FromSeinfeld’s Elaine Benes toVeep’s Selina Meyer, the incomparableJulia Louis-Dreyfushas played a ton of iconic characters across her storied TV career. Louis-Dreyfus is one of the fewSeinfeldcast memberswho managed to avoid the so-calledSeinfeldcurse, because she’s had hit after hit since that show ended.
Ever sincethe role of Elaineput her on the map, Louis-Dreyfus has headlined her own starring vehicles, likeThe New Adventures of Old Christine, and given standout guest turns on shows likeArrested DevelopmentandThe Simpsons.
For her unforgettable performances on the small screen, Louis-Dreyfus has been inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame, received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, andwon a whopping 11 Emmy Awards out of 26 nominations.
6Maggie Lizer
Arrested Development
Louis-Dreyfus had a recurring role onArrested Developmentas a blind lawyer named Maggie Lizer (as in “Maggie lies-‘er ass off”). Michael Bluth met Maggie, fell for her, and slept with her without realizing she was the prosecuting attorney going after his family. But there’s yet another twist: Maggie isn’t really blind, and she orchestrated the whole thing.
Not only did Louis-Dreyfus share great on-screen chemistry with Jason Bateman as his on-and-off forbidden lover; she matchedArrested Development’s dry, understated humor perfectly. Maggie had a hilarious overarching storyline where she constantly double-crossed and betrayed Michael and used his somewhat good nature to manipulate him, but also had plenty of memorable standalone moments.
Not only did Louis-Dreyfus share great on-screen chemistry with Jason Bateman as his on-and-off forbidden lover; she matched Arrested Development’s dry, understated humor perfectly.
Maggie comes after Tobias with a baseball bat when he sneaks into her house to steal evidence. She goes down like a sack of bricks when Michael throws a Bible at her head in court in an ill-judged attempt to expose her ruse.Louis-Dreyfus nailed the one-liner deliveries, the physical comedy, and the overall unscrupulous, devil-may-care attitudeof this minor but unforgettable character.
5Gloria
The Simpsons
Louis-Dreyfus made herSimpsonsdebut in season 13, episode 4, “A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love,” in which Mr. Burns sets out to find love. He falls for a much younger woman named Gloria, voiced by Louis-Dreyfus, who turns out to be the ex-girlfriend of Springfield’s resident small-time crook, Snake Jailbird.
Mr. Burns recruits Homer as his chaperone on all his dates with Gloria, driving them around and carrying them to bed, andLouis-Dreyfus proves to be the perfect deadpan foil for Homer’s antics. She has the perfect bone-dry retort every time he does something ludicrous like kicking her car or asking his kidnapper for a foot massage.
Gloria proved to be such a great character — andLouis-Dreyfus proved to be such a great voice actor — that she was brought back for two additional episodes. These later appearances revealed that Gloria eventually married Snake and got pregnant. Her subsequent appearances have just been cameos, but it would be fun to see this character get another episode in the spotlight.
4Herself
Curb Your Enthusiasm
The twisted meta world ofCurb Your Enthusiasmwas the perfect vehicle for celebrities to play self-deprecating versions of themselves, and Louis-Dreyfus was game for it. She played a major recurring role in two seasons. In season 2, she developed an ill-fated new sitcom withSeinfeldco-creator Larry David, and in season 7, she starred in an ill-fatedSeinfeldreunion show.
In both of these seasons,Louis-Dreyfus made a great comedic partner for David. When he committed a faux pas like showing up in the middle of the night to search her house for his missing notepad, Louis-Dreyfus would be on the sidelines, lambasting his social ineptness with her usual razor-sharp wit.
Louis-Dreyfus made herCurbdebut in season 1’s “The Wire,” in which Larry reluctantly has to introduce his annoying neighbor to his favorite sitcom star to get clearance to remove an eyesore from his backyard. The show’s style wasn’t even fully formed yet, butLouis-Dreyfus’ lightning-fast improvisations and proclivity for agonizing cringe humor helped to define whatCurbwould be.
3"Old" Christine Campbell
The New Adventures of Old Christine
AfterThe Michael Richards Show, Jason Alexander’sBob PattersonandListen Up, and Louis-Dreyfus’ ownWatching Elliehad all struggled in the ratings, there was a lot of talk in the media abouta supposed “Seinfeld curse.”It was believed that, after the monstrous success ofSeinfeld, it was impossible to strike gold a second time and score another hit.
But then,The New Adventures of Old Christinecame along and broke the curse. Louis-Dreyfus plays a woman of a certain age whose husband divorces her and hooks up with a much younger woman who shares her name. She’s dubbed “Old Christine,” while the girlfriend is dubbed “New Christine.” The series was a refreshingly frank look at middle-aged women’s insecurities.
Christine grapples with low self-esteem, has a habit of trimming decades off her age, and struggles to find her footing in the dating scene after the divorce. Although the series often drifted into caricature territory,Louis-Dreyfus’ performance always made Christine feel like a real, endearing human being. She imbued the show with so much charm and relatability.
2Elaine Benes
Seinfeld
The role that put Louis-Dreyfus on the map— and remains one of her most iconic characters — isElaine Benes inSeinfeld. Elaine wasn’t inSeinfeld’s pilot episode; she was added in the second episode when the show was ordered to a full series. Elaine turned out to be the missing ingredient to create one of the all-time greatest sitcom casts.
As a match for Jerry’s biting wit, a relatively normal counterpoint to Kramer’s cartoonish antics, and a walking, talking reality check for George,Elaine was the glue that held the quartet together. Elaine has countless memorable moments from throughout the show’s run: she threw George’s toupee out the window, she stole toilet paper in an unhinged act of revenge, and she did that infamous dance.
As a match for Jerry’s biting wit, a relatively normal counterpoint to Kramer’s cartoonish antics, and a walking, talking reality check for George, Elaine was the glue that held the quartet together.
Louis-Dreyfus nailed every aspect of this character. She knocked the slapstick gags out of the park, likeElaine’s signature shovesor the scene where she flees from a pack of angry dogs.She perfected every furious tirade, usually aimed at George, and she and Patrick Warburton got Elaine and David Puddy’s toxic on-and-off relationship spot-on.
Elaine was a trailblazer for female characters in sitcoms. Women were no longer relegated to being the foil, rolling their eyes at the men around them; they could be just as zany and outrageous as the guys. Elaine paved the way for Liz Lemon, Dee Reynolds, and Abbi and Ilana.
1Selina Meyer
Veep
It would’ve taken some character to surpass Elaine as Louis-Dreyfus’ most iconic role — andSelina Meyer is some character. Just as Armando Iannucci’s previous satirical sitcom,The Thick of It, had perfectly captured the chaos of British politics,Veepperfectly captured the chaos of American politics, and Louis-Dreyfus’ performance subtly changed to reflect the changing U.S. political landscape (around 2016, it got a lot more absurd).
Veepwas essentially two different shows under two different showrunners. Iannucci conceived the series as an almost documentary-like fly-on-the-wall look at the inner workings of Washington, but David Mandel turned it into a wackier, more traditional sitcom. And in both versions of the show,Louis-Dreyfus was the perfect lead actor to steer the ship.
Julia Louis-Dreyfushas the dry wit and pitch-perfect timing to nail her delivery of the incisive insults that Selina hurls at her staff — particularly at “jolly green j***-face” Jonah Ryan — but she also has the genuine acting talent to capture the vulnerability beneath the snarky facade; the underlying tragedy that makes this character tick.
