Who

Since Seinfeld, Seinfeld has done a whole lot of nothing. His primary pastimes over the past decade have included tending to a fleet of Porsches, buying and selling real estate, and lavishing money on his socialite wife, Jessica Sklar Seinfeld.

Backstory

In case you couldn't tell from the accent, Seinfeld was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Massapequa ("an old Indian name that means 'by the mall,'" as he puts it). After graduating from Queens College, he headed straight into standup and his act won raves from fellow heeb comedians like Jackie Mason. Accolades from Borscht Belt comics, however, weren't going to pay the bills and in between gigs, Seinfeld sold light bulbs over the phone and hawked counterfeit jewelry on the street. After joining and then quickly getting booted off the seminal sitcom Benson in 1979, Jerry's big break came in 1981 with a successful appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. He soon became a popular fixture on the comedy circuit as well as a regular on late-night shows like Late Night with David Letterman and The Merv Griffin Show.

In the late '80s, Seinfeld landed a development deal with NBC and, together with comedy writer Larry David, crafted an idea for a sitcom focusing on the pointless minutiae in the lives of some neurotic Upper West Siders. Surprisingly, network execs went for the idea, and after a one-off pilot called The Seinfeld Chronicles aired in 1989, Seinfeld debuted in 1990. Success was far from instant, however. At first, ratings were low and critical reactions were mixed. Nevertheless, NBC had faith, and in season 4, after Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer moved to a Thursday slot behind Cheers, the show finally cracked Nielsen's top 25—coming in at number 25. By season six it was the No. 1 show on TV, and the finale on May 14, 1998 was viewed by 76 million viewers, the same year Seinfeld reportedly pocketed more than $250 million after the show's syndication rights were sold for $1.7 billion.

He hasn't been all that busy since. He's appeared in the documentary Comedian, shilled for American Express, recycled his old material in a few books, and written a mediocre cartoon movie about a bee.

Of note

Given all the trees that died to provide commentary about Seinfeld, even non-fans are all too familiar with the countless phrases—Soup Nazi, spongeworthy, shrinkage, "yadda yadda yadda"—that the show spawned. (The cult of Seinfeld reached its apex in 1998 when Apple aired a commercial during the show's finale that juxtaposed Jerry with the likes of Einstein, Gandhi, and MLK.) But while Seinfeld's co-stars moved on to projects like unsuccessful sitcoms, pretzel commercials, and, at least in Michael Richard's case, white supremacy, Jerry remained inactive for years, retiring from the public eye to sire a succession of young Seinfelds and tend to his fortune, emerging only periodically to do the occasional standup gig and American Express commercial.

In November 2007 the public got their first taste of Seinfeld in several years with the debut of his animated Bee Movie, the story of a talking honeybee smitten with a human florist. The $150 million Dreamworks film didn't generate rave reviews but was a modest success at the box office. Nonetheless, Seinfeld has suggested that Bee may be last big screen endeavor.

Keeping score

Seinfeld continues to rake in it. It's been estimated that he earns more than $60 million a year thanks to residuals from the Seinfeld syndication deal, royalties on the sales of Seinfeld DVDs, and stand-up appearances.

Personal

The succession of beauties that Jerry dated on the show—Courteney Cox, Debra Messing, Kristin Davis, Amanda Peet, and Mariska Hargitay—was a fairly accurate representation of his off-screen love life in his 20s. When he finally settled down at the age of 39, a minor scandal ensued since his "love," Shoshanna Lonstein, was 17 at the time. The couple remained together for five years—and got engaged—before splitting up in 1997.

Two years later, Jerry met Jessica Sklar, a Shoshanna look-alike who had recently married Eric Nederlander, the heir to a Broadway fortune. Sklar almost immediately dumped her husband, a story that got a good deal of play in the tabloids with Nederlander calling his ex-wife a "gold-digger" and threatening to sue Seinfeld for "alienation of affection." The couple married on December 25, 1999 and have been together ever since. They now have three children together: Shepherd, Julian, and Sascha.

Habitat

The Seinfeld clan lives in a 2,000-square-foot duplex in the Beresford that Jerry purchased for $4.35 million in 1998. He also owns a townhouse on West 82nd Street, which he acquired for $3.95 million in 2005. (Following the sale, realtor Tamara Cohen successfully sued him for $100,000 after he failed to pay her broker's fee.) His priciest real estate asset is the 13-acre oceanfront estate in East Hampton, purchased from Billy Joel in 2000: The comedian paid a record-breaking $32 million to acquire the property. He also has a ski house in Colorado.

Toys

Seinfeld has long been known for his obsession with Porsches: In the early '90s, when he was living in LA, he rented an airport hangar in Santa Monica to store the cars. These days his collection includes nearly 50 different models and he houses 20 of them in a building on West 83rd Street that he purchased for $1.4 million several years ago and converted into a garage/gallery. Porsches aren't the only items Seinfeld stockpiles: He also has a collection of over 500 white sneakers.

No joke

Seinfeld's Seinlanguage was a bestseller in 1993. But he's also believed to be responsible for the Letters from a Nut series of books authored under the pseudonym Ted L. Nancy. He's never confirmed or denied the rumor.