John Francis Donaghy had an unhappy and impoverished childhood in
South Boston and in the fictional suburb of 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. Due to his family's poverty, Donaghy began working at the age of 12, as a
stevedore at the
Port of Boston. He attended
Princeton University on a handsomeness scholarship, where he played football and baseball for the
Tigers, joined the
Princeton Charter Club, played Maria in an all-male production of
West Side Story, was a member of the "Twig and Plums" secret society, and was a classmate of
Michelle Obama. In addition to the
Amory Blaine Handsomeness Scholarship, his jobs during college included "the day shift at a graveyard, and the graveyard shift for the
Days Inn"; working as a janitor at a primate laboratory; and a job for the linguistics department recording every word in the English language, to preserve the perfect American accent in case of
nuclear war. He laments that his voice has been dragged into various things like
Thomas the Tank Engine and
Wu-Tang Clan songs. (This joke refers to Alec Baldwin's role as a storyteller for
Thomas and Friends in the U.S., seasons 5 and 6. He was also cast in the role of Mr. Conductor in
Thomas and the Magic Railroad in 2000.) Subsequently, the linguistics department sold his voice to GE for use in their microwaves. He later attended
Harvard Business School, which he paid for by working as a
Swan Boat operator, and where he was voted "Most" by his classmates. Post-college, Jack worked as an intern for
Senator Ted Kennedy, where Jack displayed an extremely liberal political world-view, even by the standards of a young
Al Gore. At some point, though as yet unexplained, he underwent a complete reversal of his philosophy and became a
conservative Republican. Jack participated in
Hands Across America and at some point personally coined the phrase "what's the upside?" He confessed that
Carly Simon's 1972 hit song "
You're So Vain" was, in fact, written by him. In the years after working for Kennedy, Jack "thrived" on fear, bow hunting
polar bears, climbing
Mount Kilimanjaro, once driving a rental car into the
Hudson River to practice escaping, showering with
Greta Van Susteren and overcoming a
peanut allergy through sheer willpower. Jack once practiced
martial arts under
Chuck Norris, but they had a falling out after he switched to another
dojo. It is revealed in "
Live from Studio 6H" that, as a young employee in the GE poisons division in 1986, Jack answered phones during a live telethon. During that broadcast,
Tracy Jordan realized his talent for getting laughs as a performer. A 16-year-old
Liz Lemon made a prank call, claiming to have been a nurse in the war who was impregnated by General Electric when he was
Colonel Electric. Jack's loyalty to GE and his handsomeness impressed Don Geiss, who transferred Jack to the microwave ovens division. At some point, he also rotated through GE's plastics division, where he befriended the "brilliant plastics engineer/lesbian",
Gretchen Thomas. After years of
market research, he finally made his "greatest triumph" in the form of the
Trivection oven, a product he created at
General Electric, having first envisioned it while responding to Liz Lemon's prank call in 1986. It was on the strengths of the Trivection oven that, in mid-2006, he replaced recently deceased Gary to become Vice President of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming. Jack was the architect of bringing
Tracy Jordan on board the
NBC sketch show
The Girlie Show, despite the objections of head writer/creator
Liz Lemon and producer
Pete Hornberger. Jack made sure that Tracy was the main star and ensured the show's name was changed to
TGS with Tracy Jordan after
bribing a
focus group with
pizza. Other shows that NBC purchases while he is an executive include
MILF Island and
Queen of Jordan. Jack's mother still constantly calls him and she wants to move in with him, away from her
retirement home in
Jupiter, Florida, which has rocks made of foam because she tends to fall down a lot. However, at the end of the episode, he
blackmails
Josh Girard into taking all his mother's calls for him for the rest of Josh's life (Jack says that his mother will outlive Josh - "she's like
Castro"), since Josh has a flawless "Jack Donaghy" impersonation. In the wake of the episode "
