Posted in: HBO, NBC, TV | Tagged: 30 rock, The Penguin

The Penguin Star Cristin Milioti on Her Breakout "30 Rock" Role

The Penguin star Cristin Milioti reflects on her memorable breakout role as "Sexy Baby" Abby Flynn on NBC's Tina Fey-starring sitcom 30 Rock.

Cristin Milioti has been active for nearly two decades since her debut in 2006 on the CBS TV series 3 lbs and her three-episode stint on HBO's The Sopranos. The actress steadily built an impressive filmography with roles on ABC's The Unusuals, CBS's The Good Wife, and Showtime's Nurse Jackie before landing her breakout role as Abby Flynn in the 30 Rock season five episode "TGS Hates Women." Topping at over 40 titles, Milioti garnered praise not only for her voiceover work on the Hulu/Marvel animated series Hit-Monkey but also as Mafia donna Sofia Falcone, who wished to get to the bottom of what happened to her brother and successor Alberto Falcone (Michael Zegen) in the premiere episode of The Penguin, the Craig Zobel Max spinoff series from Matt Reeves The Batman universe. Milioti, while promoting the DC Warner Bros show, appeared on SiriusXM's The Jess Cagle Show with Julia Cunningham to discuss her memorable turn in the Tina Fey NBC sitcom.

The Penguin Star Cristin Milioti on Playing Abby Flynn as a "Sexy Baby"

Head writer and showrunner Liz Lemon (Fey) hired Abby to write for the NBC sketch comedy series TGS with Tracy Jordan with Jordan played by Tracy Morgan, to prove Liz doesn't hate women. Abby, much to Liz's chagrin, turns out to be an uncouth sexpot who heavily leans toward her "sexy baby" persona, which she tries to remind her boss, "The whole sexy baby thing isn't an act! I'm a verrry sexxxy baby" when both are near a statue of former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Liz is naturally offended by how Abby plays up all the worst stereotypes of women with her not-so-clever double ententes and constantly trying to get the attention of the men in the room.

After some digging, Liz discovers her new writer isn't who she says she is, revealed to be a brunette and stand-up comedian, Abby Grossman. After Liz exposes Abby during a writers' meeting, Abby changes back to her natural voice while explaining why she's trying to maintain her cover, seeking the attention of men so they can protect her from her stalker ex, who's got potential murderous tendencies after watching certain crime thrillers like 'Sleeping with the Enemy' (1991) and 'Seven' (1995). After muttering Abby's next cover, Liz offers notes before Abby blows up in her face, saying Liz "must really hate women," and proceeds to call her a "Judas to all womankind" before storming off.

At the time Milioti landed the role, the actress was so starstruck as a fan of 30 Rock that she "could barely speak" and admitted, "I remember being on that set, and Tina Fey, who was so nice to me, was showing me the different sets. She was like, 'This is Jack Donaghy's (Alec Baldwin) office,' and I was just trying to be so quiet and cool about it being like, 'Oh, in the writers' room. Yep. OK. Got it. Yeah,' and like, just seeing how it all worked. Everyone on that show was so incredibly kind to me, and it felt like I had like won some contest or something." For more, including how a Taylor Swift song referencing "sexy baby" blew up Milioti's phone, you can check out the full interview. The Penguin, which also stars Colin Farrell, Rhenzy Feliz, Theo Rossi, David H. Holmes, Myles Humphus, Kenzi Grey, and Mark Strong, airs on Sundays on HBO and streams on Max.

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