Elizabeth Stamatina Fey, better known as Tina and Andrea Martin, executive producer and star, respectively, of NBC’s upcoming Great News (Tuesday, 9 ET/PT), have much in common, including solid-gold comedy credentials, USA Today writes.
Martin felt a kinship when the two acted together in Hulu’s Difficult People, which is produced by Fey’s close friend and comedic colleague, Amy Poehler.
“The chemistry was so great because we both had come from the same place, Second City,” Martin says. “There was an unspoken language, a trust. I just thought there was an ease about it. How fortunate to be able to act with somebody who has your same type of history. Armenian, Greek. Did you feel that way, Tina?”
Fey’s mother, who was born in Piraeus, is the daughter of Greek immigrants: Vasiliki Kourelakou, Fey’s maternal grandmother, left Petrina (in Laconia) on her own, arriving in the United States in February 1921.
Fey’s father had English, German, Northern Irish, and Scottish ancestry; one of her paternal ancestors was John Hewson (1744–1821), a textile manufacturer who immigrated to America with the support of Benjamin Franklin, enabling Hewson to quickly open a quilting factory in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, according to Wikipedia.
Speaking of Greek-Americans, what does Fey think of Martin’s portrayal of Aunt Voula in two My Big Fat Greek Wedding films and a short-lived TV series about the characters?
“She’s great in the films,” Fey says before raising a question. “As I said to her, I just have always wondered what was wrong with my phone when those films were casting. Do I call to have a Verizon representative come out? I don’t know what to do.”
Martin, laughing, chimes in: Tina is “literally the only famous Greek who hasn’t been called about My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I’m going to change that if we do MyBig Fat Greek Wedding 3. I’ll be in the casket, but you can be one of the pallbearers. A Greek one!”
Read the full story here: http://usat.ly/2orZ9Zg
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