page_title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus
section_title: Personal life
hierarchical_section_title: Julia Louis-Dreyfus / Personal life
caption_attribution_description: English: Brad Hall and Julia Louis-Dreyfus at the Vanity Fair party for the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.
context_page_description: Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus Hall is an American actress, comedian, producer, and singer. She is known for her work in the television comedy series Saturday Night Live, Seinfeld, The New Adventures of Old Christine, and Veep. She is one of the most decorated actresses in American television history, winning more Emmy Awards and more Screen Actors Guild Awards than any other performer, tying Cloris Leachman for the most acting wins.
  Louis-Dreyfus broke into comedy as a performer in The Practical Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois, which led to her casting in the sketch show Saturday Night Live from 1982 to 1985. Her breakthrough came in 1989 with a nine-season run playing Elaine Benes on Seinfeld, one of the most critically and commercially successful sitcoms of all time. Other notable television roles include Christine Campbell in The New Adventures of Old Christine, which had a five-season run on CBS, and her role as Selina Meyer in Veep, which ran for seven seasons on HBO. Her film roles include Hannah and Her Sisters, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Deconstructing Harry, and Enough Said.
context_section_description: Louis-Dreyfus' maternal half-sister, Lauren Bowles, is also an actress. She also has two paternal half-sisters: Phoebe and Emma, the latter of whom died in August 2018. Robert Louis-Dreyfus (1946–2009), one of her cousins, was former CEO of Adidas and owner of the Olympique de Marseille football club.
  While at Northwestern, Louis-Dreyfus met future husband and Saturday Night Live comedian Brad Hall.  They married in 1987 and have two sons together: Henry (born 1992) and Charles (born 1997). Charles was a walk-on for the Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball team. In 2007, Louis-Dreyfus was invited back to Northwestern to receive an honorary Doctor of Arts degree.
  Louis-Dreyfus has stated that she holds much respect for "women who are not afraid of making themselves look bad or foolish to get a laugh", and cites her acting idols as Lucille Ball, Mary Tyler Moore, Madeline Kahn, Teri Garr, Valerie Harper, and Cloris Leachman. Actress Tina Fey has stated that Louis-Dreyfus served as inspiration for her character Liz Lemon on the award-winning NBC comedy series 30 Rock.
  On September 28, 2017, Louis-Dreyfus announced on Twitter her diagnosis of breast cancer, a diagnosis she received one day after receiving a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her role in Veep. She stated, "One in eight women get breast cancer. Today, I'm the one. The good news is that I have the most glorious group of supportive and caring family and friends, and fantastic insurance through my union. The bad news is that not all women are so lucky, so let's fight all cancers and make universal healthcare a reality." She announced on the October 18, 2018 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! that she was cancer-free.
caption: Louis-Dreyfus and her husband Brad Hall at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival
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