Early life

Seinfeld was born in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Kalmen Seinfeld (1918-1985), was born to a Jewish immigrant from Kherson Oblast in southern Ukraine. His mother, Betty (née Hosni; born 1914), is of Syrian Jewish descent; her parents Selim and Salha Hosni were from Aleppo. Seinfeld grew up in Massapequa, New York, and attended Massapequa High School on Long Island. At the age of 16, he spent time volunteering in Kibbutz Sa'ar in Israel.

He later attended State University of New York at Oswego; after his second year, he transferred to Queens College, City University of New York, graduating with a degree in communications and theater.

Career

Early career

Seinfeld developed an interest in stand-up comedy after brief stints in college productions. In 1976, after graduation from Queens College, he tried out at an open-microphone night at New York City's Catch a Rising Star, which led to an appearance in a Rodney Dangerfield HBO special.

In 1979, he had a small recurring role on the sitcom Benson, playing Frankie, a mail delivery boy who had comedy routines that no one wanted to hear. However, Seinfeld was abruptly fired from the show due to creative differences. Seinfeld has said that he was not actually told he had been fired until he turned up for the read-through session for an episode, and found that there was no script for him.

In May 1981, Seinfeld made a successful appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, impressing Carson and the audience and leading to frequent appearances on that show and others, including Late Night with David Letterman.

Seinfeld

Main article: Seinfeld

Seinfeld created The Seinfeld Chronicles with Larry David in 1988 for NBC. The show was later renamed Seinfeld to avoid confusion with the short-lived teen sitcom The Marshall Chronicles. By its fourth season, it had become the most popular and successful sitcom on American television. The final episode aired in 1998, and the show has been a popular syndicated re-run.

Along with Seinfeld, the show starred Saturday Night Live veteran Julia Louis-Dreyfus and experienced actors Michael Richards and Jason Alexander. Alexander played George, a caricature of Larry David. Seinfeld holds the distinction of being the only actor to appear in every episode of the show.

Seinfeld has said that his show was influenced by the 1950s sitcom The Abbott and Costello Show. In the "Seinfeld Season 6" DVD set, commenting on the episode "The Gymnast", Seinfeld cited Jean Shepherd as an influence, saying, "He really formed my entire comedic sensibility—I learned how to do comedy from Jean Shepherd."

From 2004 to 2007, the former Seinfeld cast and crew recorded audio commentaries for episodes of the DVD releases of the show. Seinfeld himself provided commentary for numerous episodes.

Post-Seinfeld

After he ended his sitcom, Seinfeld returned to comedy rather than continue his acting career. In 1998 he went on tour and recorded a comedy special, entitled I'm Telling You for the Last Time. The process of developing and performing new material at clubs around the world was chronicled in a 2002 documentary, Comedian, which also featured fellow comic Orny Adams and was directed by Christian Charles. Seinfeld has written several books, mostly archives of past routines.

In the late 1990s, Apple Computer came up with the advertising slogan "Think different" and produced a 60-second commercial to promote the slogan. This commercial showed people who were able to "think differently", such as Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and many others. It was later cut short to 30 seconds and altered such that Seinfeld was included at the end, whereas he had not been in the original cut. This shorter version of the commercial aired only once, during the series finale of Seinfeld.

In 2004 Seinfeld also appeared in two commercial webisodes promoting American Express, titled The Adventures of Seinfeld & Superman. In these, Seinfeld appeared with a cartoon rendering of Superman, who was referenced in numerous episodes of Seinfeld as Seinfeld's hero, voiced by Patrick Warburton (character David Puddy on Seinfeld). The webisodes were directed by Barry Levinson and aired briefly on television. Seinfeld and "Superman" were also interviewed by Matt Lauer in a specially recorded interview for the Today show.

On November 18, 2004, Seinfeld appeared at the National Museum of American History to donate the "Puffy Shirt" he wore in the famous Seinfeld episode of the same name. He also gave a speech when presenting the "Puffy Shirt", saying humorously that "This is the most embarrassing moment of my life."

On May 13, 2006, Seinfeld had a cameo appearance on Saturday Night Live as host Julia Louis-Dreyfus' assassin. Louis-Dreyfus in her opening monologue mentioned the "Seinfeld curse". While talking about how ridiculous the "curse" was, a stage light suddenly fell next to her. The camera moved to a catwalk above the stage where Seinfeld was standing, holding a large pair of bolt cutters. He angrily muttered, "Damn it!" upset that it did not hit her. Louis-Dreyfus then continued to say that she is indeed not cursed.