Fireworks," Jack is demoted to Vice President of East Coast Television when CEO Don Geiss takes his microwave oven programming duties away from him, although a comment to Liz suggests that it may have been given back to him. At some point, he wrote a book entitled
Jack Attack: The Art of Aggression in Business. Acting on Don Geiss' advice, Jack gets engaged to
Christie's auctioneer
Phoebe. However, Liz later discovers that Phoebe is actually an unscrupulous gold digger who is pretending to be English. Jack refuses to believe this since Phoebe had told him that Liz is infatuated with him and he decides to continue with their wedding. The situation is resolved when Jack has a
heart attack while in bed with Phoebe, and realizes while recovering in the hospital during a conversation with Liz, Phoebe and his mother that he is in fact not in love with Phoebe. During this conversation, Jack's mother uses his heart monitor as a lie detector. Jack recovers from his heart attack and becomes a candidate to succeed Don Geiss as CEO of GE, competing against his arch-rival, Vice-President of West Coast Television
Devon Banks, who, despite being openly
gay, has gotten engaged to Geiss' oblivious daughter
Kathy. Jack momentarily wins the coveted job of Geiss' replacement, only to lose it when Geiss slips into a
diabetic coma. Banks makes a power grab, convincing the board of directors that the CEO's seat should stay with the family and getting his fiancée Kathy appointed, with Banks as the power behind the throne. Jack is demoted and humiliated, and leaves GE for a position in
George W. Bush's
administration. This proves to be hopeless, and Jack attempts to get himself fired. He succeeds this by funding a "
gay bomb," a weapon that would cause enemy soldiers to "go totally gaybones for each other." The
chemical weapon is accidentally released in a secret war bunker, and it is implied that Jack has sex with
Dick Cheney. This implication is furthered when Jack later confesses his sins to an ill-prepared priest. Jack starts out again at GE — in the mailroom. He works his way up to the top again in amazingly rapid fashion, however. Jack contemplates sleeping with Kathy Geiss to save the company from Banks' plan to shut GE down completely for two years, but is able to avoid this with Liz's help. In the end, Kathy signs a contract making Jack her main business advisor, and Banks takes off. Don Geiss emerges from his coma shortly thereafter, but stuns Jack with the news that he has decided to stay on as GE's chairman after all. Jack remains in his position as head of NBC, telling Liz Lemon how many times an episode she can use the phrase "cat anus". Jack discovers that Jimmy Donaghy is not his real father. Similar to the plot of
Mamma Mia, Jack finds that he has three possible fathers. Liz invites them to
TGS saying they won a contest, and Jack quickly finds that his father is Milton Greene, a
Bennington College professor. Getting in an argument with Milton about politics, he says to Liz that he does not want to tell Milton, but Liz convinces him otherwise. After Jack tells Milton that he is Milton's son, Milton tells Jack he needs a
kidney or he will die. Jack finds that he is not a match and organizes a "
We Are the World"-type charity called "Kidney Now," with celebrities singing a song that asks anyone who is a match to give Milton a kidney. One of the celebrities,
Elvis Costello, ultimately proves to be a match and saves Milton's life himself. Devon Banks comes back at Jack with a revenge plan involving the United States government trying to shut down GE. Jack is able to get out of it, however. Jack is described by his assistant
Jonathan as being the "best gift giver in the world." One year, Jonathan bought Jack a $95 bottle of
olive oil for Christmas and in return Jack had Jonathan's sister released from a
North Korean jail. When Liz and Jack finally agree to exchange gifts, they agree on spending zero dollars for each other (with both trying to one-up the other). Jack has Jonathan drive all over
Pennsylvania to find a program of Liz's production of
The Crucible, framed in wood from her stage and not reimbursing Jonathan for gas. Liz calls in a bomb threat at
Penn Station (getting
Frank,
Toofer, and
Lutz arrested in the process) to keep Jack's high school crush,
