Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus (born January 13, 1961) is an American actress and comedian best known for her role as Elaine Benes on the NBC sitcom Seinfeld, and her current role as the titular Christine Campbell on the sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine.

She has won two Emmy Awards, five Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Golden Globe Award.

Louis-Dreyfus was born in New York City, to Judith, a writer and special-needs tutor, and Gérard Louis-Dreyfus (also known as William Louis-Dreyfus), a French attorney and business executive. Her parents divorced a year later. After relocating to Washington, D.C., when Julia was eight, her mother married L. Thompson Bowles, Dean of the George Washington University Medical School.