in New York's 50 Most Powerful Women, ranking her at number 33. Fey was among the Time 100, a list of the 100 most influential people in the world, in 2007 and 2009, as selected annually by ''Time'' magazine. Fey's featured article for the 2009 list was written by ''30 Rock'' co-star, Alec Baldwin. She was selected by Barbara Walters as one of America's 10 Most Fascinating People of 2008.

Personal life

Fey is married to Jeff Richmond, composer on ''30 Rock''. They met at Chicago's Second City and dated for seven years before marrying in a Greek Orthodox ceremony on June 3, 2001. The couple have two daughters: Alice Zenobia Richmond (born September 10, 2005) and Penelope Athena Richmond (born August 10, 2011). Alice was born during Fey's tenure at ''SNL''. Fey returned to the show on October 22, saying "I had to get back to work. NBC has me under contract; the baby and I have only a verbal agreement." In April 2009, Fey and Richmond purchased a $3.4 million apartment in the Upper West Side in New York City.

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'' article 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". Later, in an interview with Fey and Richmond in the January 2009 issue of ''Vanity Fair'', Richmond revealed the scar resulted from a slashing incident, which happened when she was five. Richmond said: "It was in, like, the front yard of her house, and somebody just came up, and she just thought somebody marked her with a pen." She has said she was reluctant to discuss the incident in part because "It's impossible to talk about it without somehow seemingly exploiting it." Fey favors the right (non-scar) side of her face when acting as her character Liz Lemon.

Her charity work includes support of Autism Speaks, an organization that sponsors autism research and conducts awareness and outreach activities aimed at families, governments, and the public. At the 64th Golden Globe Awards, Fey wore a blue puzzle piece pin to raise awareness for the organization. In April 2008, she participated in Night of Too Many Stars, a comedy show benefit for autism education.

Fey is also a supporter of Mercy Corps, a global relief and development organization, in their campaign to end world hunger. Fey narrated a video for Mercy Corps's Action Center in New York City, describing hunger as a symptom of many wider world problems. She also supports the Love Our Children USA organization, which fights violence against children, who named her among their Mothers Who Make a Difference in 2009. She is the 2009 national spokesperson for the Light the Night Walk, which benefits the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

In June 2010, it was announced she would receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2011.

Detailed works

+ As a writer
Year(s)	Title	Medium	Notes
1997–2006	''Saturday Night Live''	TV	Head writer 1999–2006
2004	''Mean Girls''	Film	Screenplay adapted from ''Queen Bees and Wannabes''
2006–present	''30 Rock''	TV	Episodes written:Season 1: (8/21) "Pilot", "The Aftermath", "Tracy Does Conan", "The Head and the Hair"‡, "Black Tie"‡, "Up All Night", "The C Word", "Hiatus"Season 2: (4/15) "SeinfeldVision", "Somebody to Love"‡, "MILF Island"‡, "Cooter"Season 3: (5) "Do-Over", "Christmas Special"‡, "St. Valentine's Day"‡, "The Bubble", "The Natural Order"‡Season 4: (4) "Season 4", "Secret Santa", "Lee Marvin vs. Derek Jeter"‡, "I Do Do"Season 5: (3) "The Fabian Strategy", "Live Show"‡, "100"‡‡''denotes episode co-written.''
2011	Bossypants	Book

+ As an actress
Year(s)	Title	Medium	Role(s)	Notes
1998–2006, 2008, 2010, 2011	''Saturday Night Live''	TV	Multiple	Includes being a cast member from 1998 to 2006, host of ''Weekend Update'' (2000–2006), host in 2008, 2010, and 2011, and made five appearances impersonating Sarah Palin.
1999	''Upright Citizens Brigade''	TV	Kerri Downey	One episode
2002	''Martin & Orloff''	Film	Southern Woman
2004	''Mean Girls''	Film	Ms. Norbury	Features several colleagues from ''Saturday Night Live''
2006	''Artie Lange's Beer League''	Film	Gym Secretary
2006		Film	Herself	''SNL''s ''Weekend Update'' with Fey and Amy Poehler was featured in the movie
2006–present	''30 Rock''	TV	Liz Lemon	Main role
2007	''Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters''	Film	Giant Burrito
2008		Film	Kate Holbrook	Re-teams with Amy Poehler, colleague from ''SNL''
2009		Film	Lisa
2009	''''	Film	Shelley
2009	''SpongeBob's Truth or Square''	TV	Herself
2010	''Date Night''	Film	Claire Foster
2010	''Megamind''	Film	Roxanne Ritchi	Voice
2011	''Phineas and Ferb	TV	Annabelle	Voice

Awards and nominations

The following awards are categorized under the year they were announced (and not necessarily the year covered by the award ceremony).

! Year	! Award	! Category	! Work	! Result
2001	Emmy Award	Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program	''Saturday Night Live''
2001		Comedy/Variety series	''Saturday Night Live''
2001		Comedy/Variety special	''Saturday Night Live'': 25th Anniversary Special
2002	Emmy Award	Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program	''Saturday Night Live''
2002	WGA Award	Comedy/Variety series	''Saturday Night Live''
2003	Emmy Award	Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program	''Saturday Night Live''
2003	WGA Award	Comedy/Variety Series	''Saturday Night Live''
2003	WGA Award	Comedy/Variety Special	''Saturday Night Live'': NBC 75th Anniversary Special
2004	Teen Choice Award	Choice TV Actress: Comedy	''Saturday Night Live''
2005	People's Choice Awards	Favorite Funny Female Star
2005	Teen Choice Award	Choice Comedian
2005	WGA Award	Best Adapted Screenplay	''Mean Girls''
2007	Emmy Award	Comedy Series	''30 Rock''
2007	Emmy Award	Lead Actress in a Comedy Series	''30 Rock''
2007	Emmy Award	Writing for a Comedy Series	"Tracy Does Conan" for ''30 Rock''
2007	WGA Award	Comedy Series	''30 Rock''
2007	WGA Award	New Series	''30 Rock''
2007	WGA Award	Comedy/Variety Special	''Saturday Night Live''
2008	Emmy Award	Comedy Series	''30 Rock''
2008	Emmy Award	Lead Actress in a Comedy Series	''30 Rock''
2008	Emmy Award	Writing for a Comedy Series
2008	Emmy Award	Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program	''Saturday Night Live''
2008	Golden Globe Award	Actress in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy	''30 Rock''
2008	Golden Globe Award	Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy	''30 Rock''
2008	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Female Actor in a Comedy Series	''30 Rock''
2008	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Ensemble in a Comedy Series	''30 Rock''
2008	WGA Award	Comedy Series	''30 Rock''
2009	Golden Globe Award	Actress in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy	''30 Rock''
2009	Golden Globe Award	Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy	''30 Rock''
2009	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Female Actor in a Comedy Series	''30 Rock''
2009	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Ensemble in a Comedy Series	''30 Rock''
2009	WGA Award	Comedy Series	''30 Rock''
2009	WGA Award	Episodic Comedy	"Cooter" for ''30 Rock''
2009	Emmy Award	Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series	Portrayal of Sarah Palin on ''Saturday Night Live''
2009	Emmy Award	Comedy Series	''30 Rock''
2009	Emmy Award	Lead Actress in a Comedy Series	''30 Rock''
2010	Golden Globe Award	Actress in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy	''30 Rock''
2010	Golden Globe Award	Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy	''30 Rock''
2010	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Female Actor in a Comedy Series	''30 Rock''
2010	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Ensemble in a Comedy Series	''30 Rock''
2010	Emmy Award	Comedy Series	''30 Rock''
2010	Emmy Award	Lead Actress in a Comedy Series	''30 Rock''
2010	Emmy Award	Writing for a Comedy Series	"Lee Marvin vs. Derek Jeter" for ''30 Rock''
2010	Emmy Award	Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program	''Saturday Night Live''
2010	Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie Actress: Comedy
2010	Mark Twain Prize for American Humor	American Humor
2011	Golden Globe Award	Actress in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy	''30 Rock''
2011	Golden Globe Award	Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy	''30 Rock''
2011	The Comedy Awards	Best Actress in Film Comedy	''Date Night''
2011	Critics' Choice Television Award	Best Acting in a Comedy Series	''30 Rock''
2011	Emmy Award	Comedy Series	''30 Rock''
2011	Emmy Award	Lead Actress in a Comedy Series	''30 Rock''
2011	Emmy Award	Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series	''Saturday Night Live''

References

Further reading

Baldwin, Kristen. "'Update' With Destiny." ''Entertainment Weekly''. May 2, 2002. Accessed July 14, 2009.

Smith, Kyle. "Leap of Fey." ''People Magazine''. May 3, 2004. Accessed July 14, 2009.

Schwartz, Missy. "The Smartest Girl in The Class." ''Entertainment Weekly''. May 7, 2004. Accessed July 14, 2009.

Ryder, Caroline. "A Conversation with Tina Fey." ''Women's Health Magazine''. March 2007. Accessed July 14, 2009.

Rys, Richard. "Exit Interview: Tina Fey." ''Philadelphia Magazine''. April 3, 2008. Accessed July 15, 2009.

Baldwin, Kristen. "Tina Fey: One Hot 'Mama'." ''Entertainment Weekly''. April 9, 2008. Accessed July 14, 2009.

Jacobs, A.J. "Tina Fey, Make Us Laugh." ''Esquire Magazine''. May 1, 2008. Accessed July 15, 2009.

Carnwath, Ally. "Queen of the jokers." ''The Guardian''. May 4, 2008. Accessed July 14, 2009.

Goodwin, Christopher. "And funny with it." ''The Guardian''. May 11, 2008. Accessed July 14, 2009.

Moran, Caitlin. "Tina Fey and Sarah Silverman: the new queens of comedy." ''The Times'' October 3, 2008. Accessed July 14, 2009.

Carter, Bill. "It’s Easy to Find Tina Fey on TV, but Not Her Show." ''The New York Times''. October 13, 2008. Accessed July 14, 2009.

Brown, Laura. "Tina Fey Rocks." ''Harper's Bazaar''. November 2009. Accessed October 7, 2009.

Pringle, Gill. "Tina Fey — From spoofer to movie stardom." ''The Independent''. March 19, 2010. Accessed March 19, 2010.

Walker-Mitchell, Donna. "Witty woman." ''The Sydney Morning Herald''. March 28, 2010. Accessed March 28, 2010.