On February 25, 2007, Seinfeld appeared at the 79th Academy Awards as the presenter for "Best Documentary". Before announcing the nominations, he did a short stand-up comedy routine about the unspoken agreement between movie theater owners and movie patrons. ("In movie theaters now, they’re trying to get you to pick up the garbage around your seat. I’m picking nothing up. I’m the one who threw it down. How many different jobs do I have to do?”)

On October 4, 2007, Seinfeld made a brief return to NBC, guest-starring as himself in the 30 Rock episode "SeinfeldVision".

On February 24, 2008, at the 80th Academy Awards, Seinfeld appeared as the voice of his Bee Movie animated character Barry, presenting "Best Animated Short". Before announcing the nominees, he showed a montage of film clips featuring bees, saying that they were some of his early work (as Barry).

On June 2, 2008, amidst his spring 2008 tour, Seinfeld made a stop in his hometown of New York City for a one-night-only performance at the Hammerstein Ballroom to benefit Stand Up for a Cure, a charity aiding lung cancer research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

In August 2008, the Associated Press reported that Jerry Seinfeld would be the pitchman for Windows Vista, as part of a $300-million advertising campaign by Microsoft. The ads, which were intended to create buzz for Windows in support of the subsequent "I'm a PC" advertisements, began airing in mid-September 2008. They were cut from television after just three installments; Microsoft opted to continue with the "I'm a PC" advertisements and run the Seinfeld ads on the Microsoft website as a series of longer advertisements.

In March 2009, it was announced that Seinfeld and the entire cast of Seinfeld would be appearing for a reunion in Larry David's HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm. The fictional reunion took place in the seventh season's finale.

Seinfeld appeared on an episode of the Starz original series Head Case. As was the case in many of his previous guest appearances on sitcoms, he played himself.

In Australia, Seinfeld appeared on a series of advertisements for the Greater Building Society, a building society based in New South Wales and southeastern Queensland. His appearance in these ads was highly publicized and considered a coup for the society, being only the third time Seinfeld had appeared in a television commercial. The advertisements were filmed in Cedarhurst, Long Island, with the street designed to emulate Beaumont Street in Hamilton, where the Greater's head offices are located. Seinfeld also wrote the scripts for the 15 advertisements that were filmed. The ads largely aired in the Northern New South Wales television market, where the society has most of its branches.

Seinfeld was the first guest on Jay Leno's talk show, The Jay Leno Show, which premiered on September 14, 2009.

Seinfeld was featured on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update sketch to do the "Really!?!" segment with Seth Meyers. He executive produced and occasionally starred as a panelist in The Marriage Ref. On August 30, 2010, Seinfeld made a notable surprise guest appearance on The Howard Stern Show, repairing the falling-out the two had in the early '90s.

Seinfeld toured the U.S. in 2011 and made his first appearance on stage in the UK in 13 years. In July 2011, he was a surprise guest on The Daily Show, helping Jon Stewart to suppress his urge to tell "cheap" "Michele Bachmann's husband acts gay" jokes. Seinfeld also launched a personal archives website at JerrySeinfeld.com and appeared in the HBO special Talking Funny with fellow comedians Chris Rock, Louis C.K., and Ricky Gervais in the same year.

In 2012, Seinfeld started a Web series, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, in which he would pick up a fellow comedian in a different car each episode and take him or her out for coffee and conversation. The initial series comprised ten 7- to 25-minute episodes. Season 2 (2013) had six episodes, with guests including Don Rickles and David Letterman.

In 2013, Seinfeld was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for the series. When criticized in early 2014 for the lack of women and non-white comedians in the series, he responded, "Who cares? ... You're funny, I'm interested. You're not funny, I'm not."

In 2013, Seinfeld was reportedly working with rapper Wale on his fourth studio album, The Album About Nothing. In June 2013, he appeared on rapper Wale's album The Gifted, on the song "Outro About Nothing".

During a January 2014 interview, on the "Boomer and Carton" show on radio station WFAN, Seinfeld revealed that a Seinfeld project was in development, in which Alexander will play George Costanza alongside other Seinfeld characters. Rumors of a potential reunion were triggered by a photograph that appeared on Twitter, in which Seinfeld and Alexander are walking into "Tom's Restaurant", the famous diner from the Seinfeld series.

Seinfeld received coverage for his speech at the 2014 Clio Awards ceremony, where he received an honorary award, as media reporters said that he "mocked" and "ripped apart" the advertising industry; his statement of "I love advertising because I love lying" received particular attention.

