Part of Seinfeld featuring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander, Michael Richards, Wayne Knight, and Larry David.
Rise to Fame
He spent five years grinding New York's open-mic circuit before the Tonight Show in 1981 made him a name. The real pivot came in 1988 when NBC asked him to develop a sitcom with Larry David. Seinfeld started as a small ratings performer and became the defining comedy of the 90s, not because it had plots but because it pointedly refused them. He became the first actor to earn $1 million per episode, then was smart enough to negotiate the backend syndication rights before anyone realized what he was sitting on.
In the Spotlight
The show ended in 1998 but hasn't stopped paying - syndication reportedly generates $40-60 million per year, and a 2017 Netflix deal added $100 million more. His 2024 film Unfrosted won a Razzie for Worst Actor and scored 39% on Rotten Tomatoes while somehow topping Netflix's global charts. Meanwhile, his politics have become the story: he walked back comments blaming the 'extreme left' for killing comedy in 2024, then compared the 'Free Palestine' movement to the KKK at Duke University in 2025. The guy who made a career on 'nothing' now generates a lot of noise.
Side Notes
He owns over 150 cars, including 45 rare Porsches, kept in a climate-controlled garage under his Manhattan building. He met his wife Jessica in 1998 at a gym, shortly after she returned from her honeymoon with another man. Her husband filed for divorce that October. She married Seinfeld in December 1999. Both facts describe someone who identifies something he wants and doesn't take no for an answer.