All About Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Parents, Judith Bowles and Gérard “William” Louis-Dreyfus

For Seinfeld and Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus, creativity is an inherited trait.

Both her mother, Judith Bowles, and her late father, Gérard “William” Louis-Dreyfus, dedicated their careers to the fine arts. Judith is a writer, and William was a passionate collector of art, due in part to his status as a successful businessman.

Louis-Dreyfus was born in 1961, and Judith and William divorced the next year. A few years later, William married Phyllis Louis-Dreyfus and Judith married surgeon Tom Bowles. Louis-Dreyfus spent her childhood between Manhattan, where she was born and where her father lived, and Washington D.C., where her mother and stepfather settled.

Both of the actress’ parents had two more daughters each with their new partners: William and Phyllis welcomed Phoebe and Emma, and Judith and Tom welcomed Amy and Lauren.

Related: Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Brad Hall’s Relationship Timeline

When Louis-Dreyfus married her college sweetheart, Brad Hall, in 1987, both William and Tom walked her down the aisle. This show of support from both sides of her family was mirrored by the actress’ parents’ investment in her career.

“She was always very interested in acting,” William told The Journal News in 2014. “If the children are happy and successful, it’s a great thing for parents. She’s a wonderful actress and an even better daughter and mother.” Louis-Dreyfus’ dad died in 2016 at the age of 84.

Here is everything to know about Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ parents, Judith Bowles and Gérard “William” Louis-Dreyfus.

William led the family’s enormous company

For much of his life, William ran the Louis Dreyfus Group, a multibillion-dollar French company started by his great-grandfather. Though he was born in France, William attended Duke University School of Law and lived most of his life in New York.

Related: Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Children: All About Sons Henry and Charlie

His success in business put William on the Forbes billionaires list, with the magazine valuing his and his family’s net worth at $3.4 billion in 2006. Although she has affirmed his business prowess, Louis-Dreyfus has denied reports that her father was a billionaire.

“He saved the company,” Louis-Dreyfus told The New Yorker in 2018. “But the reports of my father’s wealth are, in fact, greatly exaggerated in the press. He’s referred to as a billionaire, and I’m referred to by some heinous term like ‘billionaire heiress.’ It’s incorrect! My father — unfortunately — was never a billionaire. Far from it.”

Judith and Tom took Louis-Dreyfus to live abroad when she was young

When the actress was 7, her mother and stepfather relocated to Sri Lanka for a year so that Tom could work for an international health organization.

“It was very exotic,” Judith told The New Yorker. “We were up in the mountains in the old capital. It was a way of life that was so entirely different from anything we’d known in New York. Unbeknownst to me was how much she missed her dad, William, during that time. It was very hard for Julia.”

Both William and Judith are published poets

Judith has published two collections of poetry, The Gatherer in 2014 and An Unlocatable Source in 2019.

William served as president of the Poetry Society of America from 1998 to 2008, and had his work published in prestigious journals like The Hudson Review.

Louis-Dreyfus discovered her comedic chops while entertaining her mother

Ahead of accepting the prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2018, Louis-Dreyfus talked to PEOPLE about the first time she made someone laugh.

“I stuck raisins in my nose at a very young age, and my mother laughed,” she said. But the situation quickly turned serious. “We went to the emergency room because she couldn’t get them out,” Louis-Dreyfus added with a laugh.

The family bonded over Saturday Night Live

Louis-Dreyfus and Hall joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in 1982. At the time, she was the youngest woman to be cast on the show.

But, Louis-Dreyfus and her family bonded over SNL long before it was her job. “If somebody had a date, that person would have to sit with us and watch,” Judith told The New Yorker. “It was like a church for us.”

When Louis-Dreyfus was cast on the show, her proud mother recalled, “I was blown absolutely away … It was like a blitz of fireworks.”

Judith is a guest on every episode of Louis-Dreyfus’ podcast

On her podcast Wiser Than Me, the comedian interviews accomplished older women like actress Jane Fonda and fashion designer Diane von Furstenburg.

“It’s so mind-blowing to have in-depth conversations with these accomplished women,” she told PEOPLE in 2023. “Everybody is so different. We’ve really gotten into some surprisingly … in-depth and personal conversations about their lives, and life in general.”

At the end of each episode, Louis-Dreyfus calls Judith to check in with her, to tell her about her interview and share a little bit of their relationship with listeners.

“When I call her and talk about the conversations I’ve had with those women, it sparks a new conversation with my mom,” Louis-Dreyfus told PEOPLE. “It sort of opens up another portal into another sort of level of conversation, which is I hope what the effect of the podcast will be.”

During the Carol Burnett episode, the legendary comedian told Louis-Dreyfus she is “one of the greatest comedic actresses of our time.” For that interview, Judith had been listening in. After Burnett’s portion was done, she chimed in.

“Parents think their children — and they know — their children are the best,” Judith said on the podcast. “But when someone else agrees, it’s just like a magical moment. It was so wonderful.”

Louis-Dreyfus dedicated an Emmy win to William

When Louis-Dreyfus won her eighth Emmy award, which was her sixth for her portrayal of Selina Meyer in Veep, it set a record for most wins in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series category, per Vanity Fair. But the 2016 award was significant for the actress for another reason, too.

“Lastly, I’d like to dedicate this to my father, William Louis-Dreyfus, who passed away on Friday,” she said in her speech. “I’m so glad that he liked Veep because his opinion was the one that really mattered.”

Judith’s cooking got Louis-Dreyfus through a very difficult time

On an episode of Wiser Than Me, Louis-Dreyfus discussed a painful time in her life, when she lost a late-term pregnancy in the 1980s. What helped her recover, she said, was her mother coming to her and Hall’s house and cooking.

“She made this incredible cozy chili in a cast iron skillet with cornbread on top, in the pan,” Louis-Dreyfus said. “She and my husband Brad set up a little card table at the foot of the bed and the smell of that cornbread and the chili was so wonderful.”

Because she was so ill, Louis-Dreyfus wasn’t allowed to have solid food at the time. “It was the best meal ever — and I didn’t even eat it,” she said. “The making of it was so comforting and so embracing.”

William was a passionate art collector and philanthropist

Throughout his life, William collected art, which he displayed at his museum-quality space in upstate New York. Eventually, the collection topped 3,500 works, per artnet. William’s gallery in New York was only open by appointment, but often raised funds for charity through the William Louis-Dreyfus Foundation, including local scholarships and environmental causes.

The year before his death, he put much of his collection in a trust to benefit Harlem Children’s Zone, a nonprofit designed to help kids in the New York borough thrive.

William also used his influence to encourage other ultra-wealthy people to help those in need. In 2012, he donated $1 million to counteract voter suppression and took out a full-page ad in The New York Times to encourage others to use their wealth for the cause, per the HuffPost.

Louis-Dreyfus narrated a documentary, Generosity of Eye, about her father’s collection in 2015.

Louis-Dreyfus and her mother went to family therapy as adults

When the comedian was 60 and Judith was 87, the two went to therapy together.

“It might have been my dad’s birthday — my dad who had passed, and she was remembering that it was his birthday — and she said: ‘I’m sure you’re thinking about your dad. And I know there was stuff there that I wish we’d been able to deal with or talk about when you were younger … I wish we’d had a chance to do that,’ ” Louis-Dreyfus recalled to The New York Times in 2024.

At that point, they decided to go to a professional to have those conversations.

“It was very, very helpful,” Louis-Dreyfus said. “It’s not like everything becomes perfect, but that’s not possible under any circumstances. But it was an opportunity to communicate in maybe a more honest way, and in a safe way that was helpful to both of us.”

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