On February 15, 2015, Seinfeld made a special appearance as a presenter on "SNL 40," the 40th anniversary special of Saturday Night Live.

Books

Seinfeld wrote the book Seinlanguage, released in 1993. Written as his television show was first rising in popularity, it is primarily an adaptation of the comedian's stand-up material. The title comes from an article in Entertainment Weekly listing the numerous catch-phrases for which the show was responsible. In 2002 he wrote the children's book Halloween. The book was illustrated by James Bennett.

He wrote the forewords to Ted L. Nancy's Letters from a Nut series of books and Ed Broth's Stories from a Moron. Seinfeld also wrote the foreword to the Peanut Butter & Co. Cookbook.

Personal life

Years before Seinfeld was created, Seinfeld dated Carol Leifer, a fellow comedian and one of the inspirations for the Seinfeld character of Elaine. On national TV with Dr. Ruth Westheimer, he explained how, in 1984, he was engaged but called it off. When he was in his late 30s, Seinfeld began a four-year romantic relationship with then-17-year-old high school student Shoshanna Lonstein.

In August 1998, Seinfeld met Jessica Sklar at the Reebok Sports Club and they began dating. Sklar, a public relations executive for Tommy Hilfiger, had just returned from a three-week honeymoon in Italy with Eric Nederlander, a theatrical producer and scion of a theater-owning family. Sklar divorced Nederlander—she explained in a 2007 interview that they had been engaged in couples therapy sessions prior to their marriage—and married Seinfeld on December 25, 1999. Comedian George Wallace was the best man at the wedding.

After the nuptials, Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld bought Billy Joel's house in Amagansett, Long Island, for US$32 million after news of the couple's interest in the property became public in 2000.

As of January 2014, the Seinfelds have one daughter and two sons. Their daughter Sascha was born on November 7, 2000; their first son Julian Kal was born on March 1, 2003; and their second son Shepherd Kellen was born on August 22, 2005—all in New York City. Julian's middle name, Kal, is the first name of Seinfeld's father and also the first name of Seinfeld's hero Superman, aka Kal-El.

Among Seinfeld's best friends are fellow comedians George Wallace, Larry Miller, and Mario Joyner.

In 2000 Jessica Seinfeld launched Baby Buggy, a charity that provides clothing and gear for underprivileged women and children. She is also the author of the best-seller Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food, released by HarperCollins in October 2007.

Seinfeld is recorded as having made several political contributions, including George W. Bush's and Al Gore's presidential campaigns in 2000, and subsequently to four Democratic Party primary candidates in 2000 and 2004.

Seinfeld stated that he dabbled in Scientology during his 20s, although he says he was never in the organization. The association came to light in 1992.

A fan of the New York Mets, Seinfeld periodically calls Steve Somers' show on WFAN-AM, a sports talk radio station, as "Jerry from Queens". Seinfeld called four innings of a Mets game on SportsNet New York on June 23, 2010, reuniting with analyst Keith Hernandez, who appeared in the Seinfeld two-part episode, "The Boyfriend".

In December 2012, Seinfeld said that he had been practicing Transcendental Meditation (TM) for 40 years. He promoted the use of the technique in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder with Bob Roth of the David Lynch Foundation in December 2012 on the Good Morning America television show, and also appeared at a 2009 David Lynch Foundation benefit for TM, at which former Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr appeared.

In November 2014, Seinfeld said he suspected he was on the autism spectrum, citing difficulties with social engagement and reading body language. Almost two weeks later, he told Access Hollywood, "I don't have autism. I'm not on the spectrum. I was just watching this play about it and … I related to it on some level."

On November 5, 2015, the David Lynch Foundation organised another benefit concert at New York City's Carnegie Hall called "Change Begins Within" to promote transcendental meditation for stress control. "It's been the greatest companion technique of living that I've ever come across, and I'm thrilled to be part of this movement that seems to have really been reinvigorated by Bob and David Lynch," Seinfeld said. "I would do anything that I could to promote it in the world, because I think it's the greatest thing as a life tool, as a work tool and just making things make sense."

Personal wealth

According to Forbes magazine, Seinfeld's annual earning from Seinfeld in 2004 was $267 million, placing him at the top of the celebrity "money rank" that year. He reportedly turned down $5 million per episode, for 22 episodes, to continue the show for a tenth season.

Seinfeld earned $100 million from syndication deals and stand-up appearances in 2005 and $60 million in 2006. He also earned $10 million for appearing with Bill Gates in Microsoft's 2008 advertisements for Windows.

