Your Handy Guide to Tina Fey’s Favorite Actors
This list was originally published on February 6, 2019. It has been updated to include additional actors and roles.
High-five a million angels and bring Tina Fey some haaaaaaam! While Fey is probably still best known for being the mastermind behind 30 Rock, in the decade since that influential series ended, she has executive-produced a handful of other beloved, whip-smart sitcoms. Beyond sharing a comedic sensibility, 30 Rock, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Great News, Mr. Mayor, and Girls5eva also feature familiar faces from Fey’s faithful legion of actors she likes to call on for her small-screen TV universe. From the leads to the supporting roles, here are Fey’s favorite faces, ones you’ve definitely seen pop up before.
Tina Fey
You’ve seen her as: A wisecracking head writer who loves her night cheese and hates the youths in 30 Rock; a savage Marcia Clark parody in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; a high-functioning alcoholic therapist also in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; a female Jack Donaghy in Great News; and as country-music icon Dolly Parton in Girls5eva.
Jane Krakowski
You’ve seen her as: An insufferable actress who suffers from near-constant delusions of grandeur in 30 Rock, and a divorced socialite with major class anxiety and secret Native American roots in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
Tituss Burgess
You’ve seen him as: A wannabe actor with flamboyant taste and a penchant for creating viral songs in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and a neurotic aspiring actor and singer who creates his own alcoholic “D’Fwine” in 30 Rock.
Adam Campbell
You’ve seen him as: A very rich “daddy’s boy” who takes a fancy to Kimmy in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and a decent-enough news producer with major grandma issues in Great News.
Jon Hamm
You’ve seen him as: A charismatic reverend who imprisoned a few women in an underground bunker for fun in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and a ridiculously good-looking doctor with idiotic tendencies (and, later, hooks for hands) in 30 Rock.
Andrea Martin
You’ve seen her as: The enthusiastic host of an “80 Under 80” gala in 30 Rock; an HR rep who assembles her fellow Lindas in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; and a mom who infiltrates her daughter’s workplace as an intern in Great News.
Horatio Sanz
You’ve seen him as: A stalker who loses interest in creeping on Jenna in 30 Rock; a subway-dwelling mariachi band member in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; and a video editor who doesn’t get too much respect in Great News.
Chris Parnell
You’ve seen him as: The most delightfully incompetent doctor of our generation in 30 Rock; a part-owner of an NFL team with a terrible bowl cut in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; and an executive assistant who temporarily betrays his boss in Great News.
Judah Friedlander
You’ve seen him as: A staff writer at TGS with a never-ending supply of fabulous trucker hats in 30 Rock, and a musician who coins the music and lyrics to “Boobs in California” in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
Amy Sedaris
You’ve seen her as: A “Crabcatcher” who parties all day and night with her crew in support of Jenna’s newfound Jimmy Buffett–esque music career in 30 Rock; Jacqueline’s incredibly unstable wingwoman in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; and Summer’s clam-loving, God-fearing mom on Girls5eva.
Rachel Dratch
You’ve seen her in: Many, many eccentrically small roles — particularly in season one — in 30 Rock; both halves of a pretentious academic couple who teach at Columbia in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; a Kathy Lee Gifford–esque, wine-guzzling daytime host in Great News; and as an eccentric, bullied-by-students, private-school administrator in Mr. Mayor.
Scott Adsit
You’ve seen him as: A producer for TGS whose life seems to be crumbling around him at all times in 30 Rock; a voice actor who steals Titus’s signature “It’s time to go, girl!” catchphrase in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; and as a videographer who is obsessed with Arpi in Mr. Mayor.
Fred Armisen
You’ve seen him as: An Amazing Race–loving man Liz suspects is a terrorist in 30 Rock; a lady who inconspicuously answers telethon phones also in 30 Rock; and a lovestruck (but still creepy) Robert Durst in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
John Lutz
You’ve seen him as: A staff writer at TGS that everybody mocks in 30 Rock; a mustachioed producer for Dionne Warwick’s cruise-ship show in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; and as Percy, a man mercilessly victimized by young Summer and Gloria on a failed prank show who then goes on to become their anxious tour driver in Girls5eva.
Dean Winters
You’ve seen him as: Liz Lemon’s perpetually terrible Irish ex-boyfriend in 30 Rock; the voice of a cute crime-solving bunny named Bunny in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; and as Dawn’s belligerent, enterprising brother Nick in Girls5eva.
Will Arnett
You’ve seen him as: A not-so-closeted executive who tries to make Jack’s life a living hell in 30 Rock, and the voice of a cute crime-solving kitten named Kitty in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
Ice-T
You’ve seen him as: His Law and Order: SVU detective character for a few interconnected vignettes in 30 Rock, and a fictionalized version of himself who performs a waterfront eulogy with a saxophone in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
Michael Torpey
You’ve seen him as: NBC’s “censor god” with a silly name in 30 Rock, and a weatherman who really loves his job with an even sillier name in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
Michael Benjamin Washington
You’ve seen him as: A grown man who cons Tracy into thinking he’s his illegitimate son in 30 Rock, and Titus’s brief companion on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
Adrienne C. Moore
You’ve seen her as: A marriage bureau employee who catcalls Criss before he marries Liz in 30 Rock, and her Orange Is the New Black character Black Cindy in a surprise cross-over prison scene in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
Mike Carlsen
You’ve seen him as: A construction worker who makes Liz’s day with a catcall in 30 Rock; Titus’s very Italian construction-worker beau in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; and as a ticket scalper — er, “secondary-market liaison” — on Girls5eva.
Tanner Flood
You’ve seen him as: A disgruntled America’s Kidz Got Singing contestant who curses out Jenna in 30 Rock, and Jacqueline’s terror of a son in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
Judy Gold
You’ve seen her as: An attendee at an “80 Under 80” gala in 30 Rock; a talent agent who gets Titus the job of “guy who stalks Tracy Chambers in Mahogany” on a cruise ship in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; and as a New York OB/GYN with a clientele made up entirely of over-40-moms-to-be in Girls5eva.
Dog
You’ve seen her as: A dog Jenna carries when she arrives in Los Angeles in 30 Rock, and a dog with a “purely decorative” anus in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
Ray Liotta
You’ve seen him as: As himself — a nice Jersey boy! — in Great News, and a gas station order who guards his toilet like it’s his life in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
Bobby Moynihan
You’ve seen him as: A men’s rights activist who has a surprise change of ideology in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; an incompetent KouchTown couch creator in 30 Rock; and as Jayden, the mayor’s bumbling communications director in Mr. Mayor.
Tracey Wigfield
You’ve seen her as: The Queen of Jordan version of Liz Lemon on 30 Rock, and a weather reporter who thinks she can control the elements on Great News.
Tim Meadows
You’ve seen him as: A lawyer who’s defending someone hell-bent on destroying TGS on 30 Rock; another lawyer who serves the best interests of his weirdo billionaire client in Great News; and as Tim “Timothy” Meadows, a star Wickie breaks up with, even though they’re complete strangers, on Girls5eva.
Paula Pell
You’ve seen her as: Gloria, a dependable dentist and one-fifth of the titular early-aughts girl group in Girls5eva, and as a sub-loving NFL team owner in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
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