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Elaine Marie Benes is a fictional character on the US television sitcom Seinfeld (1989–1998), played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. From the series' backstory, the audience learned she had dated Jerry Seinfeld, and remains close friends with him, as well as with George Costanza and Cosmo Kramer.

Elaine was the only character, of those mentioned above, missing from the pilot episode (episode one). She would make her first appearance in the second episode, "The Stakeout." Her character was added because NBC executives felt the show was too male-centric, and demanded that creators Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David add a woman to the cast, or the show would not be renewed.

She is supposedly based on comedian Carol Leifer, Seinfeld's real-life ex-girlfriend, and Monica Yates, Larry David's real-life ex-girlfriend. Monica Yates' father is a noted author, and Larry David once wore a suede jacket in the rain going out to dinner with him and Monica.

Family

Unlike the families of Jerry and George, Elaine's relatives never had large parts on the show. Her father, gruff author Alton Benes (a character based on the novelist Richard Yates and played by Lawrence Tierney), was featured in the episode "The Jacket," and a cousin, Holly, was featured in "The Wink." In "The Wink," reference is made to Elaine's Grandma Mimma, from whom Holly inherited a fancy set of napkins.

"The Jacket" also revealed that Elaine has a sister in St. Louis (later called Gale in "The Pick") and an uncle who worked in the Texas School Book Depository with Lee Harvey Oswald. Elaine also mentions she has a nephew. It's suggested Elaine's parents are divorced.

Orioles and education

Unlike the other characters, she was not a native of New York, having grown up in the upscale Baltimore suburb of Towson, Maryland. In "The Letter," she revealed herself a die-hard Baltimore Orioles fan to the point of wearing an Orioles cap while seated in the owner's box at a New York Yankees game. She is the best-educated of the group of friends, and considers herself the most intelligent, having an IQ of 151 and having completed her undergraduate education at Tufts University, which she claims was her safety school.

Employment

Elaine was the only character who worked steady jobs throughout the show's entire run, working mostly as a writer or editor. During the first five seasons, she worked at Pendant Publishing, where she served as a copy editor before losing her job at the end of the fifth season when the company went bankrupt, partially due to her actions. In the sixth season, she was a personal assistant to the wealthy, eccentric Mr. Pitt, before finally meeting J. Peterman and becoming an editor at the J. Peterman Catalog, where she would remain employed for the rest of the show's run. She took charge of the catalog when Peterman took a short "retirement" (nervous breakdown) in Burma, moving back to her former position after he returned—and after costing the company money. She was fired by Peterman for voicing her extreme disdain for the movie The English Patient. Only by agreeing to travel to, and live in, a remote cave in the Tunisian desert for a specified time was she able to save her job.

Romantic relationships

Elaine had a string of boyfriends, most appearing for only an episode or two. One of the few that had a recurring appearance was David Puddy (Patrick Warburton), her slow-witted steady. Like Jerry, Elaine's relationships usually ended over shallow, superficial reasons. In one episode, Elaine repeatedly ends and renews her relationship with Puddy during the course of an international airplane trip.

In one episode, Elaine found herself short of her supply of favored contraceptive sponges and pondered whether certain men were "spongeworthy"—that is, worthy of sex at the cost of using one of her limited number of sponges.

Pet peeves

In an early episode, Elaine expresses disdain with the world's interest in the Kennedy family, but in Season Four's "The Contest", Elaine crosses paths with John F. Kennedy, Jr. at her gym and becomes so infatuated with him (and the fantasy of becoming the next Mrs. Kennedy) that she loses her self-control as well as the contest. Elaine is crushed to learn JFK Jr. is dating Jerry's ex, Marla "the virgin" (Jane Leeves).

Physicality

Like Kramer, Elaine was very physical. Her signature move was to express incredulity by frontally shoving people while yelling: "Get out!" She was also a notoriously poor dancer, as evidenced in the episode entitled "The Little Kicks" in which she dances at a J. Peterman company party. George described her dancing as "a full-bodied dry heave set to music."

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