External links

in 2008 in 2011

Tina Fey gives Wildwood a shout out on Letterman

Category:1970 births Category:Living people Category:People from Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania Category:Actors from Pennsylvania Category:American people of German descent Category:American people of Greek descent Category:American people of Scottish descent Category:American comedy writers Category:American film actors Category:American television actors Category:American television producers Category:American television writers Category:American voice actors Category:American impressionists (entertainers) Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe (television) winners Category:Emmy Award winners Category:ImprovOlympics Category:Mark Twain Prize recipients Category:Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:Parodies of Sarah Palin Category:People from New York City Category:Second City alumni Category:University of Virginia alumni Category:Writers from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Category:Writers Guild of America Award winners Category:Women comedians Category:Women television writers

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name	Jonathan Ross
birth name	Jonathan Stephen Ross
birth date	November 17, 1960
birth place	Camden, London, England
nationality	British
occupation	Broadcaster, film critic
years active	1987–present
spouse
children	2 daughters, 1 son
parents	Martha Ross }}

Jonathan Stephen Ross, OBE (born 17 November 1960) is an English television and radio presenter, best known for presenting the BBC One chat show ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross'' from 2001 until he left the BBC in 2010. Ross began hosting a new chat show on ITV1 starting 3 September 2011. Ross also hosted his own radio show on BBC Radio 2, and acted as a film critic and presenter of the ''Film'' programme. Other regular roles have included being a regular panellist on the comedy sports quiz ''They Think It's All Over'' from 1999 to 2006, and presenting the annual British Comedy Awards from 1991 to 2007, and 2009 onwards.

Ross began his television career as a programme researcher, before débuting as a television presenter for ''The Last Resort with Jonathan Ross'' on Channel 4 in 1987. Over the next decade he had several radio and television roles, many through his own production company, Channel X. In 1995 he sold his stake in Channel X, and embarked on a career with the BBC. In 1999, Ross took over presenting the ''Film'' programme from Barry Norman, and also began presenting his own radio show, while two years later he began hosting ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross''. For the chat show, Ross won three British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards for Best Entertainment Performance, in 2004, 2006 and 2007. By 2006 Ross was believed to be the BBC's highest paid star. In 2005, Ross was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to broadcasting. Ross has been involved in controversies throughout his broadcasting career. As a result, in 2008 he wrote a semi-autobiographical work titled ''Why Do I Say These Things?'', detailing some of his life experiences.

Ross has been married to the author, journalist and broadcaster Jane Goldman since 1988; they have three children. Ross and Goldman have together established the television production company Hotsauce TV. Ross is known as an avid fan and collector of comic books and memorabilia, and has written his own comic book, ''Turf''. Ross is known for his distinctive voice, flamboyant style of dress, and his light-hearted banter. He is also known for his characteristic difficulty in pronouncing the sound 'r'.

Personal

Ross was born in Camden, London, England on 17 November 1960, a son of British actress and radio presenter Martha Ross. He grew up in Leytonstone and is the brother of journalist, television editor, and media personality Paul Ross; TV producer/actor Miles Ross; TV producer Simon Ross, and music industry professional Adam Ross. He was educated at Norlington School for Boys, a comprehensive school at the same time as his elder brother Paul, and at Leyton County High School for Boys, a comprehensive school. He also attended Southampton College of Art, now known as Southampton Solent University. He then studied Modern European History at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), University of London.

Ross married author/journalist/broadcaster Jane Goldman, nine years his junior, in 1988, when Goldman was 18. They have since had three children: Betty Kitten (named after Bettie Page), Harvey Kirby (named after Jack Kirby, a comic book creator whom Ross especially admires), and Honey Kinney. The family lives in Hampstead Garden Suburb.

Ross and others have used his rhotacism for comic effect and he is sometimes known as "Wossy," including on his Twitter feed (@wossy).

Ross is known for owning exotic pets. He is a big music fan and the first band he saw live was punk rockers X-Ray Spex at Islington's Hope and Anchor pub in North London. He is a big fan of David Bowie, Roxy Music and Bryan Ferry, Queen (he was in the audience for Queen at Wembley), British punk rock, Spandau Ballet, Sparks, ''Star Trek'', ''Doctor Who'' (his favourite Doctor was Jon Pertwee), and comic books. Ross has even co-owned a comic shop in London with Paul Gambaccini and released ''Turf'', his first comic book, in 2010, with American artist Tommy Lee Edwards. He was also the visual inspiration for the main character in the comic book ''Saviour''. Ross is also greatly interested in Japan, presenting a BBC-TV series on many different aspects of Japanese culture, ''Japanorama'', for three series between 2002–07. He was a regular at London's ''Blitz'' club during the early 1980s (famous for the Blitz Kids). He is a fan and friend of the singers Morrissey and George Michael.

He is a close friend of comedian Ricky Gervais and bought him a kitten after Gervais' previous cat, Colin, had died. The cat's name is Ollie and was presented to him on an episode of Ross' talk show ''Friday Night With Jonathan Ross''. He was one of the special celebrity guests in the final episode of Gervais's second season of ''Extras'', in which Gervais's character, Andy Millman, and Ross were shown to be the best of friends after a fictional appearance on ''Friday Night With Jonathan Ross''.

He is also a friend of author Neil Gaiman, and he and his wife appear in Gaiman's short story "The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch", collected in ''Fragile Things''.

In 2005, Ross was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honours for services to broadcasting. He celebrated the news by playing "God Save the Queen" by the Sex Pistols on his Radio 2 show.

When talking to Colin Farrell on ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross'' on 19 February 2010, Ross claimed not to have consumed alcohol for ten years.

Ross has attended a fund raiser for the James Randi Educational Foundation called ''The Amazing Meeting'' in London in 2009 and 2010. Interviewed by Rebecca Watson, Ross described himself as a big fan of James Randi and the other speakers – who were mainly prominent sceptics – and said that he and his wife had come to have a sceptical view of the world. Ross has been supportive of Simon Singh's efforts to defend an accusation of libel by the British Chiropractic Association and Ross has posed for the ''Geek Calendar 2011'', a fund raiser for the libel reform in the UK.

At a book signing event in Central London in September 2010, Ross stated that as a youngster he went to school in Leyton (Leyton Senior High School) and supports Leyton Orient F.C.

On 6 June 2011, it was announced that Ross' beloved pug Mr Pickle had been killed in an accident on board a train while Ross was filming a new travelogue show for ITV. Mr Pickle was well known to both viewers and listeners of Ross' TV and radio shows.

Career

Child actor

Following the acting lead of his mother, who appeared as an extra on television shows such as ''East Enders'', Ross appeared in television ads as a child actor. His first, for the breakfast cereal Kellogg's Rice Krispies, gave him his television debut in 1970, when he was 10 years old. He also appeared in an ad for the laundry detergent Persil.

Early career

Ross began his adult career as a researcher on the Channel 4 show ''Loose Talk''. After leaving this, he worked on various other shows before beginning another research job on ''Soul Train'', which became ''Solid Soul''. It is believed his first appearance on television was as an extra in the 1981 ''It Ain't Half Hot, Mum'' episode, ''The Last Roll Call''.

Channel X: 1987–95

Whilst on ''Solid Soul'', he met fellow researcher Alan Marke, and the two devised what would prove to be a breakthrough hit for Ross in 1987, ''The Last Resort with Jonathan Ross''.

The pair based their concept on the successful American show ''Late Night with David Letterman'', and formed a new production company called Channel X, to produce a pilot. Ross was not originally slated as the show's host, but with little time to find one Jonathan Ross stepped in and made his television debut on the show in January 1987.

While the series was initially a co-production with Colin Calendar, ownership transferred to Marke and Ross, meaning that the latter retained a great deal of control as well as being presenter. The show proved popular for both Ross and for Channel 4, making him one of the major personalities on the channel.

A year later, his documentary series ''The Incredibly Strange Film Show'' introduced many to the works of cult filmmakers like Sam Raimi and Jackie Chan.

In 1989, he co-presented the biennial BBC charity telethon ''Comic Relief'', the same year he launched ''One Hour with Jonathan Ross'' a short lived chat show on Channel 4, most notable for the game show segment "Knock down ginger" which introduced comedians such as Vic Reeves, Bob Mortimer, Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson to television.

In 1991, he presented the annual ''British Comedy Awards'' on ITV. He has presented the event each year since, but in 2008 announced he would be stepping down from the role following his suspension from the BBC. In 1992 he presented an interview with Madonna about her ''Erotica'' album and ''Sex Book'' promotion.

In 1993, he was the narrator for ''FIA Formula One 1993 Season Review'' video.

Ross has appeared in numerous television entertainment programmes on several channels throughout the 1990s and 2000s. He was a regular panellist on the sports quiz ''They Think It's All Over'', and hosted the panel game ''It's Only TV...But I Like It''. Other projects include the BBC joke-quiz ''Gagtag'', the Channel 4 variety show ''Saturday Zoo'', new-acts showcase ''The Big Big Talent Show'', and the ITV programme ''Fantastic Facts''.

In 1995 he left Channel X, despite its profitable nature. He was quoted in a 1998 article as stating:

Television 1995–2006

In 1995 he presented ''Mondo Rosso'', a programme about old ''cult'' films. He took over presenting of the Film programme, the BBC's long-running cinema review series, in 1999 after Barry Norman left the show. Ross himself has made a number of cameo appearances in films, playing himself in the Spice Girls' film ''Spice World'' (1997) and voicing the character of Doris in the UK version of ''Shrek 2'' (2004). He also played himself in ''Only Fools and Horses'', presenting ''Goldrush'', a fictional television quiz on which the main character, Del, was a contestant. In 2001 he voiced characters in two episodes of the animated comedy series ''Rex the Runt''. In the 30 October episode of ''Film 2006'', Ross also claimed that he had appeared as an extra in the 1981 film 'The Rise and Fall of Idi Amin', as an Israeli soldier raiding Entebbe Airport. He also appeared on the first pilot show for ''Shooting Stars'', acting as a team captain.

BBC Radio: 1999–2010

Ross began presenting a Saturday morning show on BBC Radio 2 in 1999. He has also presented radio shows for BBC Radio 1 and Virgin Radio (having previously worked on Richard Branson's earlier venture, ''Radio Radio''), as well as the now-defunct commercial radio network service ''The Superstation'', where his producer was Chris Evans.

From 23 May 2009, Ross' BBC Radio 2 show was pre-recorded 24 hours before broadcast. This decision was made to make the show more watertight and, according to the press, to make sure any of Ross's off-the-cuff comments might be edited out.

Ross' show on Radio 2 last aired on 17 July 2010 when his contract at the BBC ended.

''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross'': 2001–10

On 2 November 2001, Ross began presenting his chat show ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross''.

In 2005, Ross anchored the BBC television coverage of the Live 8 concerts. Later that year he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honours for services to broadcasting. He celebrated the news by playing "God Save the Queen" by The Sex Pistols (which was banned by the BBC when released in 1977) on his BBC Radio 2 Saturday morning show. On 21 June 2006 Ross was made a Fellow of University College London, where he studied.

In early 2006, Ross announced that after eight years he was quitting his regular panellist seat on the sport/comedy quiz show ''They Think It's All Over'', stating:

However, after Ross' departure, only two more episodes of the show were made before it was cancelled.

In January 2006 he presented ''Jonathan Ross' Asian Invasion'', broadcast on BBC Four. The three-part documentary followed Ross as he explored the film industry in Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea, interviewing directors and showcasing clips. His interest in Asian culture and his self confessed love for anime and video games led him to making three series of BBC Three show ''Japanorama'', as well as producing another series for the same channel called ''Adam and Joe Go Tokyo'', starring Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish. He produced the latter programme through his own production company Hot Sauce.

