Jerry Seinfeld's Biography

JHe gained a degree in communications in 1976 from Queens College, but soon started working as a comedian.

Jackie Mason was one of the first people to see Jerry Seinfeld perform his act, when he attended the Golden Lion Pub in Manhattan. Reportedly he told Jerry, "you're going to be a big hit."

In the late 1970s Jerry Seinfeld dated comedienne Carol Leifer. Some argued that this relationship formed the inspiration for the Jerry / Elaine dynamic in Seinfeld.

After years of performing stand-up, Jerry Seinfeld got his big break in May 1981 when he appeared on the Tonight Show With Johnny Carson.

Around this time Seinfeld also played a joke writer in Benson - an off-shoot of Soap.

In the 80s Seinfeld headed the bill in several comedy clubs as well as appearing on Johnny Carson and David Letterman.

1987 saw the HBO special, Jerry Seinfeld - Standup Confidential and in 1988 he was awarded the American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Standup Comedian.

In 1989 the pilot show, conceived and written jointly with Larry David, for NBC, entitled "The Seinfeld Chronicles" was transmitted. It was the precursor of the phenomenon, Seinfeld that was to dominate USA ratings for the next decade.

Reportedly NBC offered Jerry Seinfeld $5m per episode for him to reverse his decision to finish the series at the end of its eight year run in May 1998. However Seinfeld managed to resist.

In 1992 Seinfeld attracted controversy when he started to date Shoshanna Lonstein, who was only 16 years old.

In 1998 he started going out with former PR executive, later to be cookbook author, Jessica Sklar. They married on Christmas Day the following year and in August 2005 they had their third child.

In 2007, Jerry Seinfeld conceived, wrote and was the voiceover of the hero of Bee Movie.

On 6 October 2009, Media Guardian reported that Jerry Seinfeld had teamed up with Oprah Winfrey's producer to launch his first TV project since Seinfeld: "a comedy panel show where comedians and celebrities sit in judgment on people's marriages."

In 2013, Jerry Seinfeld headed the Forbes list of highest-earning US comedians for the third year in a row.

He made an estimated $32 million in 2012 from syndication royalties of his sitcom and more than 70 tour dates.

In 2024, he produced, directed, wrote and starred in the Netflix film Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story.