Nancy, in town. Finally, Jack brings in Liz's childhood crush,
Larry Wilcox (in-costume as
Jon Baker), as a date for her. Donaghy's goal is to lead "the General" and become CEO of General Electric, like his mentors Geiss and
Jack Welch. This appears to become impossible in 2010 when he learns from his girlfriend
Avery that
Philadelphia-based cable company Kabletown has bought NBC from GE. At first, Jack doubts the story because he hasn't heard anything, but then he finds out from Welch that the sale is happening and that Geiss is dead. Jack connects with an old colleague from GE who left to join Kabletown, and discovers that NBC's new owners don't make anything, they get over 90% of their revenue from men ordering porn on demand. This worries Jack, until he has an idea for Kabletown to create "porn for women," essentially women paying to have men on their TV screens listen to them talk and nod approvingly. Still, Jack is less than satisfied at Kabletown, in large part because the company manufactures no tangible goods. He misses his days developing products and visiting factory floors during his tenures in GE's poisons, plastics, and microwave ovens divisions. He attempts to remedy his malaise by convincing Kabletown's chairman,
Hank Hooper, to increase corporate synergy by establishing a subsidiary, Kouchtown to manufacture couches and market them to NBC's & Kabletown's viewers. Comically sub-par American craftsmanship and production values, however, doom his initiative. He is able to recover some of the investment by selling the otherwise unmarketable to the
CIA as torture devices; doing so serendipitously benefits Jack when one of the couches causes an interrogated
North Korean to reveal information vital to Avery's rescue. Through triple-dealing and misdirection that put
Machiavelli to shame, Jack manages to finally dispatch his precocious young nemesis,
Kaylie Hooper on her grandfather's ("Poppop"'s) birthday and secure the appointment to Kabletown's chairmanship from the retiring Hank. Despite his substantially increased power, wealth, and the hatred from liberals, Jack finds himself even less content than he was prior to the Kouchtown fiasco. After a quick series of innovations at the start of his chairmanship (appointing NBC's ultimately
longest-serving president, effectively eliminating Kabletown's worthless Indian customer service call centre to provide the same service at zero cost, and introducing GE's
Six Sigma process in place of Kabletown's kitten in spaghetti), Jack abruptly resigns and sets off to sail the world alone in search of happiness. His trip succeeds within a matter of seconds; having barely left the riverbank, he conceives of his greatest innovation: transparent dishwashers that allow the consumer to observe the cleaning action. Within months, he has sold the idea to his former employer, General Electric, and finds himself in his lifelong dream job: chairman of GE. Despite Jack's belief in the value of change and innovation, he is obsessed with his preferred office design and recreates it wherever he goes. When he takes over as NBC's Vice President of East Coast Television and Microwave Programming, he orders the late Gary's former office to be immediately remodelled. For a week-long junket to
Boston to visit Nancy, Jack uses an "office replication service" to recreate the interior design for his temporary workspace at
the local affiliate's studios and is surprised that Liz has not done likewise. When he executive produces
Kidnapped by Danger: The Avery Jessup Story, brought to you with limited commercial interruptions by Pride Bladder Control Pants. Pride: Make every room a bathroom, he ensures that his office is meticulously recreated on-set for an accurate depiction. Upon moving upstairs as the new chairman of Kabletown (eschewing Kabletown's primary headquarters in
Philadelphia, Jack has Hank Hooper's former suite remodelled to perfectly duplicate the office which Jack had left to Kenneth, the only differences being the greater exterior view, more assistants in the anteroom, and a Kabletown sign behind one assistant's desk. Months later, as chairman of General Electric, he likewise remodels
Kathy Geiss' former suite into yet another duplicate, with the GE logo behind the same assistant's desk in the anteroom.
