Tracy Morgan
Morgan discussing his book I Am the New Black, New York City 2009
Birth name	Tracy Jamal Morgan
Born	(1968-11-10) November 10, 1968 (age 43)[1][2] Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Medium	Stand up, Television, Film
Nationality	American
Years active	1989–present
Genres	Black comedy, Musical comedy, Cringe comedy, Character comedy
Subject(s)	African-American culture, Race relations, Racism, Marriage, Family, Self-deprecation, Recreational drug use, Sex, Current events
Spouse	Sabrina Morgan (1985–2009; 3 children) (Divorced)
Notable works and roles	Saturday Night Live Tracy Mitchell in The Tracy Morgan Show Tracy Jordan in 30 Rock Host of Scare Tactics

Tracy Jamal Morgan (born November 10, 1968)^[1][2] is an American actor and comedian who is best known for his eight seasons as a cast member on Saturday Night Live as well as the role of Tracy Jordan on the NBC series 30 Rock.

Early life[link]

Morgan was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, the second of five children of Alicia (née Warden), a homemaker, and James Morgan, Jr., a musician. Morgan says his father returned after multiple tours of duty in Vietnam addicted to heroin,^[3] causing him to leave the family when Morgan was six.^[4][5][6] He was the target of bullies as a child.^[7] His older brother had cerebral palsy and could not protect him so he used comedy to make bullies laugh rather than being beat up^[8]. Before Morgan began his career, he worked in New York City as a painter, for L&L Painting and Rose Company.

Early career[link]

Morgan began his career on Martin, where he played Hustle Man. The character sold various items he had from the "hood," always greeting people with his trademark "What's happ'n, chief?" and had a pet dog that he dressed as a rapper. In the 2003 Chris Rock film Head of State, Morgan appeared as a man watching television, often questioning why they are not watching Martin.

Morgan was also a regular cast member on Uptown Comedy Club,^[9] a sketch comedy show filmed in Harlem which aired for two seasons between 1992 to 1994. He was also on the HBO show Snaps.

[edit] Saturday Night Live

Morgan joined the cast of comedy show Saturday Night Live in 1996, where he performed as a regular until 2003. In December 2011, he made a guest appearance on Saturday Night Live's Christmas show, hosted by Jimmy Fallon.

Recurring characters[link]

He performed a variety of characters on the program, including:

• Brian Fellow
• Uncle Jemima
• Dominican Lou
• Bishop Don "Mack" Donald
• Astronaut Jones
• African Andy
• Benny the Bengal
• Woodrow

Notable impressions[link]

Morgan is also credited with impressions of:

On March 14, 2009, Morgan returned to SNL as host and reprised his roles of Brian Fellow and Astronaut Jones.

[edit] 30 Rock

Since 2006, Morgan has been a cast member of the NBC television show 30 Rock, playing the character Tracy Jordan, a caricature of himself. His work on 30 Rock has been well-received, being nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series at the 2009 Emmy Awards.^[10]

Other work[link]

Morgan performing stand-up in 2008.

Morgan had his own show, The Tracy Morgan Show, in 2003, which was canceled after one season.

Morgan also had a stand-up special entitled "One Mic" that was shown on Comedy Central. He also was the host of the first Spike Guys' Choice Awards, which aired on June 13, 2007. In 2003, he was on an episode of Punk'd in which his car was towed from the valet parking. He can be heard as "Spoonie Luv" on the Comedy Central program Crank Yankers and as Woof in the MTV2 Animated Series Where My Dogs At?.

Morgan acted in commercials for ESPN NFL 2K, ESPN NBA 2K, and ESPN NHL 2K, where he co-starred with Warren Sapp, Ben Wallace and Jeremy Roenick. He appeared in the movie The Longest Yard, starring Adam Sandler, as a transvestite inmate.^[11]

Morgan has hosted the VH1 Hip Hop Honors for 2 consecutive years and hosted the third season of Scare Tactics, the Sci Fi Channel's hidden camera show that pranks people by using their worst fears against them.

Morgan voiced Agent Blaster in Disney's G-Force and a Bulldog named luiz in the Blue Sky Animation Studios film Rio.