In June 2006, a bidding war was sparked between BBC and other broadcasters for Ross' services. Although other broadcasters were unsuccessful in poaching Ross, it is believed that their bids were higher than the BBC during negotiations. ITV, who bid for Ross, poached chat host Michael Parkinson around the same time. Ross became the highest paid television personality in Britain, when a new BBC contract secured his services until 2010, for a reported £18 million (£6 million per year).

On 25 June 2006, he performed at the Children's Party at the Palace for the Queen's 80th birthday. In August 2006, Ross was enlisted to ask the first question since the transition from beta for the Yahoo Answers in UK and Ireland. On 16 March 2007, Ross hosted Comic Relief 2007 alongside Fearne Cotton and Lenny Henry. On 7 July 2007 Ross presented at the Live Earth concert.

Starting on 10 September 2007 he presented the BBC Four series ''Comics Britannia'', about the history of the British comic. This forms the core of a Comics Britannia season, which includes another documentary, ''In Search of Steve Ditko'', by Ross.

In May 2008, Ross won the Sony Gold Award "Music Radio Personality of the Year".

On 3 August 2008, on BBC1, he hosted ''Jonathan Ross Salutes Dad's Army''.

In 2010, Ross took part in ''Channel 4's Comedy Gala'', a benefit show held in aid of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, filmed live at the O2 Arena in London on 30 March.

On 7 April 2010, Ross' first comic book was published. Turf was written by Jonathan himself and drawn by artist Tommy Lee Edwards. In 2011, Ross wrote an introduction for ''The Steve Ditko Omnibus Vol. 1'', a collection of work by the American comics artist featured in Ross' 2007 documentary.

In one of his last appearances on the show, Ross was bundled on repeatedly by Gary Lineker, Ross Noble, Damon Albarn, Jamie Hewlett & Tinie Tempah, after a performance of Gorillaz' iconic song "Clint Eastwood" & "On Melancholy Hill".

Leaving the BBC (2010)

On 7 January 2010, Ross confirmed that he would leave the BBC in July 2010, having decided not to renegotiate his contract. This would see him leave all his regular BBC roles, namely his Friday night chat show, Radio 2 show and a film review programme, although he would be continuing with some specials, such as Comic Relief and the BAFTA Awards.

Explaining the decision, Ross said:

Although I have had a wonderful time working for the BBC, and am very proud of the shows I have made while there, over the last two weeks I have decided not to re-negotiate when my current contract comes to an end. While there, I have worked with some of the nicest and most talented people in the industry and had the opportunity to interview some of the biggest stars in the world, and am grateful to the BBC for such a marvellous experience. I would like to make it perfectly clear that no negotiations ever took place and that my decision is not financially motivated

The decision came a day after it was announced that Graham Norton had signed a two year deal with the BBC, and the BBC's media correspondent Torin Douglas speculated Norton would be a ready-made replacement for Ross's chat show role, while Mark Kermode of BBC Radio 5 Live was a potential successor in the film review role, but that "replacing Ross on radio will be harder". Ross last appeared on the film programme in Episode 10 of ''Film 2010 with Jonathan Ross'' aired on 17 March 2010. After Kermode publicly ruled himself out on 26 March, Claudia Winkleman was announced 30 March 2010 as his replacement as host of ''the Film programme'', who was to host Film 2010 from September 2010.

Ross's final ''Friday Night'' chat show episode aired on 16 July 2010, with David Beckham, Jackie Chan, Mickey Rourke and Roxy Music as guests. Ross ended the show with an affectionate tribute to his guests and to the audience, while mentioning that he had promised his friend Morrissey that he would remain composed and "wouldn't cry". His final Radio 2 show was broadcast the following day. Patrick Kielty initially took over Ross' Radio 2 slot from 24 July 2010 after which Graham Norton took over permanently.

2010 onwards (ITV and Cinemoi)

On 14 December 2010, Jonathan Ross announced his creative partnership with CineMoi, the UK's first and only independent French film channel. His deal with the company gives him a multi-faceted role as presenter, producer, creative director and shareholder in the company. A life long cinephile Ross has a unique perspective on French film and hopes to encourage 'first-timers' to explore a world of film that differs slightly from that of the regular Hollywood fare.

On 19 December 2010, Ross presented a three hour Channel 4 list show, ''100 Greatest Toys'', with the broadcaster describing Ross as a "huge toy enthusiast with a private collection that would rival any museum's."

In 2011, he presented ''Penn & Teller: Fool Us'' on ITV, a collaboration with magicians Penn & Teller.

Ross's new chat show ''The Jonathan Ross Show'' began on 3 September 2011 on ITV1, drawing an audience of 4.3m viewers, compared to the 4.6m for his finale on the BBC show. The first series will run for thirteen weeks. Speaking about the new show, Ross said: "I am thrilled and excited that after a short break I will be rolling up my sleeves and creating a brand new show for ITV1."

Controversies

BBC contract

In April 2006, Ross, along with other BBC personalities, had details of his fees leaked to the tabloid press. It was claimed at the time, by a then unidentified BBC mole, that Ross earned £530,000 (equivalent to £10,000 per show) per year for hosting his Radio 2 show. While refusing to comment specifically on the leak in line with the BBC policy on the matter, Ross did hint during his radio show that the figure was exaggerated; in addition to this, any pay highlighted as being 'his' would actually be split between himself and his producer/co-presenter on the show, Andy Davies.

David Cameron interview

In June 2006, when Conservative Party leader David Cameron appeared on ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross'', Ross began a line of questioning relating to Conservative ex-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, culminating in the question "Did you or did you not have a wank thinking of Margaret Thatcher?". Ross was defended by the BBC publicly, but repeat showings of the interview have been banned.

Heather Mills comment

In 2006, Ross was criticised when he made a joke against Heather Mills, soon after she and Paul McCartney announced they were to divorce. He branded Mills, who only has one leg, a "fucking liar" and that he "wouldn't be surprised if we found out she's actually got two legs".

"1,000 journalists" comment

On 5 December 2007, Ross joked at the ''British Comedy Awards'' that his salary meant that he was "apparently worth 1,000 BBC journalists". His quip came shortly after the BBC had announced plans for more than 2,000 jobs cuts, and was condemned as "obscene" by the general secretary of the National Union of Journalists. Ross has denied this saying that he was commenting on a piece that was written in a newspaper about his salary being that of 1,000 journalists:

"You know where that came from? The newspapers. After the fee was announced, they said, 'The BBC says he's worth 1,000 journalists', so on the Comedy Awards I made a joke that began, 'Apparently I'm worth 1,000 journalists according to the newspapers.' Every time it's quoted, is the word 'apparently' ever used? Which does change the meaning somewhat."

The Russell Brand Show and Andrew Sachs

Following a guest appearance by Ross on ''The Russell Brand Show'' broadcast on 18 October 2008, Ross was suspended for 12 weeks without pay by the BBC on 29 October, after a series of answer phone messages were left for 79-year-old actor Andrew Sachs regarding Sachs' granddaughter Georgina Baillie, by Russell Brand and Ross, which were broadcast on the pre-recorded show. After little initial interest, a media story about the calls generated a high number of complaints. Brand resigned from the BBC, while Ross was suspended without pay. BBC director general Mark Thompson stated that Ross should take the disciplinary action as a "final warning". The BBC was later fined £150,000 by Britain's broadcast regulator for airing the calls.

On 21 November 2008, the BBC Trust said that the phone calls were a "deplorable intrusion with no editorial justification". The trust gave its backing to Ross's 12 week suspension but recommended that no further action be taken against him. He returned to work in January, and the first episode of a new series of ''Friday Night With Jonathan Ross'' with guests Tom Cruise, Stephen Fry and Lee Evans, and music from Franz Ferdinand, was broadcast on 23 January 2009.

Gwyneth Paltrow interview

The BBC Trust ruled that Ross’ interview with Gwyneth Paltrow, broadcast on 2 May 2008, breached editorial guidelines. They ruled that bad language in an episode of Ross's pre-recorded BBC1 chat show, ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross'', in which the presenter told Hollywood actress Gwyneth Paltrow he "would fuck her" was "gratuitous and unnecessarily offensive". The trust said it disagreed with the judgement made by BBC management that the episode should be broadcast uncensored, adding that the comment was made in an "overly sexual way" and that it had upheld a number of complaints made about the edition of ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross''. The trust reminded BBC staff that "the casual gratuitous use of the most offensive language is not acceptable on the BBC in accordance with the BBC's existing guidelines and practices", adding that "this particularly applies in entertainment programmes".

''Hannah Montana'' comment

On 13 May 2009, Ross was accused of homophobia after a comment he made on his radio show. In which he said,

If your son asks for a ''Hannah Montana'' MP3 player, then you might want to already think about putting him down for adoption in later life, when they settle down with their partner.

An incorrect version of this quote was also circulated, in which Ross was accused of saying:

If your son asks for a Hannah Montana MP3 player, you might want to already think about putting him down for adoption before he brings his … erm … partner home.

Ofcom received 61 complaints following the comment. A representative from the BBC defended Ross saying the comment was made "purely in jest" and that "Jonathan is not homophobic in any sense and never meant for his comments to be taken seriously." On 7 July 2009, Ofcom ruled that Ross did not breach the broadcasting code. They wrote in their opinion that "the comment was clearly presented as a joke intended to make light of the reactions that some parents may have if their child chooses a toy that is very widely recognised to be designed and marketed for the opposite sex" and that the nature of the joke and tone and manner in which it was presented "made clear that it was not intended to be hostile or pejorative towards the gay community in general." Stonewall criticised the ruling; saying "the fact that a comment is light-hearted does not absolve it from perpetuating the stereotypes that lead to homophobic bullying."

Video games

''Fable III''

Year	! Video game	! Role	! Notes
2007	''Halo 3''	UNSC Marine
2010	|	Barry Hatch

Honours and Awards

2006, made a Fellow of University College, London (UCL), into which his alma mater, SSEES, had been absorbed.

2012, Special Recognition award at the National Television Awards.

References

Further reading

''Jonathan Ross: The Biography'', Neil Simpson, John Blake Publishing Ltd (31 July 2007), ISBN 184454432X

''Why Do I Say These Things?'', Jonathan Ross, Bantam Press (16 October 2008), ISBN 0593060822

External links

''The Jonathan Ross Show'' on itv.com

Interactive video talk by Jonathan Ross on Ealing studios for the British Film Institute

Category:1960 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century actors Category:20th-century writers Category:21st-century actors Category:21st-century writers Category:Alumni of Southampton Solent University Category:Alumni of the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:English film actors Category:English film critics Category:English radio DJs Category:English television actors Category:English television presenters Category:English television producers Category:English television talk show hosts Category:English television writers Category:English voice actors Category:Friday Night with Jonathan Ross Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:People from Camden Town Category:People from Leytonstone

cy:Jonathan Ross de:Jonathan Ross (Moderator) es:Jonathan Ross fr:Jonathan Ross nl:Jonathan Ross pl:Jonathan Ross pt:Jonathan Ross simple:Jonathan Ross sv:Jonathan Ross

birthname	James Edward Franco
birth date	April 19, 1978
birth place	Palo Alto, California, U.S.
occupation	Actor, director, author, screenwriter, producer, professor, painter, pilot, model, musician
yearsactive	1997–present

James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, author, painter, performance artist and professor at New York University. He left college in order to pursue acting and started off his career by making guest appearances on television series in the 1990s. Franco landed a lead part on the short-lived cult hit television program ''Freaks and Geeks'' and later achieved recognition for playing the titular character in the TV biographical film ''James Dean'' (2001), for which he was awarded a Golden Globe Award. He achieved international fame with his portrayals of Harry Osborn in Sam Raimi's ''Spider-Man'' trilogy.