Between June 2008 and June 2009, Seinfeld earned $85 million, making him the world's highest-paid comedian during that 12-month period. In 2013, Forbes documented Seinfeld's annual income as $32 million. In mid-2013, Seinfeld disputed Forbes' claims regarding his income and net worth on the radio show of Howard Stern.

Seinfeld was listed number 1 in the Forbes Highest-Paid Comedians for 2015.

Car collection

Seinfeld, an automobile enthusiast and avid collector, owns a large Porsche collection. He rented a hangar at the Santa Monica Airport, in Santa Monica, California, for an extended period of time during the 1990s for storage of some of the vehicles in the collection.

One tally has Seinfeld owning 46 Porsches. Paul Bannister has written that Seinfeld's collection includes Porsche 911s from various years, 10 Porsche Boxsters each painted a different color, and the famous 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder, the same model and pearl-grey color that actor James Dean was driving when he crashed and died.

The Discovery Channel television show Chasing Classic Cars claims that Seinfeld owns the first and last air-cooled Porsche 911s produced. The centerpiece is a $700,000 Porsche 959, one of only 337 built. He was not allowed to drive it, because the car was "not street legal", which is because US emissions and crash tests were never performed for the model since Porsche refused to donate four Porsche 959s for destruction tests. He imported the car "for exhibition purposes", on the stipulation that it may never be driven on US roads. The car was made US street legal in 1999 under the "Show and Display" federal law. Seinfeld wrote an article for the February 2004 issue of Automobile, reviewing the Porsche Carrera GT.

In 2008 Seinfeld was involved in a car accident when the brakes on his 1967 Fiat 500 failed and, to avoid an intersection, he pulled the emergency brake while turning sharply, ultimately causing the car to come to a stop on its side. Seinfeld was unhurt.

In his Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee web show, Seinfeld says the Lamborghini Miura is "the most beautiful car ever designed."

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1984	The Ratings Game	Network Rep
1999	Pros & Cons	Prison Man No. 2
2002	Comedian	Himself
2004	A Uniform Used to Mean Something	Himself
2004	Hindsight Is 20/20	Himself
2007	Bee Movie	Barry B. Benson	Voice Co-writer, producer Nominated - Producers Guild of America Award for Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award - Animated Nominated - Kids Choice Award for Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie Reprises role in Bee Movie Game
2014	Top Five	Himself

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1980	Benson	Frankie
1989-1998	Seinfeld	Jerry Seinfeld	180 episodes American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (1992, 1993) Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series (1993) Golden Globe Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1995, 1997, 1998) Nominated - American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (1996, 1999) Nominated - Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996) Nominated - Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series (1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998) Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1996)
1993-1998	The Larry Sanders Show	Himself
1997	NewsRadio	Himself
1998	I'm Telling You for the Last Time	Himself
1999-2013	Saturday Night Live	Himself
2000	Dilbert	Comp-U-Comp	Voice
2004	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Himself	Cameo
2004	Jeopardy!	Himself
2007	30 Rock	Himself	Episode: "SeinfeldVision"
2009	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Himself
2010	The Marriage Ref	Executive Producer
2012-2014	Louie	Himself
2012-present	Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee	Himself	Web series
2015	Inside Amy Schumer	Himself

Writing credits for Seinfeld

The list below only includes episodes mainly written by Seinfeld, as he (and Larry David in Seasons 1 through 7) rewrote the drafts for each episode.

Season 1

• The Seinfeld Chronicles (with Larry David)
• Male Unbonding (with Larry David)
• The Stake Out (with Larry David)
• The Stock Tip (with Larry David)

Season 2

• The Ex-Girlfriend (with Larry David)
• The Pony Remark (with Larry David)
  • Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series (1991 - Episode "The Pony Remark")
• The Busboy (with Larry David)
• The Jacket (with Larry David)
• The Chinese Restaurant (with Larry David)
• The Phone Message (with Larry David)

Season 3

• The Stranded (with Larry David and Matt Goldman)

Season 4

• The Shoes (with Larry David)

Season 5

• The Sniffing Accountant (with Larry David)
• The Raincoats (with Larry David, Tom Gammill, and Max Pross)
• The Opposite (with Larry David and Andy Cowan)

Season 6

• The Kiss Hello (with Larry David)

Season 7

• The Cadillac, Parts 1 and 2 (with Larry David)

Charities

Jerry Seinfeld supports the following charitable cause: Autism.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]