Tracy Jordan

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Tracy Jordan" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Tracy Jordan
30 Rock character
First appearance	"Pilot" (2006)
Last appearance	"30 Rock: A One-Time Special" (2020)
Created by	Tina Fey
Portrayed by	Tracy Morgan Elijah Cook (as a child) Donald Glover in flashbacks ("Live from Studio 6H")
In-universe information
Alias	Stacy Gordon Gordon Trimeshko
Nicknames	"Tray" "Tray-z"
Gender	Male
Occupation	Actor, singer, comedian
Spouse	Angie Jordan
Children	George Foreman Tracy, Jr. Virginia Donald (unofficially adopted)
Relatives	Thomas Jefferson (ancestor)

Tracy Jordan is a fictional character in the American television series 30 Rock, played by the actor Tracy Morgan. The character is a movie star whose personality traits and life events are taken from Morgan's own life. In 2010, Entertainment Weekly ranked him the 55th Greatest Character of the Last 20 Years.^[1]

For his portrayal of Jordan, Morgan has received one

Tracy Jordan is a rich, famous B-list movie star with a reputation for unpredictable behavior. At the time newly installed NBC executive Jack Donaghy forces writer Liz Lemon to hire Jordan as the new star of her sketch comedy program The Girlie Show in the pilot episode of the series, Jordan was in a career slump, having made no new movies for two years. Upon hiring Tracy, Jack renames the show TGS with Tracy Jordan, much to the chagrin of Liz. Throughout the series, Jordan enjoys renewed success through his starring TGS role and other performances and ventures.

Character history

Jordan is a descendant of

Jordan often implies that his clownish behavior is mostly an act, which he maintains because his childish persona is responsible for his success as an entertainer. This seems to be supported by Jordan's occasional moments of maturity, such as when he behaves professionally for an entire week in "The Natural Order" to prove to Liz Lemon that he is capable of acting like an adult. However, he soon reverts to his old personality, admitting he is more comfortable being immature.

Relationships

Family

Tracy and his wife

Although he "parties with women to keep up his rap credentials," Tracy maintains loyalty to his wife, admitting to Jack Donaghy in "The Ones" that he has never cheated on her. Because his womanizing persona is integral to his success as an entertainer, Tracy's career takes a downturn in "Don Geiss, America, and Hope" when his monogamy becomes known to the public, in a reverse parody of the Tiger Woods infidelity scandal of 2009.

Tracy spent most of his childhood in foster care. He once lived with his birth mother, but lost touch with her: in "The Moms" he is not sure of her whereabouts or even her name. Tracy's biological father is unknown; Tracy presumes him dead since he has never come forward to ask Tracy for money. In "Nothing Left to Lose," Tracy shares memories of a father who abandoned him for a second family in Ohio (going on to have a daughter who is also named Tracy), but the effect of this upon the show's continuity is unclear.

With Liz

Tracy refers to Liz by either her last name or her full name, for example, "Too late, Liz Lemon!" Jordan treats Liz with contempt and mimics her. However, in later seasons he begins calling her "LL", following a trend of often calling characters by their initials.

With his entourage and friends

Jordan tends to loiter around the studio with his entourage, former high school classmate Grizz and professional entourage member Dot Com. Jordan develops a close friendship with NBC page Kenneth Parcell, who willingly runs errands for him and periodically serves as a member of his entourage. Kenneth often puts himself in harm's way to help Jordan. Jordan helps Kenneth with his shyness around women, and considers himself a mentor to Kenneth. He is more sympathetic to Kenneth than most of the other characters are. For example, when Tracy quit TGS after learning he no longer needed the money he earned from the show, it was Jack's threat to fire Kenneth that made Tracy change his mind, returning to the show in order to keep Kenneth employed ("The Bubble"). Kenneth acted as an asexual, de facto, on-set wife to Jordan during his brief estrangement from Angie (Season 2).

With Jenna

Jordan and Jenna often disagree. For instance, whether it is more difficult to be a black man or a white woman in America ("Believe in the Stars"). However, they have some friendly moments at times and become closer, assuming they are both "special people". There is also an increasing occurrence of the two being involved in shenanigans together.

Jordan's life

Career

Jordan has a reputation for being uncontrollable and his habit of insulting powerful movie executives costs him roles. However, Jordan's engagements are many and varied.

Politics

Jordan is not overly interested in politics. Jack tried to recruit Jordan to join the Republican Party, but Jordan came to realize that African-Americans would never support the GOP. In 2007 Tracy's wife objects to him playing

In Episode 21 of Season Five, it is revealed in an end credit scene that both Jordan and Maroney died on March 17, 2016, of an unknown cause. This has been proven to be false in the events of "30 Rock: A One-Time Special" which is set in July 2020 and Tracy and Jenna have both been shown to be alive with the former living in Canada.

Trivia

In Tina Fey's original pilot script for 30 Rock, Jordan was called "Lawrence Jordan".^[5]

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to 30 Rock.