Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus[Stated in interview at Inside the Actors Studio] (born January 13, 1961) is an
American actress and
comedienne best known for her roles as
Elaine Benes on the
NBC sitcom
Seinfeld in the 1990s, and as
Christine Campbell on the current
CBS sitcom
The New Adventures of Old Christine.
Personal life
Louis-Dreyfus was born in
New York City to a wealthy French-Jewish family known for owning the French
Louis Dreyfus Group, one of the world's largest commodities trading and merchandising firms (with interests in shipping, real estate and sports management, in addition to agribusiness). Her mother, Judith, is a writer, and her
French father,
Gérard Louis-Dreyfus (who changed his name to William in the 1940s), is an attorney and
billionaire business executive.
[Forbes World's Richest People. Gérard Louis-Dreyfus & family] Her parents divorced during her childhood and her mother was remarried to L. Thompson Bowles.
Louis-Dreyfus' paternal grandfather, Pierre Louis-Dreyfus, was a French
Jew who was a member of the
French Resistance during
World War II; he was the grandson of Léopold Louis-Dreyfus, who founded the Louis-Dreyfus Group.
[Louis Dreyfus Global] Her cousin,
Robert Louis-Dreyfus, is the former CEO of
Adidas (1993–2001) and the current owner of the
Olympique de Marseille soccer team; another cousin, Kaitlin Coble, is
Miss North Carolina Teen USA 2007.
She is also 'very, very distantly' related to
Richard Dreyfuss and
Alfred Dreyfus. Julia's maternal half-sister
Lauren Bowles is an actress who appeared with her on
The New Adventures of Old Christine and
Seinfeld, as well as acting on
Veronica Mars and the film
Ghost World.
Louis-Dreyfus spent her childhood in several states, living with her mother and stepfather.
They lived in
Sri Lanka,
Colombia and
Tunisia in connection with her stepfather's work with
Project Hope.
[Rochlin, Margy [1] New York Times, March 9, 2006] She was later raised in
Bethesda, Maryland, and graduated from the
Holton-Arms School. She attended
Northwestern University in
Evanston, Illinois, where she studied theater and was a member of the
Delta Gamma sorority (she left the sorority after a semester of membership). She left Northwestern after 3 years to begin working on Saturday Night Live.
She was also awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts degree from Northwestern University in 2007. While living in Evanston, she was a member of the Practical Theatre Company, an Evanston storefront theatre. She, now-husband
Brad Hall, and Paul Barosse were all members of the Practical Theatre who made the transition to
Saturday Night Live. Since 1987, she has been married to actor/writer
Brad Hall, whom she met while they were students at Northwestern. Hall also worked on
SNL. They have two sons, Henry (born June 1992) and Charles (born May 1997).
