Biography
Like other
Saturday Night Live alumni, Julia Louis-Dreyfus made the move to feature films, but she achieved true stardom on TV as
Seinfeld's inimitable Elaine Benes. Born to an affluent family and raised in Washington, D.C., Louis-Dreyfus studied theater at Northwestern University. Along with working as a member of The Practical Theater Company, Louis-Dreyfus cut her sharp comic teeth as part of Chicago's Second City troupe. She soon followed in the footsteps of prior Second City-ers
John Belushi and
Bill Murray, joining the cast of NBC's
Saturday Night Live from 1982 to 1985 (along with Northwestern classmate and eventual husband Brad Hall). Louis-Dreyfus bounced to films with appearances in
Soul Man (1986),
Woody Allen's
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) and
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989), before returning to TV on the second episode of a low-rated NBC primetime sitcom starring comedian
Jerry Seinfeld in 1990.
As Jerry's ex-girlfriend-turned-pal Elaine, Louis-Dreyfus proved that she could hold her own as the sole female member of
Seinfeld's do-nothing quartet of neurotic New Yorkers. With her "big wall of hair," signature shoes and penchant for over-enthusiastic exclamations, Louis-Dreyfus' Elaine was no mere foil, but rather a full participant in the show's increasingly popular, irony-laden comic shenanigans. Along with winning an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1996, Louis-Dreyfus won the Golden Globe in 1994 and the Screen Actor's Guild award in 1997 and 1998. During
Seinfeld's phenomenally successful nine-year run, Louis-Dreyfus also played supporting roles in
North (1994),
Father's Day (1997), and as a libidinous sister in
Woody Allen's
Deconstructing Harry (1997). After
Seinfeld went off the air in 1998, Dreyfus took some time off from appearing in front of the camera to spend time with her husband and two sons, but she did the voice of Princess Atta in the Pixar animated blockbuster
A Bug's Life (1998).
Louis-Dreyfus subsequently returned to TV as the Blue Fairy in the TV movie musical Gepetto (2000) before attempting another sitcom. After two of her
Seinfeld co-stars failed to make their own series fly in 2000 and 2001, Louis-Dreyfus opted for a non-traditional approach, playing a struggling lounge singer in the real time, laugh track free
Watching Ellie in 2002. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide