In 2008, she starred in the comedy film Baby Mama, alongside former SNL co-star Amy Poehler. Her mother, Zenobia “Jeanne” (née Xenakes), is a brokerage employee of Greek descent, and her father, Donald Fey, is a university grant-proposal writer of half German and half Scottish descent. By middle school, she knew she was interested in comedy, doing an independent-study project on the subject in eighth grade. 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 told The New York Times, “I was a completely normal weight. Michaels explained that there was “chemistry” between Fey and Fallon.
