Tracey Wigfield (born June 19, 1983) is an American

comedy writer Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term origin ...

. She created, produced and appeared in the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

sitcom ''

Great News ''Great News'' is an American sitcom television series created and written by Tracey Wigfield, and executive produced by Wigfield alongside Tina Fey, Robert Carlock, and David Miner for 3 Arts Entertainment, Little Stranger and Universal Telev ...

''. She also developed the

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...

teen sitcom ''

Saved By The Bell ''Saved by the Bell'' is an American television sitcom created by Sam Bobrick for NBC. The series premiered, in primetime, on August 20, 1989, a Sunday night. Targeted at kids and teens, ''Saved by the Bell'' was broadcast in the United States ...

'', a revival of the original series of the same name created by

Sam Bobrick Sam Bobrick (July 24, 1932 – October 11, 2019) was an American author, playwright, television writer, and lyricist. Early life Bobrick was born to a Jewish family in Chicago on July 24, 1932. His father was a storekeeper and his mother worke ...

Early life

Raised in

Wayne, New Jersey Wayne is a Township (New Jersey), township in Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. Home to William Paterson University and located less than from Midtown Manhattan, the township is a bedroom suburb of New York ...

, Wigfield attended Catholic schools throughout grade school. As a child, she was involved in both acting and dance. She graduated in 2001 from the all-girls

Immaculate Heart Academy Immaculate Heart Academy (IHA) is an all-girls college preparatory private Roman Catholic high school located in Washington Township, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. The school colors are blue and white, and the school's athletes ...

Washington Township, Bergen County, New Jersey Washington Township, officially the Township of Washington, is a township in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 9,285, an increase of 183 (+2.0%) of the 2010 census coun ...

. In high school, she used her parents' video camera to record comedy skits together with a friend.Winters, Debra
"Wayne native Tracey Wigfield scores Emmy for '30 Rock' writing"
''Wayne Today'', September 27, 2013. Accessed October 27, 2013. "Wigfield graduated from Immaculate Heart Academy, an all girls school located in Washington Township, in 2001." Wigfield graduated from

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

in 2005, where she majored in theater and English.

Career

After graduating, Wigfield moved back home and took an internship at CNN, then transferred to the page program at ''

Late Show with David Letterman The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the The Late Show (franchise), ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by ...

''. She was then a

production assistant A production assistant, also known as a PA, is a member of the film crew and is a job title used in filmmaking and television for a person responsible for various aspects of a production. The job of a PA can vary greatly depending on the budget ...

on the short-lived television sitcom '' Knights of Prosperity''. Wigfield was hired as a writers' assistant on ''

30 Rock ''30 Rock'' is an American satirical sitcom television series created by Tina Fey that originally aired on NBC from October 11, 2006, to January 31, 2013. The series, based on Fey's experiences as head writer for ''Saturday Night Live'', takes ...

'' during the show's second season. She moved up to staff writer and then producer. From other writers, she was referred to the ''

Upright Citizens Brigade The Upright Citizens Brigade is an improvisational and sketch comedy group that emerged from Chicago's ImprovOlympic in 1990. The original incarnation of the group consisted of Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh, Adam McKay, Ri ...

'' theatre where she began performing and writing. Wigfield and

Tina Fey Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey (; born May 18, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer, producer, and playwright. She is best known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' (1997–2006) and for creating the ...

did much of the writing for the

series finale A series finale is the final installment of an episodic entertainment series, most often a television series. It may also refer to a final theatrical sequel, the last part of a television miniseries, the last installment of a literary series, or ...

of ''30 Rock'' and the two went on to win the

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series is an annual award presented as part of the Primetime Emmy Awards. It recognizes writing excellence in regular comedic series, most of which can generally be described as situa ...

for the episode, which aired on January 31, 2013. After ''30 Rock'' ended,

Jack Burditt Jack Burditt is an American producer and screenwriter who has worked on television shows like ''Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt'', ''Frasier'', ''30 Rock'', '' Last Man Standing'', ''Modern Family'', and ''The Mindy Project''. He won two Emmy awards f ...

brought her to California to write for ''

The Mindy Project ''The Mindy Project'' is an American romantic comedy television series created by and starring Mindy Kaling that began airing on Fox in September 2012 and finished its run of six seasons on Hulu in November 2017. The series was co-produced by Uni ...

'', for which she and

Mindy Kaling Vera Mindy Chokalingam (born June 24, 1979),Additional archive on June 25, 2015. known professionally as Mindy Kaling (), is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter and producer. She first gained recognition starring as Kelly Kapoor in the N ...

were co-executive producers. She appeared on the show as Dr. Lauren Neustadter. Wigfield created the

sitcom ''

'', her first pilot, of which Fey is an executive producer. The series follows a producer at a news station whose mother begins an internship at the company.

Personal life

Wigfield was raised Roman Catholic and today describes herself as a "Sorta Catholic." In a 2017 ''America'' magazine piece, she described being Catholic as "not a huge part of my deal... I practice what I call “Chipotle Catholicism”: I go down the line picking and choosing the parts of Catholicism that appeal to me (charity, Pope Frank, spooky stories about saints) in order to create a custom-made spiritual burrito." Wigfield married comedy writer Adam Countee on May 21, 2016 in Manhattan.nytimes.com; accessed December 11, 2018
/ref> They have a daughter named Celine, born December 29, 2017, and a daughter named Beatrice, born February 28, 2020.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wigfield, Tracey 1983 births 20th-century American people 20th-century Roman Catholics 21st-century American women writers 21st-century Roman Catholics American comedy writers Immaculate Heart Academy alumni American women television producers American television writers Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences alumni Living people People from Wayne, New Jersey Primetime Emmy Award winners American women television writers Catholics from New Jersey Screenwriters from New Jersey 21st-century American screenwriters Television producers from New Jersey 20th-century American women