Tina Fey

Not only did Tina Fey make history when she became the first-ever female head writer for Saturday Night Live in 1999, she also helped revive the floundering sketch-comedy series. The self-declared übernerd wouldn't be seen on screen until 2000, when she began coanchoring Weekend Update, bringing to the faux news desk a sexy smirk, snappy comic timing and an intellectual wit. Fey was instrumental in bringing several funnywomen to the show, including Amy Poehler and Rachel Dratch. In 2004, she made her screenwriting and movie-acting debut with Mean Girls. The next year, she took a break to give birth to a daughter, but six weeks later she was back deadpanning one-liners on late-night TV. Beginning in 2006, she served as creator, writer and star of her own series, 30 Rock, a behind-the-scenes comedy about an SNL-type show. Although her prime-time duties prompted her to leave SNL behind, Fey found monumental success with the critically acclaimed 30 Rock, which earned no less than five Emmy Awards in its first three years. Fey herself became an award darling, scoring Emmy, Golden Globe, People's Choice and Screen Actors Guild prizes for her role as exasperated TV head writer Liz Lemon. She made a triumphant return to her SNL roots in 2008 to portray then-Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin in a series of guest-star turns. The wickedly on-target impersonation ("I can see Russia from my house") earned her yet another Emmy. ~ Rovi