Franco is critically acclaimed as an actor. He has done both dramatic and comedic work in projects and has appeared in an eclectic range of projects since the 2000s, ranging from period to contemporary pieces, and from major Hollywood productions to less publicized indie films, as well as fantasy movies to biopics and soap operas. Other notable films include ''Pineapple Express'', a stoner comedy that earned him his second Golden Globes nomination, the Harvey Milk-biopic ''Milk'' (both 2008) as well as Danny Boyle's 2010 movie ''127 Hours'', about real-life mountain climber Aron Ralston's struggle to free his hand from a boulder. His performance in ''127 Hours'' earned him nominations for many high-profile awards, including the Academy Awards, Golden Globe and SAG Awards.

Franco has hosted ''Saturday Night Live'' twice as well as the 83rd Academy Awards with Anne Hathaway. He volunteers for the Art of Elysium charity.

Franco is currently teaching a class at New York University about transferring poetry to film.

Early life and family

Nicknamed "Ted", James Edward Franco was born in Palo Alto, California. His mother, Betsy Lou (née Verne), is a poet, author, and editor, and his father, Douglas Eugene Franco, runs a non-profit agency and a shipping container company; the two met as students at Stanford University. Franco's father is of Portuguese and Swedish descent and Franco's mother is Jewish, a descendant of immigrants from Russia (her family's surname had been changed from "Verovitz" to "Verne"). His paternal grandmother, Marjorie (Peterson) Franco, is a published author of young adult books; his maternal grandmother, Mitzie (Levine) Verne, owns the Verne Art Gallery, a prominent art gallery in Cleveland, and was an active member in the National Council of Jewish Women.

Franco's family upbringing was "academic, liberal and largely secular." He grew up in California with his two younger brothers, Tom and Dave ("Davy"), the latter of whom is also an actor. Talented at mathematics, Franco interned at Lockheed Martin. Franco was often encouraged by his father to get good grades and did exceptionally well on his SATs. He graduated from Palo Alto High School in 1996, where he acted in plays. In his high school years, Franco was arrested for underage drinking, graffiti and for being a part of a group that stole designer fragrances from department stores and sold them to classmates. These arrests led to him briefly becoming a ward of the state. Facing the possibility of juvenile hall, a judge decided to give Franco a second chance. "It was teen angst. I was uncomfortable in my own skin. I was shy. I changed my ways just in time to get good grades", he recalled of his troubles with the law.

Although the idea of becoming a marine zoologist interested him, Franco had always secretly wanted to become an actor but feared rejection. He enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) as an English major, but dropped out after his freshman year against his parents' wishes to pursue a career as an actor, since he would have to have waited two years to audition for their acting program. Franco instead chose to take acting lessons with Robert Carnegie at the Playhouse West. Around this time, Franco took up a late-night job at McDonald's to support himself since his parents refused to do so. He was a vegetarian until working there. While working at the establishment, for his acting classes, he would practice accents on customers. Knowing that the aspiring actor was doing his best to follow his passion, Carnegie poignantly told Franco to pay him what he could and later on pay him back.

Acting career

Early work

After 15 months of training, he began auditioning in Los Angeles, and started professionally acting in 1997 with guest roles on television shows. His first break came in 1999, after he was cast in a leading role on the short-lived but well-reviewed television series ''Freaks and Geeks''. The program, which ran for 18 episodes and was canceled due to low viewership, later became a cult hit among audiences. He has since described the series as "one of the most fun" work experiences that he has had. In another interview, Franco said: "When we were doing ''Freaks and Geeks'', I didn’t quite understand how movies and TV worked, and I would improvise even if the camera wasn’t on me ... So I was improvising a little bit back then, but not in a productive way." Franco made his film debut in a brief role in the 1999 Drew Barrymore-starring ''Never Been Kissed'' and his first major movie was the romantic teen comedy ''Whatever It Takes'' (2000), in which he played popular jock Chris. The latter is a modern day remake of the 1897 play ''Cyrano de Bergerac''.

He was subsequently cast as the title role in director Mark Rydell's 2001 TV biographical film ''James Dean''. To immerse himself in the role, Franco went from being a non-smoker to smoking two packs of cigarettes a day, dyed his dark brown hair blond, and learned to ride a motorcycle as well as play guitar and the bongos. To have a greater understanding of Dean, Franco spent hours with two of Dean's associates. Other research included reading books on Dean and studying his movies. While filming ''James Dean'', the actor, to get into character, cut off communication with his family and friends, as well as his then-girlfriend. "It was a very lonely existence," he notes. "If I wasn't on a set, I was watching James Dean. That was my whole thinking. James Dean. James Dean." Despite already being a fan of Dean, Franco feared he might be typecast if he'd captured the actor too convincingly. Ken Tucker of ''Entertainment Weekly'' wrote: "Franco could have walked through the role and done a passable Dean, but instead gets under the skin of this insecure, rootless young man." He received a Golden Globe Award and nominations for an Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award (SAG).

2002–2007

In the 2002 superhero film ''Spider-Man'', Franco played Harry Osborn, the son of the villainous Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) and best friend of the title character (Tobey Maguire). Originally, Franco was considered for the lead role of Spider-Man/Peter Parker in the film, though the lead went to Maguire. Todd McCarthy of ''Variety'' noted that there are "good moments" between Maguire and Franco in the film. ''Spider-Man'' was a commercial and critical success. The movie grossed $114 million during its opening weekend in North America and went on to earn $822 million worldwide. He next starred in ''Sonny'', a 2002 release in which he was directed by fellow actor Nicolas Cage. It was Cage's involvement that had attracted Franco to the film. Set in 1980s New Orleans, ''Sonny'' follows the titular character (Franco) returning home after just being discharged from the Army. To prepare for his role, he met with sex workers or people who had previously been prostitutes. The movie was panned by critics, with the ''New York Post''s Lou Lumenick calling it an "instant candidate for worst movie of the year." Franco was cast as a homeless drug addict in the drama ''City by the Sea'' (2002) after co-star Robert De Niro saw a snippet of his work in ''James Dean''. He lived on the streets for several days to better understand the subject of the matter as well as talk to former or still using drug addicts. Both projects were released in September.

Following ''City by the Sea'', he co-starred alongside Neve Campbell in Robert Altman's ballet movie ''The Company'' (2003). The success of the first ''Spider-Man'' film led Franco to reprise the role in the 2004 sequel, ''Spider-Man 2''. The movie was well received by critics, and it proved to be a big financial success, setting a new opening weekend box office record for North America. With revenue of $783 million worldwide, it became the second highest grossing film in 2004. The following year he made and starred in the black comedy ''The Ape'' and the 2005 war film ''The Great Raid'', in which he portrayed Robert Prince, a captain in the United States Army's elite Sixth Ranger Battalion. In 2006, Franco co-starred with Tyrese Gibson in ''Annapolis'' and played legendary hero Tristan in ''Tristan & Isolde'', a period piece dramatization of the Tristan and Iseult story also starring English actress Sophia Myles. For the former, he did eight months of boxing training and for the latter, he practiced horseback riding and sword fighting. He then completed training for his Private Pilot Licence in preparation for his role in ''Flyboys'', which was released in September 2006; the same month, Franco appeared briefly in ''The Wicker Man'', the remake of the seminal horror film. Also in 2006, he made a cameo appearance in the romantic comedy ''The Holiday''.

He again played Harry Osborn in ''Spider-Man 3'' (2007). In contrast to the previous two films' positive reviews, ''Spider-Man 3'' was met with a mixed reception by critics. Nonetheless, with a total worldwide gross of $891 million, it stands as the most successful film in the series, and Franco's highest grossing film to date. In this same year, Franco made a cameo appearance as himself in the Apatow-directed comedy ''Knocked Up'', which starred ''Freaks and Geeks'' alumni Seth Rogen, Jason Segel and Martin Starr. Franco co-starred with Sienna Miller in the low-budget independent films ''Camille'', a dark fantasy dramedy about a young newly wed couple and ''Interview'', where he appears in a voice only role, both 2007 movies that were ignored by audiences and critics alike. Among his other 2007 projects were ''Good Time Max'', which Franco wrote, directed and starred in. The movie premiered at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival and centers around two talented brothers who take very diverse paths in life, one going on to become a doctor whilst the other sibling (Franco) experiences unemployment and uses drugs. The actor chose to cast himself in that role because, "It was really just a process of elimination. I was better suited for this role than the responsible surgeon."

2008–2010

He next starred in ''Pineapple Express'' (2008), a stoner comedy co-starring and co-written by Rogen and produced by Apatow. Of Franco's character, Apatow said, "You tell him, 'Okay, you're going to play a pot dealer,' and he comes back with a three-dimensional character you totally believe exists. He takes it very seriously, even when it's comedy." In her ''New York Times'' review, critic Manohla Dargis wrote: "He’s delightful as Saul, loosey-goosey and goofy yet irrepressibly sexy, despite that greasy curtain of hair and a crash pad with a zero WAF (Woman Acceptance Factor). It’s an unshowy, generous performance and it greatly humanizes a movie that, as it shifts genre gears and cranks up the noise, becomes disappointingly sober and self-serious." His performance earned him a second Golden Globe nomination, for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy. He has stated in some interviews that he no longer uses cannabis (although he has occasionally alluded to his smoking marijuana, most notably during an extended segment on ''The Colbert Report''.) He was awarded ''High Times'' magazine's Stoner of the Year Award for his work in ''Pineapple Express''. In 2008 he also appeared in two films by American artist Carter, exhibited at the Yvon Lambert gallery in Paris. On September 20, 2008, he hosted the sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''), and a second time on December 19, 2009.

Franco starred opposite Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, and Emile Hirsch in Gus Van Sant's ''Milk'' (2008). In the film, he played Scott Smith, the boyfriend of Harvey Milk (Penn). Kenneth Turan of the ''Los Angeles Times'', in review of the film, wrote: "Franco is a nice match for him [Penn] as the lover who finally has enough of political life." For his performance in the film, Franco won the Independent Spirit Award in the category for Best Supporting Actor. In late 2009, he joined the cast of the daytime soap opera ''General Hospital'' on a recurring basis. He plays Franco, a multimedia artist much like himself, who comes to Port Charles with unfinished business with mob enforcer Jason Morgan (Steve Burton). Franco has called his ''General Hospital'' role performance art. In March 2011, he will reprise his role in two episodes of ''General Hospital''. In September 2011, Franco will reprise his role as Robert "Franco" Frank for an extended stay.

