Jack Donaghy

John Francis "Jack" Donaghy (/ˈdɒnəɡiː/ DON-ə-gee, although pronounced in different fashions by his brother and father) is a fictional character on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock. He begins the series as the Vice President of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming for General Electric, and later serves as the head of NBC after it is bought by the fictional Kabletown.

Donaghy is played by Alec Baldwin, who has received two Primetime Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, seven Screen Actors Guild Awards, and one Television Critics Association Award for his portrayal of this character.

Character history

Childhood

John Francis Donaghy had an unhappy and impoverished childhood in South Boston in Sadchester, Massachusetts.

When he was two, Jack's presumed father lured him to the edge of a swimming pool with a puppy and pushed him in the pool, and later abandoned his family. His mother Colleen Murphy Donaghy has nagged him his whole life, even blaming him for John F. Kennedy's death and for his father leaving. However, she was also devoted to her children. For example, it was noted that she had traded sexual favors with (the fictional) Frederick August Otto Schwarz III for Christmas presents for Jack and his siblings. Young Jack took to calling his collie "Pop" until the dog was accidentally run over by the mailman and intentionally left to die in the street by his mother. The dog had earlier been neutered, causing Jack to charge his mother with "cutting Pop's balls off." His mother even tried to send him to Vietnam when he was 12 to make a man out of him. He also played hockey, the piano and the flute as a child, prompting his mother to embarrass him by having him play "The Star-Spangled Banner" on said flute in front of the hockey team, which he also captained.