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Down-to-Earth Fey on Top of the World

Maureen Dowd chronicles the comedian's rise to fame

By Rebecca Smith Hurd, Newser User

Posted Dec 1, 2008 1:03 PM CST

(Newser) – How did frumpy writer Tina Fey evolve into a glamorous TV star? Hard work and lots of rules, Maureen Dowd writes in Vanity Fair. “She is the Obedient Daughter, the German taskmistress, the kind but firm maker and keeper of rules," writes Dowd, who also solves the mystery of the scar on Fey's left cheek. "And what Tina wants, Tina gets, sooner or later, because she works and works and works for it."

Fey, who wrote the hit film Mean Girls and created the Emmy-winning series 30 Rock, also owes her recent ratings boost to a twist of fate—her uncanny physical resemblance to Sarah Palin. Dowd writes: "Palin bounded out of the woods with her own special language to become not only the first Republican woman to run on a national ticket, but also God’s gift to comedy and journalism."

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Tina Fey received 17 nominations for "30 Rock," including her own nomination as best actress in a comedy. Her return to "Saturday Night Live" as Sarah Palin was the watercooler talk of the week. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson, FILE)

Tina Fey portrays Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, left, and Amy Poehler portrays CBS news correspondent Katie Couric in a scene from NBC's "Saturday Night Live," in New York. (AP Photo/NBC, Dana Edelson)

Tina Fey accepted the Emmy award for outstanding comedy series "30 Rock" from presenter Mary Tyler Moore on Sept. 21, 2008, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

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Down-to-Earth Fey on Top of the World