Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus is an American actress, comedian, and producer. She is widely recognized for her television roles, most notably as Elaine Benes on the sitcom Seinfeld, Christine Campbell on The New Adventures of Old Christine, and Selina Meyer on Veep. Over the course of her career, she has received eleven Primetime Emmy Awards, nine Actor Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Louis-Dreyfus was born in New York City on January 13, 1961. Her mother, Judith, was a writer and special needs educator, and her father, Gérard Louis-Dreyfus, was a French billionaire who chaired the Louis Dreyfus Company. Following her parents' divorce, she moved to Washington, D.C., and spent parts of her childhood in several countries, including Colombia, Sri Lanka, and Tunisia, due to her stepfather's work. She graduated from the Holton-Arms School in 1979 and later attended Northwestern University, where she studied theatre and performed in improv revues before dropping out during her junior year to pursue professional comedic work. She began her professional comedic training with The Second City and performed with The Practical Theatre Company. This led to her joining the cast of NBC's Saturday Night Live from 1982 to 1985, becoming the youngest female cast member on the show at that time. Following her departure from Saturday Night Live, she appeared in feature films such as Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989), as well as the television series Day by Day. Louis-Dreyfus achieved widespread fame in 1990 when she was cast as Elaine Benes on Seinfeld, a role she played for nine seasons until the show ended in 1998. In the 2000s, she created and starred in Watching Ellie, made guest appearances on Arrested Development and Curb Your Enthusiasm, and starred as the title character in The New Adventures of Old Christine from 2006 to 2010. She later starred as Selina Meyer in the satirical comedy series Veep from 2012 to 2019. In addition to her primary television roles, Louis-Dreyfus has taken on leading roles in comedy-drama films including Enough Said (2013), Downhill (2020), You Hurt My Feelings (2023), and Tuesday (2023), alongside supporting roles in films like Deconstructing Harry (1997) and You People (2023). Her voice work includes animated films such as A Bug's Life (1998), Planes (2013), and Onward (2020). Starting in 2021, she joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe playing the character Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Throughout her career, Louis-Dreyfus has achieved numerous major industry milestones. She is tied with Cloris Leachman for the most acting Emmys won by a performer and holds more Actor Awards than any other actor in television history. Her honors include induction into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2014, selection for Time magazine's 100 most influential people list in 2016, the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2018, and the National Medal of Arts in 2021.