Do you know the actress who played Elaine in Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, is the daughter of a billionaire?
Seinfeld sitcom would have been quite different if another actress would have played the character of Elaine, and that’s what would have happened if Julia Louis-Dreyfus had decided to live the life of a billionaire heiress rather than pursue acting.
Julia’s father is a French billionaire Gerard Louis-Dreyfus, and her family tree is full of extremely wealthy and successful business people. They are so abundant that Julia probably doesn’t need to work a single day in her entire life.
You wouldn’t know this from listening to her. In a 2003 Interview with Howard Stern, she denied that she was brought up rich and didn’t need to worry about money.
According to Forbes, Gerard Louis-Dreyfus is worth around $3.2 billion. The family owns and operates the company founded by Julia’s great-great-grandfather, Léopold Louis-Dreyfus, back in 1851. So the business has been managed and operated by the family for many generations.
Background
Of course, she might be telling the truth that she hasn’t been raised wealthy, at least not billionaire rich. She was born in 1961, and just after a year, her parents divorced. The separation would have caused some splitting of the family’s property. Additionally, her family’s fortune, at one time, was so much that they were among the five wealthiest people in France. But it diminished quite a bit because of World War II.
Present-day, the Louis-Dreyfus Group, has nearly $120 billion in gross sales annually and is worth nearly about $46 billion.
Julia’s deceased cousin, Robert Louis-Dreyfus, was once CEO of sports clothing brand Adidas and was super rich and successful, besides that he had many other business ventures too. His wife got all the fortune that belonged to Robert Louis-Dreyfus. She also took over management of many of her husband’s companies, and today she is the wealthiest woman in Russia. Her net worth is whopping $6 Billion.
Additionally, there are many other members of the Louis-Dreyfus family tree, that have similar accomplishments in the business universe. We can only imagine what their family reunions will look like.
That being said, Julia is herself a successful and wealthy actress. She sure has earned the respect of her father for being a confident actress rather than depending on the family’s money. In fact, during the last few years of Seinfeld, she was getting nearly $600 thousand per episode. But her career started off quite lowly – she started from being a theatre student at Northwestern University. After completing her education, she was involved with the Practical Theatre Company of Chicago, which her husband financed.
Julia has also been awarded Emmy 4 times and has been nominated for Emmy awards for 13 times. She is one of the most-nominated actresses for Emmy awards.
Additionally, Julia has done several films and voice acting for which she has won numerous awards. Well, she is not your typical heiress.
