List of 30 Rock characters
30 Rock is an American television comedy series, created by Tina Fey, that aired on NBC. The series takes place behind the scenes of a fictional live sketch comedy series, also airing on NBC; the name "30 Rock" refers to the address of the GE Building, where NBC Studios is located. The series has an ensemble cast consisting of 14 regular cast members: Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski, Jack McBrayer, Scott Adsit, Judah Friedlander, Katrina Bowden, Keith Powell, Lonny Ross, John Lutz, Kevin Brown, Grizz Chapman, and Maulik Pancholy.
Main characters
The seven main cast members appear during the opening credits, while later additions receive star billing after the credits.'''Main character appearance summary'''
Liz Lemon
Elizabeth Miervaldis "Liz" Lemon, the series' protagonist, is head writer of TGS with Tracy Jordan. Jack Donaghy describes her as a "New York third-wave feminist, college-educated, single-and-pretending-to-be-happy-about-it, over-scheduled, undersexed, you buy any magazine that says 'healthy body image' on the cover and every two years you take up knitting for... a week". Lemon is a Star Wars fan and is portrayed as a "geek." She also lacks certain social skills and is a stress eater, particularly ingesting junk food. She is generally shown to have liberal political views. Despite her high standards in men, personified in her imaginary perfect husband, Astronaut Mike Dexter, Lemon has had some "really terrible boyfriends", but eventually finds happiness with Criss Chross, with whom she adopts two children.Tracy Jordan
Tracy Jordan is the loose-cannon star of TGS. He is a movie star with a reputation for erratic behavior. This reputation is well-deserved; much of it is an intentional attempt on his part to maintain his "crazy" persona in the eyes of the media. In the pilot episode, Jack Donaghy forces Liz Lemon to hire Tracy as the new star of her sketch comedy program The Girlie Show. To the chagrin of Liz and Jenna, Jack renames the show TGS with Tracy Jordan in the following episode. Tracy has remained the star of TGS ever since.Jenna Maroney
Jenna Maroney is the histrionic costar of TGS and Liz's best friend and former roommate. Though a talented singer, she is often shown as being extremely insecure about herself. A recurring motif in the show is Jenna's pursuit of fame through some ill-advised project ending up in public humiliation from which she never learns. She is a self-described "soul-sucking monster". Off-camera she is comically conceited, frequently lying about her age and attempts, but fails, to use her sexuality to manipulate men.Kenneth Parcell
Kenneth Ellen Parcell is a cheerful, obedient Southern-born NBC page who "lives for television". In the early episodes, Kenneth seemed unfamiliar with some of Liz's staff. In the pilot, Liz refers to Kenneth as "that NBC page". As the series progressed, his character became familiar with the other staff of TGS. Kenneth acts as Tracy Jordan's personal assistant ; he is a member of Tracy's entourage and becomes close to Tracy, Grizz, and Dot Com. By the end of the series, he ends up as the president of NBC.It is revealed several times over the course of the show that not only may Kenneth not sleep, be immortal, and possibly be a clone, but also as stated by his mother that at the time of his birth he said to her, "Mama, I am not a person. My body is just a flesh vessel for an immortal being whose name, if you heard it, would make you lose your mind."
Pete Hornberger
Peter "Pete" Hornberger is the producer of TGS, who often serves as a straight man to the other characters. He works closely with and serves as a trusted friend to Liz, whom, as stated in "Blind Date", he has known for ten years.In early seasons, Pete is Liz's closest friend at work and the only one she can rely on. Much like Liz, Pete generally plays straight man to the other characters, especially to Liz when she is temporarily pushed over the edge. Prior to his work on TGS, Pete was a skilled archer qualified to compete in the 1980 Summer Olympics, but lost his chance when President Carter decided to boycott the Moscow Games. Four years later, a case of "the yips" led him to botch his chance at making the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. He was a member of the band Loverboy during his teenage years and his father was a member of the United States Congress.