2010 was a prolific year for Franco. He kicked off the year by making an appearance on the sitcom ''30 Rock'' where he played himself and carried on a fake romance with Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) in a scheme concocted by their respective agents. After appearing in the commercial successes ''Date Night'', an action comedy, and ''Eat Pray Love'', an adaption of a self-help novel, Franco played poet Allen Ginsberg in the drama ''Howl'', released on September 24. The latter, about his most known poem and the trial about the work, premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and earned modest reviews.

His next project was ''127 Hours'', directed by Academy Award winner Danny Boyle, where Franco portrayed real-life mountain climber Aron Ralston. It was given a limited release starting on November 5, 2010. ''127 Hours'' centered on Ralston trying to free his hand after it became trapped under a boulder in a ravine while canyoneering alone in Utah and resorting to desperate measures in order to survive, eventually amputating his arm. During the five-week, 12-hours-per-day shoot, Franco would only leave the gully set to use the lavatory and would read books such as academic textbooks to keep busy. Franco later called making ''127 Hours'' a once in a life time experience. To date, ''127 Hours'' is one of his most well-reviewed movies and was also a commercial success, commissioning $57.5 million against an $18 million budget. His performance earned him universal acclaim from critics. Subsequently, he was nominated for most of the high-profile awards, notably an Academy Award, Golden Globe and SAG as well as winning an Independent Spirit Award.

2011–present

On February 23, Franco made a cameo appearance on NBC's ''Minute to Win It'' where the real-life Ralston was participating as a contestant playing for charity. After having an uncredited cameo in the opening scene of ''The Green Hornet'' (2011), he starred opposite Natalie Portman and Danny McBride in the Medieval fantasy comedy ''Your Highness'' on April 8. In it he plays Fabious, a prince who teams up with his brother (McBride) to rescue Fabious' soon to be bride (played by Zooey Deschanel). In May 2010, he was cast to star in Rupert Wyatt's $90 million budgeted ''Rise of the Planet of the Apes'', a reboot of the ''Planet of the Apes'' series which was released on August 5. Franco has also announced that in the fall of 2011, he will appear on Broadway with Nicole Kidman in the upcoming revival of ''Sweet Bird of Youth'' by Tennessee Williams, which will be directed by David Cromer. Franco will star alongside Winona Ryder in a film entitled ''The Stare'', which is to be directed by Jay Anania. Production is expected to begin in New York on May 6, 2011. He was cast as a drug-addicted lawyer in ''Cherry'', which will start shooting the following month in California and also star Heather Graham. He dropped out of the indie ''While We're Young'' to star in ''Oz: The Great and Powerful'', a Disney prequel to L. Frank Baum's ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900), as the Wizard, superseding Johnny Depp. Filming began in July.

At the end of September 2010, the actor acquired the rights to Stephen Elliott's ''The Adderall Diaries'', with the intentions to adapt, direct and star in it. It was announced in January 2011 that the actor has planned to not only star in but direct himself in ''The Night Stalker'', a film version of author Philip Carlo's book about the 1980s serial killer, Richard Ramirez. Co-screenwriter to the screenplay, Nicholas Constantine, was initially unconvinced that Franco would be right for the movie, until he learned of Franco's desire to be a director and later watched three of his short films, one of which featured a serial killer, ultimately confirming to the writer that the actor had a darker side. One of his other upcoming projects, ''The Iceman'', with reunite Franco with Michael Shannon, after the two worked together on the short film ''Herbert White''. The movie is based upon real-life contract murderer Richard Kuklinski, who notoriously froze his victims. The actor also has plans to direct a film version of William Faulkner's ''As I Lay Dying''.

Other projects

Franco produced and directed a documentary titled ''Saturday Night'' documenting a week in the production of an episode of ''SNL''. The film began as a short for an NYU class but grew due to his two episodes as host, while short stories he wrote for other classes appeared in ''Esquire'' and ''McSweeney's''. In summer 2010, the fictional Franco from ''General Hospital'' held an exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, while the real Franco held an exhibit at the museum based on his experiences on the soap opera.

One of his short movies, ''The Clerk's Tale'', was screened in competition at the Hamptons Film Festival at the end of 2010. The short was also shown at the Cannes Festival. During an interview with Screen Comment’s Ali Naderzad, Franco had this to say about his Cannes experience: "Cannes is a huge honor. As a film student, having my short play on the closing night of Critic’s Week is the best thing I could ask for. The festival has honored so many of my favorite films and so many of my heroes, it is still hard to believe I will be involved with such an amazing festival. It is so nice to be recognized as a director."

On October 19, 2010 Scribner published a collection of short stories called ''Palo Alto: Stories'' by Franco. The book is named after the California city where Franco grew up and is dedicated to many of the writers he worked with at Brooklyn College. Inspired by some of Franco's own teenage memories, ''Palo Alto'' consists of life in Palo Alto as experienced by a series of teenagers who spend most of their time indulging in driving drunk, using drugs and taking part in unplanned acts of violence. Each passage is told by a young narrator. The book has received mixed reviews; ''Los Angeles Times'' called it "the work of an ambitious young man who clearly loves to read, who has a good eye for detail, but who has spent way too much time on style and virtually none on substance." ''The Guardian'' said that Franco's "foray into the literary world may be met with cynicism in some quarters, but this is a promising debut from a most unlikely source." Writing in the ''New York Times'', reviewer and fellow author Joshua Mohr praised Franco for how, in the story "American History", he juxtaposed historical parts with a present-day social commentary that "makes the we wonder how much we’ve actually evolved in post-bellum America."

Publisher's Weekly reviewed the collection, stating "The author fails to find anything remotely insightful to say in these 11 amazingly underwhelming stories."

In January, the actor screened his multimedia project entitled ''Three's Company The Drama'', in which he merges video and art to update the former sitcom, at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Franco reunited with ''Milk'' director Van Sant to make ''Unfinished'', a project that features two movies: ''Endless Idaho'' and ''My Own Private River''. ''Endless Idaho'' showcases edited outtakes, deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes footage from the 1991 movie ''My Own Private Idaho'', while ''My Own Private River'' focuses on the late actor River Phoenix. The idea for the exhibition was conceived after Van Sant introduced unused footage from the 1991 film to Franco, inspiring him to turn it into something more. ''Unfinished'' opened from February 26 to April 9 at the Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills.

On February 27, 2011, he and Anne Hathaway hosted the 83rd Academy Awards. The two were selected to help the awards show achieve its goal of attracting a younger audience. Franco had previously said that he accepted the job for the experience and because it was like a once in a lifetime opportunity. Numerous media viewers criticized Franco for his discontent and lack of energy on stage and the show was widely panned, with some reviewers dubbing it the worst telecast in its history. The actor later spoke about his hosting in an interview on ''The Late Show with David Letterman''. He explained that when accepting the job he never had high hopes, adding “It was never on my list of things to do. It doesn’t mean I didn’t care and it doesn’t mean I didn’t try, right?” Regarding allegations that he was under the influence of marijuana while hosting, Franco commented "I think the Tasmanian Devil would look stoned standing next to Anne Hathaway. She has a lot of energy!" He concluded that he tried his best and could have had "low energy" during the telecast.

In May, Franco made his dance-theater directorial debut at New York's Stella Adler studios, where he narrated all the performances. Entitled "Collage" and described as a "mixed-media piece", the show featured live dance, theater, music, and poetry. Tickets were free but were be distributed on a first come, first serve basis. The actor will also direct two short films for songs ("Blue" and "That Someone Is You") by R.E.M. from their album ''Collapse Into Now'' (2011). Franco continued his career as a filmmaker with ''The Broken Tower'', a 90-minute docudrama shot in black and white about poet Hart Crane, who committed suicide by jumping off the steamship ''SS Orizaba''. It originally started out as his masters thesis. After being screened at 2011's Los Angeles Film Festival among more than 200 feature films, short projects, and music videos from more than 30 countries to be selectedit is slated for a 2012 theatrical release.

In the media

He has been described as having "an unusually high metabolism for productivity...a superhuman ability to focus". Viewed as a sex symbol, Franco was named the Sexiest Man Living in 2009 by Salon.com.

There has often been frequent media coverage of Franco, particularly regarding his interest in going to colleges. In addition to that, Franco has also claimed to have been strongly misquoted by reports in the media and news outlets reporting erroneous information about him. This led to the actor being parodied in an episode of ''SNL''s Weekend Update segment, which an ''Entertainment Weekly'' writer deemed "clever". In a 2011 interview, he stated:

"I’ve been perceived as this guy yelling, 'Hey, look at me. I want attention.' I’m not going to school to get articles written about me. I’m just going to school. But the fact that I’m going to school or that someone takes a picture of me sleeping is like, 'We’re gonna jump on that and criticize him for his antics.' What antics? I write. I make movies. I’m going to school. I hosted the Oscars. I take these projects seriously."

In response to questions regarding his sexuality now that he has portrayed three gay characters during his acting career, he insists he finds plenty more dimensions to the characters than their bedroom proclivities. "Or, you know what," he quipped, "maybe I’m just gay." Those rumors led to a Gawker article linking him to a ''New York Post'' Page Six blind item about a closeted gay actor, nicknamed "the Gay Rapist". Despite the victim of the alleged attack denying that it was Franco, two magazines then contacted Franco's lawyer to alert them that they might run stories suggesting his involvement, but were unable to as at least part of their stories were fabricated. However, Gawker refused to take their article down as they were simply reporting what another outlet published and instead offered him a chance to make a comment about the speculation on its website. He declined, hoping it would die down. The actor later called the episode very offensive because he has friends who have been raped.

Personal life

In 2008, he was named as the new face of Gucci's men's fragrance line. Regarding his secular upbringing, Franco told ''The Guardian'' that he feels as if he has "missed out on the Jewish experience", but has been told not to worry about that by his Jewish friends. He said in the same interview that he likes "the idea of religion as a source of community." When asked if he was a "believer", he responded "In God? I don't know. Yes. To a certain extent. It's a complicated question." After meeting on the set of ''Whatever It Takes'', Franco dated co-star Marla Sokoloff for five years. He was in a relationship with actress Ahna O'Reilly for several years since around 2006. He confirmed their separation in an interview for ''Playboy'' magazine's August 2011 issue, saying that his interest in education got between them.

Education

Franco has received an extensive education, and continues to do so. Dissatisfied with his career's direction, Franco reenrolled at UCLA in the fall of 2006 as an English major with a creative writing concentration. He received permission to take as many as 62 course credits per quarter compared to the normal limit of 19, while still continuing to act. He received his undergraduate degree in June 2008 with a GPA over 3.5. For his degree, Franco prepared his departmental honors thesis as a novel under the supervision of Mona Simpson. While at the university, the actor studied French, the Holocaust, philosophy of science, and American literature among other things. To continue acting, he would study on film sets.

He was selected as the commencement speaker at his alma mater, UCLA, and was to speak at the ceremony on June 12, 2009. On June 3, however, a press release announced Franco's cancellation due to a scheduling conflict, making it the second cancellation in a row, after commencement speaker Bill Clinton had canceled the appearance. On January 26, 2011, Franco and the Harvard Lampoon released a satirical video on prominent comedy website Funny or Die mocking his last-minute cancellation.

