Seinfeld - Bio's

For his work on Seinfeld he has received numerous industry honors, among them an Emmy Award as producer of the series (Outstanding Comedy Series, 1993), in addition to three nominations in the Best Actor/Comedy category; a Golden Globe Award as Best Actor in a Television Comedy Series (1993); and a Television Critics Award. In addition, he won the American Comedy Award as Funniest Male Performer in a Television Series - Lead (1992 and 1993) and was named Best Lead Actor/Comedy at the American Television Awards in 1993.

Born in Brooklyn, Seinfeld became fascinated by comedians at the age of eight while watching them on television and realizing their entire job was to make people laugh. Through his honor-roll years at Queens College and brief working stints as a telephone light-bulb salesman and a jewelry street vendor, he never lost sight of his dream.

He spent the next few years honing his craft and in 1987 starred in his own HBO special, "Jerry Seinfeld's Stand-up Confidential." He went on to host NBC's "Spy TV: How To Become Famous," Showtime's "Aspen Comedy Festival" and NBC's Saturday Night Live. In the fall of 1994 he hosted "Abbott & Costello Meet Jerry Seinfeld," an NBC special showcasing the comedy team that inspired Seinfeld as a youth.

Seinfeld has made numerous appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and "Late Show with David Letterman" and has been a featured guest on "The Barbara Walters Special" and "Larry King Live." Additionally, he has served as a spokesperson for American Express.

Based on his comedic observations and stand-up material, he penned the best-seller "SeinLanguage" (Bantam Books). With more than 1.2 million copies now in print, the book was the third best-selling non-fiction hardcover title published in 1993. It stayed on The New York Times Best Seller list for 33 weeks. Seinfeld, who remains passionate about performing and continues to spend the hiatus from his series in front of an audience, earned the 1988 American Comedy Award as Funniest Male Stand-up Comic. He maintains residences in New York and Los Angeles. His birthday is April 29.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus
(Elaine Benes)

An Emmy Award winner for her work as Elaine on "Seinfeld," Julia Louis-Dreyfus returns for the series' eighth season after appearing in the NBC movie "London Suite" in a role that was written for her by a longtime fan, Neil Simon. She also just signed to star opposite Robin Williams and Billy Crystal in the feature film "Father's Day," directed by Ivan Reitman for Warner Bros. This year she will also star in Woody Allen's new feature film.

Louis-Dreyfus has to her credit a variety of roles on both the big and small screens. She starred for two seasons on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" in the early-to-mid 1980s and later, on the NBC comedy series "Day by Day" (1988-89). Her feature films include Woody Allen's "Hannah and Her Sisters," "Soul Man," "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," "Jack the Bear" and Rob Reiner's "North."

Born in New York City, Louis-Dreyfus was raised in Washington, D.C., where she became interested in acting at an early age. She studied theater at Northwestern University and worked extensively as a member of The Practical Theatre Company, an improvisational group with a large Chicago following. This led to her joining the famed Second City comedy troupe. While with Second City she continued her work with Practical Theatre and during one of their special revues was asked to join the ensemble cast of "Saturday Night Live."

After five consecutive nominations, she won an Emmy Award in 1996 for her portrayal of Elaine Benes on "Seinfeld." In 1993, she also earned a Golden Globe Award as Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and has won three American Comedy Awards as Funniest Supporting Female/Television. Additionally, she garnered an American Television Award as Best Supporting Actress/Comedy and was awarded the Viewers for Quality Television Best Supporting Actress/Comedy award in 1993 and 1994.

Louis-Dreyfus currently serves as the "Nice and Easy Girl" for Clairol. She and her husband, writer/actor Brad Hall, executive producer of NBC's The Single Guy live in Los Angeles with their son, Henry. Her birthday is January 13.

Jason Alexander
(George Costanza)

Born and raised in New Jersey, Jason Alexander began his acting career at age 17, performing in the children's specials "The Pushcart Players: Feelings and Friends." He then received a drama scholarship to Boston University, where he won the prestigious Harold C. Case Award for scholarship and service. During college he also became a working actor, appearing in national commercials.

A Tony Award winner for his 1989 performance in "Jerome Robbins' Broadway" (Best Actor in a Musical), Alexander has extensive stage experience, having starred in the Broadway productions "Broadway Bound," "The Rink" and "Merrily We Roll Along" and in the off-Broadway shows "Personals," "Forbidden Broadway" and "Stop the World, I Want to Get Off." Later, he portrayed Harry Truman in the one-man play "Give 'Em Hell Harry" in Los Angeles.

One of Alexander's most memorable movie roles was in "Pretty Woman," in which he played the sleazy lawyer friend of Richard Gere's character. His other feature-film credits include "Dunston Checks In," "I Don't Buy Kisses Anymore," "White Palace," "Mosquito Coast," "Jacob's Ladder," "Brighton Beach Memoirs," "The Burning," "Coneheads," "The Paper," "North" and "Blankman." He made his feature-film directing debut with the Castle Rock production "For Better or Worse," in which he also stars. Alexander recently completed production on the feature-film version of the Tony-winning play "Love! Valour! Compassion!" along with most of the original Broadway cast.

His TV credits include NBC's miniseries "Favorite Son," the movies "Rockabye" and "Senior Trip" and the series "Everything's Relative" and "ER" He won rave reviews for his song-and-dance numbers in the NBC special "The Comedy Hall of Fame" and in "The Kennedy Center Honors" special. He provided the voice of Hugo, the gregarious gargoyle in the recent Disney animated film "Hunchback of Notre Dame," and he also supplies the voice of the lead character for the animated TV series "Duckman." After his recent performance with the Boston Pops on a PBS special earned an enthusiastic response, Alexander was asked to sing with the orchestra again, which he will do this fall at Carnegie Hall. Alexander -- who has earned five Emmy Award nominations (1992-96) for his portrayal of George on "Seinfeld" - also was the winner of two American Comedy Awards (Funniest Supporting Male - Television), a 1993 American Television Award for Best Supporting Actor/Comedy and a 1995 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series. He has been nominated for three Golden Globe Awards for "Seinfeld" and was nominated as Best Director of a Comedy Series by the Directors Guild of America for directing an episode of "Seinfeld."

Alexander is married to writer/actress Daena Title. They live in Los Angeles with their two young sons. Alexander's birthday is September 23.

Michael Richards
(Cosmo Kramer)

Michael Richards, a two-time Emmy winner (Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series) for his performance as off-the-wall Kramer on "Seinfeld" grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles and earned a degree in theater from the California Institute of the Arts. Upon graduating, he appeared in several productions with the San Diego Repertory Company.

With a lifelong interest in comedy, Richards decided in 1979 to perform stand-up routines, and he appeared nightly for nine months at such Hollywood venues as The Comedy Store and The Improvisation until Billy Crystal gave him his first "paying job," on "The Billy Crystal Special." He spent the next two-and-a-half years on the late-night comedy series "Fridays."

Richards has begun to parlay his popularity into a string of feature-film roles. He starred opposite Andie MacDowell and John Turturro in "Unstrung Heroes," which was directed by Diane Keaton for Hollywood Pictures. Recently, he completed production on "Liberty, Nevada," (tentative title) a comedy for New Line Cinema.

He is currently in the process of developing another feature film, "My Blockbuster," for Castle Rock, a project on which he also serves as co-writer. His additional feature-film credits include "Airheads," "So I Married an Axe Murderer," "The Coneheads," "Problem Child" and "Young Doctors in Love." Richards also recently filmed Neil Simon's "London Suite," which will be broadcast on NBC September 15.