Fey was born on May 18 , 1970 , in Upper Darby , Pennsylvania , a suburb of Philadelphia . Her mother , Zenobia " Jeanne " ( née Xenakes ) , is a brokerage employee ; her father , Donald Henry Fey ( died 2015 , age 82 ) , was a university grant proposal writer . She has a brother , Peter , who is eight years older . Fey 's mother , who was born in Piraeus , Greece , is the daughter of Greek immigrants : Vasiliki Kourelakou , Fey 's maternal grandmother , left Petrina , Laconia , Greece on her own , arriving in the United States in February 1921 .