He moved to New York to simultaneously attend graduate school at Columbia University's MFA writing program, New York University's Tisch School of the Arts for filmmaking (NYU), and Brooklyn College for fiction writing, while occasionally commuting to North Carolina's Warren Wilson College for poetry. He received his MFA from Columbia in 2010. Franco is a Ph.D. student in English at Yale University and will also attend the Rhode Island School of Design. The actor opted against watching the 2011 Academy Award nominees be announced (where he was a top contender) in favor of attending class. "I’m not gonna miss class to go and presume that I’m going to be nominated, but if you want to bring out a camera crew to Yale and wait and see if I get nominated, I’d be happy to step out of class and say I’m very grateful", he commented.

He has been accepted to the University of Houston for the doctoral (Ph.D.) program – one of 20 people to be selected out of 400 applicants – in literature and creative writing and plans to enroll in fall 2012. Having previously shown a desire to teach, in March 2011, it was announced that Franco will teach a fall semester course on modifying poetry into short films to ten to twelve third-year graduate film students at NYU. The course will focus mainly on production, meaning that the students will be in charge of creating their own film based on poetry. At the time of the announcement the actor had yet to put together a syllabus, but has until the summertime to do so.

When asked about his education, Franco said that he loves school and that it keeps him focused as well as grounded. "I go to school because I love being around people who are interested in what I’m interested in and I’m having a great experience… I’m studying things that I love so it’s not like it’s a chore", he told the ''Washington Post'', according to a ''New York Magazine'' article. Franco has also credited his education for helping him "take acting seriously" when his parents did not see it as a successful post-college career. Franco developed an aptitude for art—painting in particular—during his high school years while attending the California State Summer School for the Arts (CSSSA). Franco has said painting was the "outlet" he needed in high school, and he "has actually been painting longer than he has been acting." His paintings were displayed publicly for the first time at the Glü Gallery in Los Angeles, from January 7, through February 11, 2006. He launched his first European art exhibition in 2011 at Peres Projects in Berlin.

He enjoys reading on the set of his films. ''Pineapple Express'' producer Judd Apatow has said of him: "He's a very education-minded person. We used to laugh because in between takes he'd be reading ''The Iliad'' on set. We still haven't read ''The Iliad''. It was a very difficult book. With him, it was always James Joyce or something."

Charitable work

Franco has said aiding others is "the key to life, the key to happiness" and, "as an actor, you can get wrapped up in yourself and your career...A little secret is one of the greatest ways to break that is to stop thinking about yourself for a second." When Franco was at a point in his life where he wanted to give back but was unsure how, he asked his ''Spider-Man'' co-star Kirsten Dunst for advice. At the suggestion of Dunst, he started volunteering at the charity Art of Elysium, where she also volunteers, which helps children with serious medical conditions. He said the experience helped save his life. In January 2011, at the Art of Elysium Heaven Gala in Los Angeles, Franco was honored for his work at the hospital, receiving the Spirit of Elysium accolade.

On March 31, 2011, the actor took part in "An Evening with James Franco", a Washington DC dinner benefit for 826DC, a non-profit foundation created to help neighborhood students reach their goals, as well as provide after-school literature programs and workshops which encourage them to improve their writing skills. Franco became involved with Dave Egger's 826 National after Eggers asked him to do a conceptual idea for the program, and he directed a documentary for them and has since been a supporter of them. At the event, Franco spoke about how he thought schools needed to be more original with their literature programs. "Writing can do things that video cannot", he added.

In April, Franco autographed a T-shirt that will be auctioned-off through the Yoshiki Foundation, with the proceeds being donated for the Japanese tsunami relief occurring in 2011. On June 14, he was honored by amfAR, the foundation for AIDS research, at the Museum of Modern Art. Franco received the Piaget Award of Inspiration for his humanitarian work and contributions to men’s style.

Filmography

+ Film
! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
1998	''1973''	Greg	TV film
1999	''To Serve and Protect''	Matt Carr	TV film
1999	''Never Been Kissed''	Jason Way
2000	''At Any Cost''	Mike
2000	''If Tomorrow Comes''	Devin
2000		Chris
2001	''Mean People Suck''	Casey
2001	''Some Body''	Apartment guy 3	Uncredited
2001		James Dean	TV filmBroadcast Film Critics Association
2002	''Blind Spot''	Danny
2002	''Mother Ghost''	Skateboarder guy
2002		Sonny Phillips	limited release
2002	''[[City by the Sea''	Joey	Nominated—Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor
2002		Harry Osborn
2002	''Deuces Wild''	Tino
2003	''''	Josh
2004	''Spider-Man 2''	Harry Osborn
2005	''''	Harry Walker	Direct-to-video
2005	''''	Captain Prince
2005	''Fool's Gold''	Brent	Also writer and director
2006	''Grasshopper''	Travis	Short film
2006		Tristan
2006		Jake Huard
2006	''''	Bar guy No.1
2006		Blaine Rawlings
2006	''''	Derek
2006	''''	Himself	Uncredited
2007	''Spider-Man 3''	Harry Osborn / New Goblin	Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Fight (with Tobey Maguire)
2007	''Knocked Up''	Himself	Uncredited
2007	''In the Valley of Elah''	Sergeant Dan Carnelli
2007	''Finishing the Game''	Dean Silo/"Rob Force"
2007	''''	Andy
2007		Boyfriend on phone
2007		Silas Parker
2007	''Good Time Max''	Max Verbinski	Also writer and director
2008		Saul Silver
2008	''Nights in Rodanthe''	Dr. Mark Flanner	Uncredited
2008			Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best CastIndependent Spirit Award for Best Supporting MaleNominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated—MTV Movie Award for Best KissNominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion PictureNominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2010	''Shadows & Lies''	William Vincent
2010	''Date Night''	Thomas Tripplehorn/ Felton
2010	''Eat Pray Love''	David
2010		Allen Ginsberg
2010	''127 Hours''	Aron Ralston	Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorIndependent Spirit Award for Best Male LeadIndiana Film Journalists Association Award for Best ActorLas Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorNew York Film Critics Online Award for Best ActorSanta Barbara International Film Festival Award for Outstanding PerformanceUtah Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNominated—Academy Award for Best ActorNominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading RoleNominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNominated—Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorNominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture DramaNominated—Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorNominated—MTV Movie Award for Best WTF MomentNominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorNominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorNominated—San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorNominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture DramaNominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading RoleNominated—St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNominated—Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
2011		Danny "Crystal" Clear	Cameo uncredited
2011	''Your Highness''	Fabious
2011		Hart Crane	Also director, writer, editor and producer
2011	''Sal''	Milton Katselas	James also wrote and directed this film. The film is set to premier at the Venice Film Festival on September 2nd
2011	''Rise of the Planet of the Apes''	Will Rodman
2011	''Maladies''	James	''post-production''. Franco is also producing
2012	''The Stare''	Tyrone	''post-production''. Franco is also producing
2012			''Filming''
2013	''Oz: The Great and Powerful''	Oz	Filming

+ Series television
! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
1997		Brian
1999		Stevie
1999–2000	''Freaks and Geeks''	Daniel Desario
2001	''The X-Files''	Officer No.2
2009–2011	''General Hospital''
2010	''30 Rock''	Himself	Episode: "Klaus and Greta"

Selected works

Franco, James. "A Star, a Soap and the Meaning of Art." ''The Wall Street Journal'', December 4, 2009.

Franco, James. "Just Before the Black." ''Esquire'', March 24, 2010.

References

External links

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name	''Liz Lemon''
first	"Pilot"
nickname	"Lemon", "LL", "Dummy", "Liz Lemon Cool J," "Li Lem", "Beth", "Lizzy","The Lizard", "Blizzard", "Menta-Liz"
gender	Female
occupation	Head writer for ''TGS with Tracy Jordan'', Host of ''Dealbreakers'', author
family	Dick Lemon (father)Margaret Lemon (nee Freeman) (mother)Mitch Lemon (brother)"Nana" Lemon (grandmother)Adolf Lemon (grandfather)Dolly Harlan (great-aunt)Linda Lemon (aunt)Gray "The Hair" (third cousin)Randy Lemon (cousin)
spouse	Jack Donaghy (Husband by accident)
religion	Unspecified ("I pretty much do whatever Oprah tells me to.")
portrayer	Tina FeyMichal Antonov (as a preteen in "The Head and the Hair" and "Seinfeld Vision")Marcella Roy (as a preschooler in "Rosemary's Baby")Julia Louis-Dreyfus (during flashbacks in "Live Show")
creator	Tina Fey }}

Elizabeth Miervaldis "Liz" Lemon is the main character of the American television series ''30 Rock''. She is portrayed by Tina Fey, who is also the creator of the series and its showrunner.

Like Fey, who was head writer of ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') from 1999 to 2006, the character is head writer for a sketch comedy show. For this reason, Liz Lemon is widely seen by critics as a fictionalized version of Fey herself, which Fey herself has confirmed as being her intention. In a video interview conducted with Fey before the airing of the pilot, she stated that Liz is herself "five or six years ago when I first started at my job and had to figure out how to deal with big, strong personalities and get through the day, being sort-of scared of everyone... but acting like you're not scared of everyone."

Fey has reported incorporating some of her own quirks and history into the character, saying that she tries to "share as many of Liz's habits as possible so it feels truthful". Liz has been seen singing "Maybe" and Fey has noted that she also enjoys singing songs from ''Annie''. Both were once rejected by a man who later went to "clown college" which had a huge emotional impact on them.

The character also shares her given name with Fey, whose full name is Elizabeth Stamatina Fey. However, Liz Lemon is only very rarely referred to as "Elizabeth" and the character's name is usually given as "Liz Lemon" in official contexts (example, the plaque on the door to her office). The character's middle name, "Miervaldis," is a Latvian name, and Fey has said that, while Lemon's ethnic background is unknown, "Latvian seems to make sense." The character's last name, "Lemon," is apparently intended to imply an acerbic personality and possibly also to make her full name alliterative. Fey has stated that she wanted Liz to have a good last name since she knew the character would often be called by it.

Personal history

Liz is from the town of White Haven, Pennsylvania, and was born on October 14, 1970 on the border of Maryland and Pennsylvania. Her optimistic family is introduced in season 2. Liz's parents, Dick Lemon and Margaret Lemon (née Freeman), are very supportive of her, at least outwardly. In the episode "The Moms," her mother is said to have worked as a secretary at Sterling Cooper. Liz went to elementary school with Sheryl Crow (although in reality, Sheryl Crow grew up in Missouri and is eight years older than Liz), co-starring with Crow as one of a pair of kidneys in a 5th grade musical; Liz remembers that they were great friends, but Sheryl Crow referred to Liz in the Season 3 finale "Kidney Now" as a loser. Her brother Mitch had a skiing accident on Sunday, December 8, 1985 when he was a high school senior. Afterwards, he experienced anterograde amnesia, remaining "stuck" in the day before the accident, thinking for the next 22 years that he was still 17 and that it was still 1985.