Autobiography[link]

On October 20, 2009, Morgan's autobiography I Am the New Black was released. The book includes stories from his life living in Tompkins Projects in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, to becoming a cast member on Saturday Night Live. Tracy appeared on National Public Radio's Fresh Air hosted by Terry Gross, at times tearing up about his former life in a New York ghetto.^[3]

Personal life[link]

Morgan claims to have a number of tattoos, including: a peace sign; a happy and sad face; a cross bearing the names of his wife and three sons; the name of a friend he played football with in high school who was murdered; the words ME, MYSELF, & I on his back; and the phrase Stove Top.^[12]

Family[link]

Morgan married his high school sweetheart Sabrina in 1985. They have three sons together. Their sons' names are Bobby Morgan, Tracy Jr., and Chris Morgan.^[13] Morgan filed for divorce at Bronx Supreme Court on August 7, 2009 after 23 years of marriage, although he and his wife had been already separated for eight years. A friend told the New York Daily News, "Basically they were divorced without the paperwork."^[14] Morgan credits one of his sons with having saved him from his alcoholism.^[15] Morgan is estranged from his mother and most of his family.^[16]

On September 18, 2011, it was announced that Morgan is engaged to model Megan Wollover. Morgan proposed to Wollover while the couple were in San Francisco.^[17]

Health problems[link]

In 1996, he was diagnosed with diabetes, but says he never took it seriously, refusing to take medication or change his diet. After running a 104-degree Fahrenheit fever on the set of 30 Rock, Morgan decided to finally comply with his doctor's orders. He is now very cautious when it comes to the condition. With his consent, many of Morgan's own troubles have been incorporated within episodes of 30 Rock.^[18]

In early December 2010, Tracy Morgan received a kidney transplant. It was announced on December 22, 2010 that he was resting and would miss "at least two episodes" of 30 Rock in 2011.^[19]

On January 22, 2012, Morgan collapsed at an awards ceremony for the Sundance Film Festival. He appeared disoriented while giving a speech, and he was escorted out of the building before collapsing outside. Hospital officials stated that no drugs or alcohol were found in his system. His publicist attributed the incident to a combination of exhaustion and altitude sickness.^[20]

Legal troubles[link]

On December 2, 2005, Morgan was arrested in Los Angeles on impaired driving charges after police stopped him for speeding. On February 17, 2006, he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of drunken driving and was sentenced to 36 months' probation, fined $390 and ordered to attend an alcohol education program.^[21]

In November 2006, Morgan was arrested for DUI after police spotted him driving erratically and was also charged with probation violation. In April 2007, Morgan entered a guilty plea where he had to wear an alcohol monitoring bracelet and perform five days of community service.^[22]

Controversies[link]

On January 27, 2011, Morgan appeared on the NBA on TNT pregame coverage of the Miami Heat and the New York Knicks nationally televised live basketball game. During the appearance, commentators Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith asked Morgan to choose between Sarah Palin and Tina Fey on who was better looking (Fey portrays Palin on Saturday Night Live and is a coworker of Morgan). Morgan said Palin was "good masturbation material". The comment led TNT to apologize for his remarks on live camera.^[23]

On June 3, 2011, during a performance in Nashville, Tennessee, Morgan made offensive remarks against gay people, reportedly including that, if his son was gay, he'd better speak to him like a man or he would "pull out a knife and stab" him. Morgan apologized, saying that he had "gone too far".^[24] NBC Entertainment head Bob Greenblatt stated, "I speak for NBC and myself personally when I say we do not condone hate or violence of any kind, and I am pleased to see Tracy Morgan apologizing for recent homophobic remarks in his standup appearance... Unfortunately, Tracy's comments reflect negatively on both 30 Rock and NBC — two very all-inclusive and diverse organizations — and we have made it clear to him that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated." Tina Fey, Morgan's boss both in fiction and in real life, said, "I'm glad to hear that Tracy apologized .... but the violent imagery of Tracy's rant was disturbing to me at a time when homophobic hate crimes continue to be a life-threatening issue for the LGBT community...the Tracy Morgan I know, ...is not a hateful man and [would never] hurt another person. I hope for his sake that Tracy's apology will be accepted as sincere by his gay and lesbian co-workers at 30 Rock, without whom Tracy would not have lines to say, clothes to wear, sets to stand on, scene partners to act with or a printed-out paycheck from accounting to put in his pocket."^[25]

On June 25, 2011, during a show at Caroline's in New York City, Morgan made derogatory comments about disabled children, saying things such as, "Don't ever mess with women who have retarded kids,"^[26] and referring to a woman as "a cripple". Peter Bernes, CEO of The Arc, an organization supporting people with disabilities, stated, "Tracy Morgan should apologize immediately. This quote is far too offensive to be excused as comedy, and it is very hurtful to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. Mr. Morgan has an incredibly powerful platform from which to fix this, and if he's learned anything in the last few weeks, he can't bomb this apology."^[27]

Awards/nominations[link]

• Emmy Awards
  • 2009, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: 30 Rock, nominated
• Image Awards
  • 2008, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: 30 Rock, nominated
  • 2007, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: 30 Rock, nominated

Filmography[link]

References[link]