Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Biography
Julia Louis-Dreyfus was born on January 13, 1961, in the New York City borough of Manhattan, to Judith (LeFever), a special needs tutor and author, and Gérard Louis-Dreyfus, a billionaire businessman. Her parents divorced when she was young, and she spent her childhood in Washington, D.C., and New York. She met her husband, Brad Hall, while in college. She made her feature movie debut in the Woody Allen film Hannah and Her Sisters (1986).
She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Brad Hall, and their two children. Her father was born in France, and her grandfather Pierre Louis-Dreyfus was in the French Resistance against the Nazis.
Family
Brad Hall (25 June 1987 - present) ( 2 children)
Trivia
Met her husband, Brad Hall, while both were attending Northwestern University (Evanston, Illinois).
Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World (1998).
Both she and her husband, Brad Hall, appeared as part of NBC's Saturday Night Live (1975) cast in early 1980s. They are the only husband/wife team to do so.
Daughter of Gerard Louis-Dreyfus, a French billionaire businessman.
Her television series, Watching Ellie (2002), was created for her by husband Brad Hall. They originally wanted the series to air commercial free, but that idea was rejected by NBC.
Attended and graduated from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois (1982). She was a member of the Delta Gamma sorority.
Performed improv with Chicago's Second City and the Practical Theatre Company, started by her husband, Brad Hall.
Both her parents remarried after their divorce, and she has two half-sisters from her mother's second marriage and two half-sisters from her father's second marriage. She considers both her stepparents to be as important in her life as her biological parents.
Her grandfather, Pierre Louis-Dreyfus, was a member of the French Resistance during World War II, and flew 88 missions for Charles de Gaulle's Free French Air Force.
Fought NBC censors to allow a scene where a man runs around his house completely naked in front of Ellie (Julia's character on Watching Ellie (2002)). She won.
Her character on Seinfeld (1989), Elaine Benes, did not appear in the original pilot. She has never watched that episode - out of superstition.
Personal Quotes
I'm not somebody who really believes in curses, but curse this baby! [on the so called "Seinfeld curse", in which little or no success has come since the show to the four main actors, upon accepting her Emmy Award for The New Adventures of Old Christine (2006)]
I will quote Norman Lear, who said that celebrity is something you can spend. And so I have taken my so-called celebrity and occasionally spent it down on causes or things that I'm passionate about. I'm not running for office. I'm not a scientist. But I'm a concerned citizen.
[on playing the leading character on Veep (2012)] Well, let's see. I personally am not the Vice-President of the United States. I want to make sure everyone understands that. But the aspect of presenting yourself in a certain way to the public and be liked - there is a parallel between public life and life as a person in show business, and that's sort of fun to draw on. I'm trying to watch a lot of in-between moments on C-SPAN.
Whenever I felt down, my mom would remind me that sense of humor gets you through just about anything.
[2013, on accepting an Emmy Award for Veep (2012)] This is so much good fortune it is almost too much to bear. I'm very grateful to have the opportunity to make people laugh. It's a joyful way to make a living.
I love the film festival circuit. I think there's something about it, I don't know. Maybe I'm being Pollyanna-ish about this, but it's an opportunity to be very supportive of filmmakers, and there's just this goodwill which I love.
[on Nicole Holofcener] She runs a set that that's very, very, very relaxed. Her dog comes to the set, her kids come to the set, my kids come to the set, my parents come to the set, my best friend from the third grade, her best friend. There is a comfort she promotes on set that helps everybody relaxed into behaving I would say as realistically as possible.
[on undertaking the role of Eva in Enough Said (2013)] I was such a massive Nicole Holofcener fan that it was an irresistible cocktail. She has such a distinctive voice, don't you think?
[on the current television production scene] It has certainly changed. The business model of television, meaning the currency of ratings, is not what it used to be back in the early days of Seinfeld (1989). It's sort of the wild, wild west, because now there are so many platforms and areas for good television, which is really exciting. I love working in pay cable because, from a creative point-of-view, the latitude is so phenomenal.
