Julia Louis-Dreyfus recently reflected on how her Seinfeld role traces back to her days on Family Ties. Long before the shoves, “Get out!” and the iconic dance on the Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld-created series, she was cutting her teeth on the classic ‘80s sitcom.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus details how Family Ties is partially responsible for Seinfeld role
The Golden Globe awardee has opened up about how her time on the Michael J. Fox series helped pave the way for her career-defining role as Elaine Benes on the cult-classic ’90s sitcom.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg on his Awards Chatter podcast, Julia Louis-Dreyfus said that after her run on Saturday Night Live, she landed a role in The Art of Being Nick, a Family Ties spin-off pilot.
Family Ties debuted on NBC in 1982 and launched Michael J. Fox to stardom as Alex P. Keaton, a Reagan-era young Republican whose politics clashed with those of his ex-hippie parents, Steven and Elyse, played by Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter, as they raised their kids in suburban Ohio.
Though the spinoff never took off, Louis-Dreyfus’s performance stood out. “That show didn’t get picked up. But, the production company that made it liked my performance in it, and then they … cast me in this show called Day by Day,” the 65-year-old revealed. “And I did that for two years, and that was a very happy experience, actually.”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus then shared that after the show was cancelled, she was sent four scripts for The Seinfeld Chronicles. She recognized Larry David’s name from their SNL days and read the scripts. She stated, “And so, I read them, and I went in to meet Jerry [Seinfeld]. And Larry really wanted me to do it.”
Furthermore, the Thunderbolts* star explained that her character, Elaine Benes, wasn’t in the pilot, and NBC initially passed on the series. “But then a guy named Rick Ludwin, who ran special programming at NBC, decided to somehow keep this show afloat and put the late-night programming budget into these four episodes,” she revealed, thanking the late NBC executive for his efforts.
Currently, Julia Louis-Dreyfus leads the upcoming Apple Studios limited series, Nanny Squatter, with Cecily Strong. She also appears in the new film The Sheep Detectives. Moreover, the veteran actress will return as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
