Tracy Morgan

Tracy Jamal Morgan is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for his work as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1996 to 2003, as well as his starring role as Tracy Jordan on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock from 2006 to 2013. Both roles earned him Primetime Emmy Award nominations. He is also known for starring as Tray Barker on the comedy series The Last O.G.

Morgan was born on November 10, 1968, in Brooklyn, New York, to Alicia and James Morgan Jr. IV. He was raised in Brooklyn's Marlboro Houses and Tompkins Houses in Bedford–Stuyvesant. Attending DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, Morgan dropped out during his senior year to care for his father, who died in 1987. Following the murder of a close friend who had encouraged him to pursue comedy, Morgan began performing stand-up comedy on the streets before establishing a professional career.

He made his screen debut playing the recurring character Hustle Man on the sitcom Martin, and served as a regular cast member on Uptown Comedy Club from 1992 to 1994. In 1996, Morgan joined Saturday Night Live, where he performed until 2003. His notable recurring characters on the show included Woodrow, Dominican Lou, Astronaut Jones, and Brian Fellow, the enthusiastic host of Safari Planet.

Following his departure from Saturday Night Live, Morgan starred in The Tracy Morgan Show in 2003. He achieved widespread acclaim on 30 Rock, where he played a caricature of himself from 2006 to 2013, earning a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2009. Beyond television, he appeared in films such as The Longest Yard and Head of State, and provided voice work for projects including Crank Yankers, Where My Dogs At?, and the animated film Rio. He also released stand-up comedy specials, including One Mic, Tracy Morgan: Bona Fide, and Staying Alive.

Morgan continued to land major television projects, starring in The Last O.G. from 2018 to 2021. In 2022, he received the Entertainment Icon Award from the New York Friars Club, becoming its ninth recipient and first Black recipient. He was later cast in the sitcom Crutch, released on Paramount+ in 2025, and agreed to star in the series The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins.

In his personal life, Morgan has been married twice and has four children. He was diagnosed with diabetes in 1996 and underwent a kidney transplant in 2010. In June 2014, Morgan survived a severe multi-vehicle collision on the New Jersey Turnpike involving a Walmart tractor-trailer, which resulted in a traumatic brain injury and multiple fractures. After undergoing physical rehabilitation, Morgan resumed his career in stand-up comedy and television.