Jerry 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 won a small reoccurring 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 2002, 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

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 ghost-writer of the popular 'Letters from a nut' book