Jerry Seinfeld (born April 24, 1954) is an American actor, writer and comedian from Brooklyn, New York.
Seinfeld, straight from graduation at Queens College, tried out at amateur night at New York's Catch A Rising Star in 1976. Soon after he was appearing on a Rodney Dangerfield HBO special.
Seinfeld had a small recurring role as "Frankie" on the Benson sitcom in 1979, but was abruptly fired from the show.
A few years later, in May of 1981, Seinfeld made a highly successful appearance on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. Seinfeld then became a regular on similar shows, like Late Night with David Letterman and the Merv Griffin show.
Seinfeld created The Seinfeld Chronicles with Larry David in 1989 for NBC. The show was later renamed simply Seinfeld and became one of the most popular and successful sitcoms on American television until the time the show left the air in 1998. As of 2003, the show was still receiving heavy airplay in syndication. The show also starred Saturday Night Live veteran Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Richards, and Jason Alexander.
After his sitcom went off the air, Seinfeld returned to stand-up comedy, the process of which was chronicled in a 2002 documentary, Comedian, directed by Christian Charles.
He has written a few books, mostly archives of past stand-up routines. Though he has never admitted it, Seinfeld is also widely believed to be the ghostwriter of the popular Ted L. Nancy book series.