Liz was inspired to become a writer by Rosemary Howard, the first female head writer of ''Laugh-In''. She mentioned that she used to teach improv to senior citizens. In high school, she believed that she was just the unpopular nerd everyone picked on, only to learn years later at her 20-year high school reunion that she was the universally disliked class bully. At Bryn Mawr College, she studied theater tech for which she still has an outstanding student loan, and attended the University of Maryland on a partial competitive jazz dance scholarship. She spent her junior year abroad in Frankfurt, Germany. She did not lose her virginity until she was 25.

Liz and Jenna Maroney shared an apartment in a Chicago neighborhood called "Little Armenia" and together dreamed of making it big. While in Chicago, Liz reportedly tried to be an actress, but the only job she booked was a phone sex line commercial. Liz and Jenna began ''The Girlie Show'' at Second City. They worked for years to turn ''The Girlie Show'' into a television series, which NBC picked up only to quell the outrage of women's groups over the misogynistic show ''Bitch Hunter,'' the pair of them moving from Chicago to New York City for it. Liz became the head writer for ''The Girlie Show'' while Jenna became the show's main star. In the episode "Floyd", she reveals that she appeared in an episode of ''America's Most Wanted'', portraying a woman who gets strangled on the toilet.

In the pilot, it is announced that Liz's former boss Gary has died and Jack Donaghy takes his place. Jack immediately decides to retool the show to make it appeal to a larger demographic, starting by firing Liz's trusted producer Pete Hornberger and making her hire unpredictable actor Tracy Jordan as the show's new star. Liz manages to convince Jack to re-hire Pete, but Jack is insistent on making the show center around Tracy and, much to her chagrin, he renames the show ''TGS with Tracy Jordan''.

Liz currently lives in an apartment at 160 Riverside Drive, which is a real apartment complex in New York City; her apartment number is 3B. She has lived there since 2005..

Personality

Jack's overview

Jack, at a mere glance, described her, apparently accurately, as a "New York third-wave feminist, college-educated, single-and-pretending-to-be-happy-about-it, over-scheduled, undersexed, you buy any magazine that says 'healthy body image' on the cover and every two years you take up knitting for...a week." Pete said the "knitting" part, in particular, was uncanny. Liz is seen several times saying "Blerg!" the definition of which is subtly shown in another episode where a shot of Lemon's apartment reveals unopened box of Ikea-esque furniture, one is named blërg, satirizing the names of Ikea furniture.

Physical appearance and typical attire

In contrast with her friend and foil Jenna Maroney, Liz seems to have little interest in stereotypical female interests such as fashion. Her "bi-curious" shoes led Jack to erroneously think she was gay and set her up on a blind date with his friend Gretchen Thomas, the "brilliant plastics engineer/lesbian".

Except when she is pressured to dress more femininely, Liz typically appears in casual, gender-neutral attire. In earlier episodes, she almost always appeared wearing plastic-rimmed glasses, though she has started to wear the glasses less and less over the course of the show. Flashbacks reveal that she has worn glasses since she was about four or five. However, according to Jenna she does not actually need glasses. This is probably intended to parody the fact that plastic-rimmed glasses are considered to be Tina Fey's trademark in real life, despite the fact that she does not actually need glasses except to see far away.

Quirks and personality traits

Liz is generally portrayed as something of a geek, so, although apparently a skilled writer, she seems to have precious few social skills. For example, while she was trying to meet a date at a karaoke bar, a man asked her if the seat next to her was taken and she asked him why she should move her coat just so he could sit there. Jack has described her as "socially retarded". Liz has tried using Match.com to find a boyfriend.

Liz has a rather sardonic sense of humor. She has frequently been shown to be a stress eater, a trait she shares with Jack, and, although she is often seen eating junk food, she seems to keep her weight under control, perhaps because she does not seem to have proper meals. According to Fey, the character is not bulimic; "she just likes to eat." Liz does have some knowledge of cooking, though she admits to only using her oven to warm her jeans in the morning. She is allergic to dogs and, apparently, cats as well as "anything warm and adorable," though she believes her allergy to dogs is psychosomatic because a dog bit her the first time she got her period. She has evidently won at least one Emmy Award.

Liz studied abroad in Germany. She seems to speak fluent German and thinks it is the most beautiful language in the world; however it becomes obvious in "Episode 210" that she is not fluent because she mixes up the verbs "to sell" and "to buy" (''verkaufen'' and ''kaufen'') and has difficulty understanding the German TV executives. In one episode, she sings "99 Luftballons."

Liz has a strong aversion to unfairness and rule-breaking as demonstrated in the opening scene of the pilot, where a man cheats to get a hot dog from a hot dog stand more quickly by "creating" a new line which several people from the "original" line promptly join. She responds by buying all the hot dogs and giving them to the "good people" who stayed in the original line. Later, when Liz considered quitting over Jack's changes to the show, Pete told her that she had the best job in New York and that she should not "buy all the hot dogs." This also displays the tendency she seems to have of acting rashly in a fit of anger.

She also seems to have a weakness when it comes to maternal instincts. The day after Liz told Jenna that she wanted to have children, she found herself bombarded with offers from people who wanted to be sperm donors or surrogates for her. Liz was also asked by a makeup artist to hold her baby daughter while she was doing touch ups on Jenna, but, after leaving Jenna's dressing room, Liz blacked out and found herself standing in her apartment, still holding the baby in her arms, thanks to the baby's hypnotic effect on her. Liz compares the effect to highway hypnosis.

While Liz is generally calm in nature, she is prone to violence when her food is stolen; she once knocked over a table when someone stole her macaroni and cheese and also threatened to cut her co-workers' faces so bad they'd "all have chins" when she discovered someone had stolen her sandwich.

Some of Liz's social problems stem from past slapstick events that left her with long-suppressed traumas and phobias. For instance, in Reaganing, Liz reveals to Jack that she once ended up falling while wearing roller skates and ending up with her panties around her ankles while covered by a Tom Jones poster (all while she was trying to find a bathroom to use in the house), and when Jack learns she also freaked out when hearing a snippet of music in Las Vegas, she realizes that anything that reminds her of Tom Jones triggers her revulsion to sex. She was also unable to eat eggs for a long time, and Kenneth's impromptu therapy helped her understand why: her creepy aunt's husband ran away, and the aunt would feed a pre-teen Liz disgusting egg-based dishes while making bizarre requests for company.

Liz also has a tendency to say "blerg", "nerds", "What the what?", and "son of a mother" as replacements for curse words, as well as the phrases "By the Hammer of Thor!", "shut it down", "I want to go to there", "deal breaker", and "pwomp".

Interests

Like Fey, Liz is a big fan of ''Star Wars'', often using events from the original trilogy to explain her feelings and actions in daily life. For example, In the episode "Jack the Writer," she compares Jack Donaghy to Darth Vader and that stepping into his office is like entering the Death Star. Liz mentions that she recently dressed up as Princess Leia for four Halloweens in a row and does so during jury selection in order to be disqualified from serving. Liz considers ''Attack of the Clones'' to be the worst film of the series.

She is also a fan of ''Heroes'', in which her favorite character is Hiro Nakamura, ''Lost'', ''Little People, Big World'', ''Ugly Betty'', ''Top Chef'', ''Designing Women'' and ''The Daily Show''. Her drinks of choice are Pinot Grigio or white wine with ice cubes and Sprite. She is obsessed with men in green tights. As of "Cleveland", her ringtone is "Ride of the Valkyries", which she and Jenna consider a reference to ''What's Opera, Doc?''. Her ringtone for "Future Husband", is "Fuck the Pain Away" by Peaches.

In the episode "The Fabian Strategy", Liz reveals that the three things she likes in the world are Ina Garten, sweater weather, and when Muppets present at awards shows.

Liz appears to be a Philadelphia Phillies fan. In "Reaganing", it is mentioned that at nine-years old, she sported a Pete Rose inspired haircut and had posters of Mike Schmidt and Tug McGraw in her bedroom. These three players were active with the Phillies during this period. It is also noted that she uses a 'Phillies Sport Wallet' in "It's Never Too Late For Now".

On "Christmas Attack Zone", Liz says she learned body language through watching ''The Mentalist'' because her TV is on CBS and she could not find her remote. She calls herself "The MentaLiz."

Political and religious views

As demonstrated in several encounters with Jack, she seems to have liberal political opinions. For instance, she stated that she believes "gay dudes should be allowed to adopt kids and we should all have hybrid cars". Liz, however, has not been shown to own a car, hybrid or otherwise. She is frequently portrayed endorsing Barack Obama. Despite her vocal support of Obama, she said that there was an "eighty percent chance" that she would end up secretly voting for John McCain in the 2008 election.

She is shown to be somewhat afflicted with "white guilt," which Tracy uses to manipulate her in the episode "Jack-Tor." She later says that her white guilt "is to be used only for good, like over-tipping and supporting Barack Obama". She is very concerned about not being seen as racist; for example, an African-American man she was dating played the "race card" when she tried to ditch him by claiming that they were not a good match.

When asked what religion she was she replied that "I pretty much do whatever Oprah tells me to". She does mention that she tried to get former boyfriend Floyd to check out a Unitarian church with her, but he wasn't interested. In "The Break-Up", Liz compiles a pros-vs-cons list for her boyfriend Dennis in which his being Catholic is listed as a negative. Liz's own religion has never been revealed.

Relationships

Jack Donaghy

At the beginning of the show, Liz and Jack had an antagonistic relationship. As the series progressed, however, this original dislike all but disappeared, and they are now close friends, with Jack at one point going so far as to tell her, "Lemon, I honestly don't know what I'd do without you". In spite of this, they still annoy each other at times.

In Season 2, Liz declared that she and Jack "are friends" and seems to be welcome in Jack's office at any time of the day. The two joke often about their various personal and work-related problems, and increasingly offer each other advice. Jack has even surpassed Pete as Liz's most trusted confidant. This relationship culminated when Jack, after being told he was to be the next Chairman of General Electric, named Liz as his Vice President and successor. In essence, Liz and Jack have developed into each other's best sounding boards. For example, when Liz believed herself to be pregnant, her first reaction was to go to Jack's office (then occupied by the daughter of G.E.'s CEO) and, when ultimately she was unable to speak with him face to face, she left multiple messages on his phone. When Jack had made a fool out himself at a business retreat, Liz took the attention away from him by doing improvisation and eventually, danced and took off her top. Jack was clearly moved and appreciative of her actions. She has done similar things multiple times, sacrificing her finite dignity for Donaghy's overall public appearance, as evidenced when she kissed Jack's business rival Banks on security camera footage so she could blackmail him. Jack responded to this by saying "Well played," or in the episode I Do Do, she stalled for him in front of a church, expanding her small reading to involve a guitar song and random readings from the bible. Liz has a pregnancy scare in "Cooter", and leaves a series of messages on Jack's voicemail as she goes through a series of emotions. The pregnancy test turns out to be a false reading, and Jack flies from D.C to New York, showing up at her door to comfort her. When Liz struggled with intimacy issues, Jack talked her through them and helped her get to the root of the problem. When she wanted to give up on herself and break up with Carol, Jack didn't allow her to, telling her "You deserve a guy like Carol and he deserves you because, I'll only say this once a decade: you're great". Despite their close friendship, Jack rarely addresses her as "Liz", generally preferring to call her "Lemon". In the Season 5 episode "Mrs. Donaghy", the minister married Jack to Liz, when it fact it was Jack and Avery's wedding. Although they remain platonic, Liz and Jack are required to go to marriage counseling and realize the impact they have had on each others lives in the past 5 years. In honor of his friendship with Liz and everything she has done for him, Jack gave his firstborn daughter the middle name Elizabeth.