Pete is married to Paula, with whom he has four sons and a daughter; her back-to-back pregnancies forced him to drop out of college twice. Aside from a brief scene in the pilot where Pete appears at home with one of his sons, the members of his family were unseen characters until the episode "Greenzo". In one episode, Pete reveals that he is afraid of his son Kyle, who is apparently very strong and, in "Black Tie", he spoke with his son Kaleb over the telephone, pretending to be popular fictional character Elmo, to encourage his son to "aim your pee-pee at the potty." In "Greenzo", Liz mentions he has three sons named Robert and Jack, and an unnamed one referred to as "that creepy little one who's always rubbing himself on the carpet". In the episode "Anna Howard Shaw Day", his daughter Evelyn is selling cookies for a school fundraiser. His wife, Paula, is implied to have a rather overbearing personality and Pete often goes to great lengths to make her happy, as in "Up All Night" when he realized that it was Valentine's Day, which also happens to be his wife's birthday. Pete also passed when one of Tracy's entourage expressed interest in him during that episode, showing that he may not always be happy in his marriage but he remains faithful. In the episode "Tracy Does Conan", Pete stated that his wife wishes he was not bald and, in "Black Tie", Pete mentions that they were married in a botanical garden. He lied to his wife about getting a vasectomy, but, as of "The Fighting Irish", she is becoming suspicious. Therefore, Pete has asked Liz for the keys to her apartment for "my own safety." He is still living with Liz as of "Greenzo." However, Liz finds out that Pete and Paula are having an "affair" where they sneak around and use her apartment for trysts that include silk scarves and Pop-Tarts; Pete tells her that he and his wife got pregnant almost immediately after they began dating and have never had an exciting romantic/sexual life because of that, so they have found this way to spark their marriage.
With his role of Liz's confidant increasingly filled by Jack Donaghy, Pete played increasingly reduced roles as the series continued, although his marital woes and inability to catch a break were increasingly mined for humor. Jack pities Pete for his aimlessness and unattractive appearance, and occasionally attempts to boost his confidence, beginning by convincing him to wear a wig for a week in "Tracy Does Conan." In "Nothing Left to Lose", Jack is shocked to find out that Pete's only ambition is to remain in his current job. Jack attempts to help Pete by having him make adjustments to his lifestyle, including shaving off what remains of his hair. Unfortunately, it is revealed that his ring of hair was hiding an obscene birthmark that Jack describes as "a swastika made of penises", leading him to be beaten in the street and forced to wear another wig.
When TGS is canceled in "Last Lunch", Pete implies repeatedly he is planning to fake his death and escape from his life and family. He succeeds in doing so, setting up a new identity under the name "Dan Silversmith" in Hickory, North Carolina, but is tracked down a year later by his wife and meekly returns to his previous existence.
Frank Rossitano
Francis "Frank" Rossitano is a writer at TGS of Sicilian descent. After Liz, Frank is the most prominently featured and prolific writer of the show-within-a-show. Frank is habitually slovenly and childish; he lives with his mother and is an aficionado of video games, comic books and figurines, and pornography. He wears a variety of trucker hats with humorous phrases and large, thick-lensed glasses. Frank delivers most lines in a deadpan style, and is often shown to be something of a perverse character with an obvious interest in the opposite gender, Frank appears to have an understanding of popular culture and sometimes displays surprising amounts of intelligence. Frank is allergic to peanuts. In "Audition Day", it is revealed that he is a standup comedian.Friedlander said he made the hats for his character himself, using phrases he invented; in "Jackie Jormp-Jomp", when Liz is suspended from work, one of her final requests before being forced out of the building was to know what Frank's hat said. Frank first started wearing the hats at age 14; his eighth-grade class photo shows him in a hat reading "My First Hat".
Frank was raised largely in Queens by his mother, Sylvia, after his father, a lawyer for the mafia, went into the Witness Protection Program. Sylvia's fear for her son led him to leave law school at her insistence and enter comedy. In "Goodbye, My Friend", Jack Donaghy learns of Frank's legal aspirations and offers him a scholarship to Columbia University Law School, but reneges on his offer after Sylvia warns him of the danger in which a law career would place Frank due to his family's mafia connections. Frank pursues women frequently, usually older, psychologically damaged, or physically unattractive women he considers "low-hanging fruit", though it is hinted in the episode "Jackie Jormp-Jomp" that he and Cerie had a secret relationship. The great love of Frank's life occurred at the age of 14, where he had an affair with his middle-school teacher, Lynn Onkman, who fell in love with him during his scoliosis test. She was sent to prison for the offense, but he remained in love with her and after her release, they reconciled and began a relationship despite the objections of everyone else.