Julia Louis-Dreyfus is an actress, comedian, singer, and producer with a net worth of $250 million. She is best known for her roles on Saturday Night Live (1982–1985), Seinfeld (1989–1998), The New Adventures of Old Christine (2006–2010), and Veep (2012–2019). She is one of the most decorated actresses in American television history, having won more Emmy Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards than any other actor.

Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus was born in New York City on January 13, 1961. Her American-born mother, Judith (née LeFever), was a writer and special needs tutor, and her French-born Jewish father, billionaire Gérard Louis-Dreyfus, chaired the Louis Dreyfus Company.  Her parents divorced one year after Louis-Dreyfus was born, in 1962. Her mother married L. Thompson Bowles, dean of the George Washington University Medical School, when she was four years old, after relocating to Washington, D.C. In conjunction with her stepfather's work with Project HOPE, Louis-Dreyfus spent her childhood in many states and countries, including Colombia and Tunisia. In 1979, she received her diploma from the Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, Maryland.

Louis-Dreyfus was a Northwestern College student but dropped out to pursue an acting career. Louis-Dreyfus started her comedic career as a member of The Second City, one of Chicago's most well-known improv comedy troupes, whose alumni include Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey, Billy Murray, and Amy Poehler. At the age of 21, she was selected to join the cast of NBC's Saturday Night Live after performing with The Practical Theatre Company at their "Golden 50th Anniversary Jubilee." From 1982 to 1985, Louis-Dreyfus was a cast member on Saturday Night Live, where she was the youngest female cast member in the show's history. She shared the stage with Eddie Murphy, Billy Crystal, and Martin Short, all of whom would go on to have successful careers after appearing on SNL. She met Larry David, who would later co-create Seinfeld, during her third and final year on Saturday Night Live.

After the pilot of Seinfeld aired in 1989, NBC executives complained that there were too many men on the show and asked writers Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld to have a female character. Louis-Dreyfus rose to fame in the early 1990s as Elaine Benes on NBC's Seinfeld. She portrayed the character for nine seasons, appearing in every episode but three. The pilot episode, "The Seinfeld Chronicles," was one of the episodes in which she did not appear. Louis-Dreyfus received critical praise for her role on the show, and she was a frequent winner and nominee at television award shows in the 1990s. Her success earned her two Golden Globe nominations, one of which she won in 1994, nine Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, two of which she won in 1997 and 1998, and seven American Comedy Award nominations, five of which she won in 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, and 1998.

She received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1996, after being nominated for the award seven times between 1992 and 1998. After accepting the award, Louis-Dreyfus said the victory was a "surprise" and that it was "far easier to win than to lose" after being in both positions. Louis-Dreyfus and the rest of the supporting cast negotiated $150,000 per episode increases in 1993. The supporting cast requested $1 million per episode in 1997. The network retaliated with a payment of $200,000, followed by a payment of $400,000. For the show's last season, the final contract was $600,000 per episode or $15 million overall per cast member. She appeared in many films during her tenure on Seinfeld, including Fathers' Day, in which she co-starred with Robin Williams and Billy Crystal, and Woody Allen's Oscar-nominated Deconstructing Harry. 

Julia's short-term popularity came in 2005 when she appeared as a guest star on Arrested Development. When Louis-Dreyfus was cast in a new CBS sitcom, The New Adventures of Old Christine, in 2005, things started to look up for her. It was a rating success and Louis-Dreyfus earned another Emmy nomination for her part, as well as several other nominations. In May 2010, the show was canceled after five seasons.

Julia starred as Selina Meyer, Vice President of the United States, in the HBO comedy Veep, which aired from 2012 to 2019.  On Veep she was paid $500,000 per episode. The show was a huge hit, and it became one of HBO's most successful and critically praised comedies. For her depiction of the vice president, Louis-Dreyfus earned six Emmy awards in a row. She earned around $8 million annually. Julia signed a contract with Apple TV+ in 2020 and she will be producing new content and projects for Apple TV.

She's also a voice actress, having worked on the critically acclaimed Pixar film A Bug's Life. She also appeared in The Simpsons episode, A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love as Snake's girlfriend, Gloria. She made numerous special guest appearances on Larry David's show Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2001. She played Rochelle in the 2013 animated film Planes as a voice actor. To date, the movie has made well over $200 million at the box office around the world. She starred in Nicole Holofcener's film Enough Said, which was released on September 18, 2013.

Unfortunately, she is not a billionaire heiress as many would like to assume, and according to Vogue, she will not be inheriting her father's billions. The actress met her current husband, Brad Hall at Saturday Night Live, when they were both working there. They have married since 1987 and have two sons together, Henry and Charles. She lives a happy successful life, undoubtedly.

Sources: Celebrity Net Worth, Yahoo, Vogue

This article was updated on March 22nd, 2021 by Vanessa Shumbanhete

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