Jerry Seinfeld Biography

Jerry Seinfeld, actor and comedian

Birthdate: April 29, 1954

Birthplace: New York, NY

Sign: Taurus

Jerry Seinfeld is best known for playing the semi-fictional version of himself in the long-running television sitcom "Seinfeld." The show ran from 1989 to 1998 and Jerry helped to co-create and write the show. In the show's final two seasons he was the executive producer.

Jerry is often described as an observational comedian. His work on his television show, as well as his stand-up routines, earned him many awards. The show won an Emmy in 1993 for Outstanding Comedy Series and in 1994 Jerry won a Golden Globe Award for "Seinfeld" for Best Actor - Musical or Comedy Series. The show also won Screen Actors Guild Awards and Jerry won a handful of American Comedy Awards.

Jerry was born as Jerome A. Seinfeld on April 29, 1954 in New York, New York. His father, Kálmán, was of Hungarian-Jewish background and his mother, Betty, is of Syrian-Jewish descent. He moved with his family, including sister Carolyn (who is also his manager), to suburban Massepequa, Long Island at a young age. His dad, a commercial sign maker, had a terrific sense of humor.

He went to Oswego College in upstate New York, and after his sophomore year he transferred and graduated from Queens College, City University of New York.

Jerry developed an interest in stand-up comedy after brief stints in college productions. Right after graduation from Queens College, he tried out at an open mic night at New York City's Catch a Rising Star in 1976. Soon after, he appeared in a Rodney Dangerfield HBO special. When he first started doing stand-up comedy, his mother and sister said he would never be as funny as his father.

In May 1981, Seinfeld made a highly successful appearance on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson." He then became a regular on similar shows, including "Late Night with David Letterman" and "The Merv Griffin Show."

He was ranked #12 in Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time.

Jerry created "Seinfeld" with Larry David in 1989 for NBC. By its fourth season it had become the most popular and successful sitcom on American television. The show left the air in 1998 but is still receiving heavy airplay in syndication.

The show also starred "Saturday Night Live' veteran Julia Louis-Dreyfus, as well as experienced actors Michael Richards and Jason Alexander. On the show, Jerry played a caricature of himself and has said that his show was inspired by the 1950s sitcom "The Abbott and Costello Show."

After "Seinfeld" ended, Jerry returned to stand-up comedy instead of pursuing a film career as many other popular comedians have done. In 1998, Seinfeld 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 focused also on fellow comic Orny Adams. He has written a few books, mostly archives of past routines.

Jerry is married to the former Jessica Sklar and they have three children - one daughter and two sons. In 2007, Forbes magazine said the comedians reported earnings were approximately $60 million. In the year 2000, he bought Billy Joel's house in Amagansett village in the Hamptons for the then record-setting price of $32 million.

Jerry is an automobile enthusiast with one of the largest Porsche collections in the world. He also reportedly has a collection of more than 500 sneakers, all of which are white.