Funny Lady Tina Fey might have been recently catapulted into fame with her Emmy-award winning sitcom “30 Rock” and work on Saturday Night Live, but she’s been working the comedy circuit for awhile. Here’s 11 gigs you might not have known about:

1. Nerd: Fey Loves Star Wars
A self-professed Star Wars fan, Tina frequently finds excuses to reference the trilogy in her work; such as a way to fend off jury duty in this clip from “30 Rock:”

2. Not Just a Pretty Face
Before her stint as Weekend Update co-anchor and Palin-impersonator, Tina Fey was a writer on Saturday Night Live. Lorne Michaels hired the Second City player onto the staff in 1997, and by 1999, she was made head writer — the first female in the show’s “Herstory,” if you will, to hold the position.

3. She’s Passionate About Banking
Perhaps “passionate” is an overstatement, but Fey really sells it in this 1995 ad for Mutual Bank.

Mutual Savings Bank – “Hi!” – Featuring Tina Fey from The Purple Onion Archives on Vimeo.

4. Judge Fey
In 2007, she was one of the celebrity judges on Iron Chef.  One can only assume that her “30 Rock” character, Liz Lemon would have approved.

5. She Has More in Common With Palin Than Their Good Looks

While famous for lampooning the Republican Vice-Presidential Nominee, Fey grew up in a family of Republicans. “When I was 18 and registering to vote, my mom’s only instruction was ‘You just go in and pull the big Republican lever.’” Here, a clip where we see how Palin and once Democratic presidential nominee candidate, Hilary Clinton differ:

6. Tina Fey, alias, “The Colonel”
While a high school student, Tina contributed to a column in the school newspaper, under the byline “The Colonel.” She wrote anonymously so she could poke fun at students and staff.

7. A Wicked Duo
Fey met fellow comedienne, Rachel Dratch during their time together at Second City, where they developed “Wicked,” a sketch that would later be adapted into the popular Saturday Night Live bit “Sully and Denise.” (look for another Second City alum, Horatio Sanz):

8. Everyone’s a Little “Mean Girl”
Inspiration for her 2004 observations on High School lunchrooms, “Mean Girls,” didn’t just come from Rosalind Wiseman’s “Queen Bees and Wannabes,” Fey did a fair share of name calling herself. “The metalheads with stringy hair were the ‘Hammers’” and popular girls she and her friends referred to as the “Laura Ashley Parade.” “Banana-Boat Boobs” was reserved for the prettiest girl in school, and as for Tina? She was an “AP-class brainiac nerd.”

9. “30 Rock” 180
Fey originally pitched “30 Rock” as a sitcom surrounding a 24 hour news network, but when NBC didn’t like the idea, she came back with a similar concept, only behind the scenes of a Saturday Night Live-like sketch show, TGS.  And thus the world was gifted “30 Rock.” But even with the different programming backdrop, she did still manage to fit in those Brian Williams cameos:

10. What a Princess
Fey voiced two characters in the 1997 Williams’ Pinball game, “Medieval Madness.” She showed off her voice range by filling in not only as the “Opera Singer” princess, but the Cockney-voiced damsel as well. The game, from the onset, was very popular amongst pinball fans, learn why in this 1997 promotional video:

11. A Kennedy Center Approved American Humorist
On November 9th, Fey will receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor – an award given by the Kennedy Center to recognize American comedians who follow in Samuel Clemens footsteps, as “a fearless observer of society, who startled many while delighting and informing many more with his uncompromising perspective of social injustuce and personal folly.” She joins past honorees Bill Cosby, George Carlin and Billy Crystal, among others.

12. And more to come…
Fey will hopefully dust the cobwebs off more stories we didn’t know as part of a humorous memoir she is writing, set to be published in 2011 by Little, Brown.