Tina Fey has said that Liz' relationship with Jack is "somewhere between Mary Tyler Moore and Lou Grant, and Han Solo and Princess Leia." Fey previously stated that there would not be a romantic relationship between the two, as it would be "too icky." More recently, however, she admitted there is sexual tension between Jack and Liz. There have been many episodes which hint at this, which has caused many fans to hope for an eventual Jack/Liz relationship. Jack passes Liz off as his girlfriend to make ex-wife Bianca jealous and Bianca tells Liz in one scene that "I can tell from the way he [Jack] looks at you that he's serious". Colleen Donaghy, Jack's mother, thinks that Liz is a perfect match for Jack. In "Do-Over", Jack and Liz attempt to win over temporary head of GE, Kathy Geiss by pretending to have a soap opera-style real life relationship, escalating to the point where Geiss wants the two to kiss each other (her shouting "KISS!" marks the only time Kathy Geiss has spoken in the entire series); there is a pause, but Jack and Liz refuse. Jack and Liz are accidentally married in "Mrs. Donaghy", which Liz uses to blackmail Jack into doing what she wants him to do.

Jenna Maroney

Liz and Jenna have known each other since 1993, when they met at an audition for a car dealership commercial in Chicago. Liz stated in the pilot that she and Jenna worked for years to get ''The Girlie Show'', having formerly been roommates in a Chicago neighborhood called "Little Armenia" around 1996. Given Jenna's insecure nature, Liz is generally forced to act as her rock. This has caused Liz some annoyance, especially after Jack increased Jenna's stress level and paranoia by hiring Tracy Jordan and changing the show's name from ''The Girlie Show'' to ''TGS With Tracy Jordan''.

Liz has been seen complaining about Jenna's erratic tendencies behind her back, usually with Pete. Jenna once got mad at Liz when she overheard Liz describe her to Tracy as being "paranoid" and "neurotic." Jenna once slept with Liz's brother Mitch and said he was disgusting in bed. Liz explains this by saying that Mitch has not been right since he was in some kind of skiing accident, because of which he thinks it's still 1985 and he's still a teenager. Nonetheless, Jenna attempts to seduce Mitch once more in the episode "Ludachristmas."

Despite their frustrations and occasional rivalries, however, the show often reveals that the two women appreciate their friendship and do their best to be supportive of the other's careers. When the phrase "That's a deal breaker, ladies" is coined by Jenna thanks to Liz's writing, Jenna surrenders the spotlight with a surprisingly short sulking period. She later encourages Liz to write a book and take on a talk show gig based on the catch phrase (though the talk show is considerably short lived).

Pete Hornberger

Liz and Pete have known each other since about 1996 and he's possibly the closest thing Liz has to a confidant besides Jack, especially since Jenna, her closest female friend, is far too anxious about her own life to function as such. Pete lived in Liz's apartment for an extended period while separated from his wife.

Tracy Jordan

Liz has not really tried to pursue a relationship of any kind with Tracy, preferring to focus her energies on keeping his craziness in check. She is typically friendly towards him, though mainly to further this end. While Liz will refer to him as either "Tracy" or "Tray", Tracy will most often refer to Liz by her full name "Liz Lemon", "LL", or, less often, just "Lemon". He often challenges her authority, but always ends up losing out when he does so—he once cracked under the stress of doing the hard production work that Liz does every week, and when Liz allowed him to make a porno film as penance for her "Dealbreakers" book messing up Tracy's romantic life with wife Angie, he was so disgusted that he stopped watching it halfway through.

Love life

Many episodes of the show have dealt with Lemon's ongoing search for love. According to Pete, Liz has had some "really terrible boyfriends" in the ten years that he's known her. In the episodes "Believe in the Stars" and "Cooter," Liz states that she lost her virginity at the age of 25 (this would be in 1995 or 1996). It is implied that she once dated Conan O'Brien when there is obvious romantic tension between them. Conan has told Liz that he wants to forget their brief relationship. He is one of the few people to address her as Elizabeth. It has become apparent that Lemon has very high standards in men, personified in her imaginary perfect husband, "Astronaut Mike Dexter". She appears to take a somewhat more realistic view her dream man after learning of her mother's premarital relationship with then-future astronaut Edwin "Buzz" ("Eddie" to her) Aldrin and subsequently conversing with Aldrin.

Liz's longest relationship thus far has been with failed beeper salesman Dennis Duffy (Dean Winters), her on-again-off-again boyfriend. Despite Dennis' many personal failings and general loutish behavior, Liz put up with him until she learned that he was an online sexual predator after seeing him on ''Dateline NBC'', where he was caught in one of their hidden camera investigations. Even after this occurred, Liz nearly fell back into a relationship with Dennis when he became a celebrity for saving someone who fell on a subway track, and slept with him, leading to a brief pregnancy scare. Dennis later caused a rift between Liz and Jenna when Liz learned Jenna slept with Dennis during Hurricane Katrina (Dennis says this was because they were both so upset "at what those people were doing to the Superdome").

Lemon had several comically disastrous dates and short relationships. In one episode, Liz and Jenna consider hooking up with two men from the building who they have nicknamed "The Head" and "The Hair" (because one is boring and balding, and the other is interesting and handsome, with a full head of great hair). Liz and Jenna both assume, automatically, that the good-looking one (The Hair) will go for Jenna, so Liz, a little resignedly, decides to ask The Head out on a date. On the way there, however, she is stunned to be approached by "The Hair" (whose real name, it turns out, is Gray). After a rocky start, things start to look optimistic for their romantic potential - until Liz and Gray discover that they are actually third cousins. In "The Source Awards," Liz has a dinner date with Steven Black, Tracy's attorney (played by Wayne Brady). She quickly discovers that they have nothing in common and voices her doubts about furthering a relationship with him, but she backs down when he accuses her of being racist. Liz inadvertently gives herself an out, however; at the Source Awards she accidentally shoots Black in the buttocks. Liz briefly dated a 20-year-old named Jamie, but ended it when she discovered that his mother, Beth, was physically similar to her, and went on two dates with a dwarf named Stuart mostly to save face after mistaking him for a small child.

Liz's most stable relationship thus far began when she received an anonymous Valentine that, in a true ''Charlie Brown'' twist, turned out to have been sent to her by accident by a man named Floyd (Jason Sudeikis) who intended to send the gift to his girlfriend, Liz Lemler ("The Other Liz"). Later, Jack told her to fire the bottom ten percent of her staff and Liz realized that Liz Lemler actually worked for her. What followed was chaos as Liz ended up firing not only Liz Lemler but also the entire accounting staff and Pete. In the end, Jack rehired Liz Lemler but had her transferred to Connecticut. Although she did end up dating Floyd, they broke up when he moved to Cleveland and she decided to stay with her show in New York. It is later shown that she was not over Floyd at all. When he briefly returns to New York, she confronts him over their break-up, and they end up leaving their relationship closed but part on friendly terms. In season 4, Floyd returns to New York with his fiancee, and after a series of mishaps involving Jack Daniels-soaked Salmon, The Today Show and Jack's ongoing relationships with two different women, Liz winds up in Floyd's wedding party.

In season three Liz briefly dated her neighbor Dr. Drew Baird (played by Jon Hamm). Liz was initially attracted to him after receiving some of his mail by mistake and realizing from his magazine subscriptions that they had many common interests. After a rocky first date, culminating in Lemon accidentally drugging Drew with a roofie, they were able to start a relationship. Liz ended the relationship when she realized that Drew was completely incompetent at basically everything he attempted, and people let him get away with it because he was incredibly handsome, a situation Jack described as "the bubble." Drew briefly returned in season 4 after losing both his hands in unrelated, insanely stupid accidents, and Liz decided once and for all that he was too dumb to ever date again.

At Kenneth's party, a drunk Liz made out with Grizz Griswold. Kenneth later mentioned that apparently afterward, she made Dot Com and Grizz cry. Liz's sexual history with Grizz has since been alluded to, and it is possibly this instance being referred to.

In the episode "Klaus and Greta", Liz sleeps with James Franco and, presumably, Kimiko, Franco's Japanese body pillow lover. In the following episode, "Black Light Attack!", it is revealed that Liz has been secretly hooking up with the new TGS cast member, Danny. When Jack finds out, he's desperate for the relationship to end, since Danny is the first "man" friend Jack has made on the show, and is upset about Liz's interference with their friendship. Jack tells Danny he's secretly in love with Lemon, and Danny agrees to end the relationship. In the episode "Future Husband", Liz woke up from the anesthesiology after a root canal to discover she had a man listed in her cellphone contact list as "Future Husband". After discovering that they met while both under anesthesia, she is able to track him down at her dentists office. "Future Husband" is actually an uptight British insurance salesman (Michael Sheen) named Wesley Snipes, who persistently resents the actor of the same name. He initially appeals to Liz, who asks him out for coffee, but they get along poorly and seem to have little in common, and their second date (to see ''Hot Tub Time Machine'') goes even worse. Liz repeatedly runs into Wesley, which leads him to believe that the universe is telling them to settle for each other (as 'settling soul mates'), and he gleefully points out how terrible her romantic history has been as an argument in favor of settling for him. After being repeatedly told that her standards are too high, and looking back at her past failures (such as Dennis and Drew), Liz agrees to marry him—he is happy about this because he is about to be deported back to England, and also because he has lost his insurance job in unsalvageable fashion—but Liz ends the engagement and the relationship hours later after meeting Carol Burnett (played by Matt Damon), an airline pilot who is a huge fan of TGS and shares many of Liz's personality quirks. The pair are still involved as of "Chain Reaction of Mental Anguish". Liz takes advantage of Carol's extensive travel to avoid developing emotional intimacy or familiarity, while Carol has expressed a desire that they become more committed to each other and was not scared away when Liz confessed to being on an adoption waiting list. Their relationship ended in the episode "Double-Edged Sword", their over-similarity finally leading to a confrontation on Carol's airplane, Carol threatening with a gun while Liz uses an old man as a human shield.

The loss of Liz's luggage caused her to wear tennis whites and an insect net while serving as the emergency back-up best man at Jack's and Avery's wedding during unseen events occurring between "Christmas Attack Zone" and "Mrs. Donaghy". Her attire and the officiant's lack of English proficiency led to Liz accidentally becoming Jack's wife, although their relationship remains platonic.

External links

"30 Rocks" on Sesame Street, a parody where "Liz Lemon" is a lemon-shaped puppet.

References

Category:30 Rock characters Category:Fictional characters from Pennsylvania Category:Fictional characters from New York City Category:Fictional Democrats (United States) Category:Fictional versions of real people Category:Fictional writers Category:Fictional characters introduced in 2006

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