Relationships Long before the events of the series, Jack had married an
Italian woman named
Bianca (
Isabella Rossellini), with whom he made love on the floor of the
Concorde shortly after their wedding, though he claims his mother deliberately had a
heart attack to prevent him from going on his
honeymoon. He and Bianca were eventually
legally separated in 1989 because, in his words, he "couldn't keep up with her on any level." Though they weren't legally
divorced, Jack went on to introduce Bianca as though they were. When Bianca shows up, Jack passes Liz off as his girlfriend to make Bianca jealous. When Liz pretends Jack has proposed to her, Bianca attacks her and Jack is finally satisfied that Bianca still wants him. The couple finally officially divorce after 18 years of legal separation. Jack acquires "full stake in the
Arby's franchises [he and Bianca] bought outside of
Telluride" in the divorce settlement. Jack had a brief relationship with
Phoebe (
Emily Mortimer), an allegedly English auctioneer, and goes as far as proposing marriage. Even after Liz discovers that Phoebe is a gold-digger, it is only during a heart-attack-causing argument with his mother Colleen that Jack realizes that he does not love Phoebe, and calls off the engagement at the end of Season 1. Jack begins a relationship with liberal
Congresswoman Celeste "CC" Cunningham (
Edie Falco). In spite of their ideological differences, they are a well-matched pair and, after a period of secrecy, eventually go public. Their bliss does not last long, as their long-distance relationship begins to negatively affect both their jobs, and they break up. After accidentally breaking both of his mother's hips, Jack is forced to allow her to move in with him. He hires an attractive
Puerto Rican nurse,
Elisa Padriera (
Salma Hayek), to care for his mother. Jack falls in love with Elisa and proposes marriage to her. Later, after Elisa confesses to murdering her former husband, they choose to not marry. portrays
Avery Jessup. Jack has a reunion with
Nancy Donovan (
Julianne Moore), his old high school crush. He is torn between her and his new flame, CNBC anchor
Avery Jessup (
Elizabeth Banks). After having sex with Nancy, he confesses that he is in love with both Nancy and another woman. Avery and Nancy meet by chance, and Nancy discovers that Avery is pregnant. Nancy is the one who tells Jack. Unbeknownst to Avery, Liz and Jack are accidentally married to each other in the Caribbean. The officiant whom Jack and Avery had hired for their wedding did not speak English and in due course honestly mistook Liz for the bride because she answered his request for a vow of commitment "oui" while wearing a white tennis dress and a white mosquito net (her clothes having been lost in an luggage mishap) and standing next to Jack at the altar (as best man after
Bob Ballard failed to make it). Liz uses the situation to blackmail Jack into restoring
TGSs budget, in exchange for signing the annulment documents and ceasing to give his [legally
their] money away to fund projects like The Jack and Elizabeth Donaghy High School for Teen Drama, The Arts, and Feelings. With Jack and Avery properly married, their daughter is born while in
Canada (despite their efforts to cross the border and ensure she is born in America so she will be
constitutionally eligible to become
President). Despite Avery's concerns about the closeness of Jack and Liz's mentor-protégé relationship, the couple name their daughter Elizabeth Donaghy. They, however, call her "Liddy" as an honor to
Elizabeth "Liddy" Dole,
G. Gordon Liddy, and Jack's martial arts teacher, Lih De. Their
pediatrician is, by unhappy coincidence, named
Dr. Kevorkian. Avery is kidnapped and held hostage in
North Korea. While Avery is held captive, Jack finds consolation in Avery's mother,
Diana. The two end up sharing a kiss in the days before Avery returns home. Jack never masturbates during Avery's absence, as he claims to have never "Mommy Daddy sheet monstered" himself. Avery returns to the United States in exchange for a North Korean spy, Jack having unwittingly facilitated the exchange when he sold horribly uncomfortable Kouchtown couches to the
CIA as interrogation tools. Jack and Avery plan to renew their vows but eventually divorce each other because of Jack's relationship with Avery's mother and Avery's relationship with Scott Scottsman, a fellow former captive. Jack also admits that he and Avery only married because of Avery's pregnancy. After his marriage ends, Jack settles into a pattern of casual sexual relationships, including dating several women at once, each to fulfill a different need — including heiress
Pizzarina Sbarro (
Nina Arianda) — which he calls "
Great Escaping". He also admits to Liz that he slept with Jenna "a lot" in Season 3. In the series finale, He reconnects with ex-girlfriends Nancy and Elisa, convincing them to embark in a group relationship despite both women's devout Catholicism and Elisa's imprisonment in a Puerto Rican prison. ==Personality==