I had heard of all of them BUT Seinfeld (though I use to watch Benson, so I am sure I saw him) before the show, but I have to say Jason Alexander was the most famous.
Dreyfuss was in SNL and Day by Day, Richards was in Fridays and UHF, but Alexander gets my vote for his role in Pretty Woman.
What else did you know about these people before the show?
Well, Pretty Woman came out the same year that Seinfeld premiered (1990), so if Jason Alexander could be said to be more famous than the other members of the cast, his period of greater fame probably only lasted a few months, at best.
I think the title is a pretty big give-away, here. I mean, there’s a reason it wasn’t called Louis-Dreyfus. Jerry Seinfeld was a successful stand-up comedian, the rest were unknown bit players. Seinfeld hadn’t been in many (any?) movies, but that’s only one kind of fame: he was very well known in stand-up circles, and had been a guest on Carson and Letterman several times. Julia Louise-Dreyfus was chiefly famous for being in one of the really bad SNL casts. Jason Alexander had one big role in Pretty Woman the same year he started Seinfeld. Michael Richards was a nobody, and thankfully seems to be quickly returning to that status.
I’d say Jerry Seinfeld was the most famous, but not by much.
I’d say Jason Alexander. By the time Seinfeld came out, he was a successful Broadway actor, having just won both a Tony and a Grammy in 1989 for his role in “Jerome Robbins’ Broadway”
The tipoff that Jason Alexander was the most famous of the four was the fact that he is credited last and has something like “and Jason Alexander as George”.
A credit like that implies that he has more status over the other two. But Julia Louis-Dreyfus wasn’t in the first episode anyway.
As for the other three, Seinfeld was a pretty successful stand up comic, Dreyfus and Richards less so. Alexander was the odd man out, though…he wasn’t a standup comic, and was better known for serious roles.
Yes, to keep it from being confused with a show about two French detectives.
What about Newman? I realise he’s not one of the “four”, but he was in a couple of pretty big movies before Seinfeld.
If we’re expanding it from the Seinfeld four, it’s got to be Jerry Stiller. I mean for God’s sake, the man was in Airport 1975.
Of the main four, Alexander was the only one I’d ever heard of.
Don’t forget that Jason Alexander starred in a McDonald’s commercial.
What? I remember it.
I was very aware of Jerry before the show, and I thought his comedy sucked. I never liked him until I became addicted to the TV show. So he was definitely very well-known to me.
I remember Julia Louis-Dreyfuss from SNL, primarily. But only vaguely.
I had never heard of Jason Alexander before the show.
But to me, the most famous one of all was Michael Richards. He played Fejos in one of my favorite “dumb-comedy” movies: Transylvania 6-5000 (“smell this…smell the glass…is good no? Is funny!”), and from Young Doctors In Love.
micheal richard was the most recognizable, i think. maybe it’s because he’s pretty much unforgettable. but i remember from uhf and a lot of bit parts as criminals on cop shows. i just saw a “scarecrow and mrs. king” episode where richard was a good-for-nothing thug. i’ts hard to see him in a menacing light anymore, though.
You guys are all way, way off.
Barney Martin, for his fabulous performance in Springtime for Hitler.
Don’t you guys remember Michael Richards’ cameo part in Coneheads? Classic. 
Jason Alexander was in ** Forbidden Broadway **, a hilarious show that satirizes Broadway shows (and just hit its 25 anniversary). He was so good in it! Fortunately, the Seinfeld saw the show and realized he could do comedy.
Jerry was the only cast member I’d heard of before I started watching the show. I was only sixteen when The Seinfeld Chronicles aired, though (jchrist, I’m getting old!).
I liked his stand-up and was eagerly anticipating his series.
Julia was the most famous to me. Remember her as the snobby next door neighbor in Christmas Vacation?
I think three were reasonably successful and so “famous” in different areas pre-the SHOW
Jerry for his stand-up
Julia for her TV work
Jason for his Broadway work.
But the reason we know them & this thread is here is TV. A if a comic plays to 200K people in Vegas/on a year tour he’d be a phenom, a million people might see a hit Broadway show if it runs long enough, but 2-3 million see even a low rated network piece of crap.
So IMO: it’s I think Julia, going away
I think it depends on how old you are.
I was a pre-teen in the late 80’s/early 90’s. I never saw “Pretty Woman” or Carson/Letterman. Never knew Alexander or Seinfeld.
I had seen Louis-Dreyfus in the sitcom “Day By Day” and in “Christmas Vacation.” I had seen Richards in “UHF” and “Problem Child” (which came out the same year as “Seinfeld”…), and also in “Marblehead Manor” (I watched a lot of TV at that time in my life!)
So for me I’d say Richards was most famous. Everyone has good arguments, tho.
BTW if you check out all 4 on the IMDB, Richards did the most stuff before “Seinfeld” and Alexander did the most after. Seinfeld himself has been quite low-profile in movies and TV.
For me, Jerry was the most famous. I remember seeing him on an HBO “new comedians” special on New Year’s, 1986. I remember thinking he was the funniest of the lot. It was hosted by Rodney Dangerfield, and some of the other new faces were Robert Townsend, Sam Kinison and Rosanne Barr (also Bob Nelson and Jeff Doucette).