Julia Louis-Dreyfus - Northwestern University, Career and Facts

Julia Louis-Dreyfus was born on 13th January 1961 in New York City. She is the eldest daughter of Judith, who was a special needs tutor / author and Gerard, who is the French born former Chairman of the famous Louis-Dreyfus Group.

She is great great-great-granddaughter of businessman Leopold Louis-Dreyfus, who founded the international Louis-Dreyfus Group.

Her parents divorced when she was one year old. When she was eight, her mother married L. Thompson Bowles, Dean of the George Washington University Medical School. She has spent her childhood in many countries and states due to her step-father’s work.

She attended Holton Arms School in Bethesda, Maryland. She got herself enrolled into Northwestern University for studying theaters but dropped out before graduating to pursue a career in acting.

Julia joined The Practical Theater Company in Chicago. Through this group she appeared in a drama ‘The Second City’.

At the age of 21, she bagged a spot on the cast of ‘Saturday Night Live’ and stayed with the show from 1982-1985. She was the youngest female cast member in the history of the program. She again hosted an episode of this program later in 2006 and once in 2007. She was the first female cast member to return and host the show.

After her exit from ‘Saturday Night Live’, she started her film career in 1986 with two films ‘Hannah and Her Sisters’ and ‘Soul Man’.

In 1988, she was cast in NBC sitcom ‘Day by Day’, which was aired for two seasons. One year later, in 1989, she appeared in the movie ‘Christmas Vacation’.

While she was working in ‘Saturday Night Live’, she met Larry David. In early nineties, when Larry co-created ‘Seinfeld’, he offered role of Elaine to Julia. This sitcom was a huge hit and set her career as a comedian.

During nineties she also appeared in movies like ‘Father’s Day’ and ‘Deconstructing Harry’. The later one was nominated for the Oscars.

In 1998, she lent her voice for Disney Pixar’s animation movie ‘A Bug's Life’, followed by lending her voice for Gloria in ‘The Simpsons’ episode ‘A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love’ in 2001. She again lent her voice for ‘The Simpsons’ in 2007 for the episode "I Don't Wanna Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" and in 2008 for the episode "Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes".

In 2001, she also made several special guest appearances on Larry David's show ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’.

She started a new single-camera sitcom ‘Watching Ellie’ in 2002. The series was created by her husband Brad Hall, and co-starred Steve Carell and Louis-Dreyfus' half-sister Lauren Bowles. The show received mixed reviews. When the series returned for a second season in 2003, the series had suffered somewhat of a decline in viewership. The series was cancelled in May 2003.

From 2004 to 2005, she played recurring guest role as a prosecutor in the ‘Emmy Award’ winning comedy ‘Arrested Development’.

The year 2005 brought another glorious role to Julia, in the series ‘The New Adventures of Old Christine’. She garnered lot of fame, accolade and awards for this role.

In 2009, she appeared with rest of the cast of ‘Seinfeld’ in four episodes of the seventh season of Larry David's sitcom ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’. This reunion show received high ratings.

In 2010, Julia guest starred several times in the third season of ‘Web Therapy’, starring Lisa Kudrow. She played the sister of a self-involved therapist, Lisa, who gives her therapy online, and her performance earned high ratings.

The same year, she made a guest appearance on the live episode of the Emmy-winning comedy series ‘30 Rock’. She was among several ‘Saturday Night Live’ alumni appearing in the episode. Julia also starred in a ‘Women of Saturday Night Live’ special.

Julia along with her husband released her first short film ‘Picture Paris’ in 2011. In this movie she played the lead role of an ordinary woman with an extraordinary obsession with the city of Paris. This film was a huge hit.

In early 2011, Julia played the role of the U.S. Vice President Selina Meyer in a new satirical comedy series entitled ‘Veep’. This series proved to be another milestone in her career.

She lent her voice to the character of Rochelle in 2013 animated film ‘Planes’. This film was a box office hit. The same year, she also starred in the film ‘Enough Said’, directed by Nicole Holofcener. She received a number of ‘Best Actress nominations’ for her role in the film at ‘Golden Globe Awards’, ‘Satellite Awards’, ‘Critics' Choice Movie Awards’ and ‘the American Comedy Awards’.

Since 2014, she is endorsing ‘Old Navy’ brand.

Julia first tested success, in true sense, through NBC’s sitcom ‘Seinfeld’ which was aired in early nineties. She played the role for nine seasons. In all nine seasons she did not appear in only three episodes. Her character was not initially intended to be a part of the series. It was only after the first episode, her role was introduced to reduce the male centricity of the show. Her performance on the series won her a ‘Golden Globe Award’, ‘Primetime Emmy Award’, five ‘Screen Actors Guild Awards’ and five ‘American Comedy Awards’.

Another feather in Julia’s cap was her title role in 2005 released ‘The New Adventures of Old Christine’. The series was based on the story of Christine Campbell, a single mother who manages to maintain a fantastic relationship with her ex-husband, while running a women's gym. Julia won the 2006 ‘Primetime Emmy Award’ for her performance. She received five consecutive ‘Emmy Award’ nominations, three consecutive ‘Satellite Award’ nominations, two ‘Screen Actors Guild Award’ nominations and a nomination for a ‘Golden Globe Award’. In 2007 she also received two nominations for ‘People's Choice Award’ for returning to popularity after this show. The show was cancelled after five seasons in 2010.

In 2011, Julia gave another power packed performance in the lead role of HBO’s comedy series ‘Veep’. She played the role of the U.S. Vice President Selina Meyer. After the success of the first season, she was named by the ‘Huffington Post’ as one of the ‘Funniest people’ of 2012. She received three consecutive ‘Primetime Emmy Award’. She also received ‘Critics' Choice Television Award’ for ‘Best Actress in a Comedy Series’ in 2013 and 14, and in 2014 ‘Screen Actors Guild Award’ for ‘Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series’.

In 1994, Julia’s role in ‘Seinfeld’ fetched her first ‘Golden Globe’ award under ‘Best Performance by an Actress in Series made for TV’ category. She also won ‘Primetime Emmy Awards’ under ‘Outstanding Supporting Actress in Comedy Series’ in 1996.

In 2006, once again she won ‘Primetime Emmy Awards’ under ‘Outstanding Lead Actress in Comedy Series’ category for her role in ‘The New Adventures of the Old Christine’.

In 2009 Louis-Dreyfus was granted the honorary award for ‘Legacy of Laughter’ at the TV Land Awards.

The following year Louis-Dreyfus received the 2,407th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on May 4, 2010, for her remarkable contribution to the broadcast television industry as both an actress and a comedian.

For four consecutive years from 2012 to 2015, her role on Vice-president Selina Meyer in ‘Veep’ won her ‘Primetime Emmy Awards’ under ‘Outstanding Lead Actress in Comedy Series’ category.

Julia met her husband Brad Hall while she was attending Northwestern University. They got married in 1987. They have two sons – Henry (born in 1992) and Charles (born in 1997). She lives in Los Angeles with her family.

Her second home in Montecito, Califonia, is solar-powered, radiant-heated, and built from recycled materials.

Her maternal half-sister, Lauren Bowles is also an actress.

Apart from her acting career, Julia is quite active on political matters and social causes. In 200, she supported Al Gore's U.S. presidential bid, and also endorsed Barack Obama's presidency bid in 2008 and 2012.

She appeared in a video which urged President Obama to reject the proposal of the Keystone XL pipeline, which may create mass pollution if it ever leaks. She has also voiced her concern for several environmental issues, and has raised millions for various non-profit organizations.

She also worked for successful passage of ‘Proposition O’, which allocated US$500 million for cleaning up the Los Angeles water supply.

As of 2014, Julia’s net worth was estimated to be $200 million. This net worth is based on her acting career only and not considering the inheritance from her father’s multi-billion shipping business.

In contrast to her real-life solid and happy married life of 27 years, she has usually played unhappy single or divorced women.