Julia Louis-Dreyfus reunited with her co-stars from Seinfeld when she guest hosted US comedy show Saturday Night Live this weekend. During her opening monologue the actress, who played Elaine Benes on the hit series, showed a video clip of her bumping into co-star Jason Alexander and talking about the "Seinfeld Curse." The curse states that no Seinfeld star - including Louis-Dreyfus, Alexander, Michael Richards or Jerry Seinfeld - has ever gone on to star in a successful sitcom. After the two chat, Alexander is hit by a cab. Back in the studio, the actress insists she doesn't believe in the curse, before a stage light falls next to her. The culprit is revealed to be Jerry Seinfeld, who cut the light down with a pair of hedge clippers. Louis-Dreyfus started her career on Saturday Night Live 21 years ago and made history by becoming the first female cast member to return to host the show. In another memorable moment, former US Vice President Al Gore was featured in the opening skit, appearing in a parallel universe where he was successfully elected as the US President. The comedy sketch showed what a Gore-run US would look like including no global warming, cars that run on rubbish, ridiculously low gas prices and a $11 trillion budget surplus.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus was born on January 13, 1961, in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Her parents divorced when she was still young, and she spent her childhood in Washington, D.C., and New York. She met her husband, Brad Hall, while in college.

She made her feature movie debut in the Woody Allen film Hannah and Her Sisters (1986). She currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their two children. 

Crusading actress Susan Sarandon gave up her Mother's Day in America yesterday to spend it with the protesting parents of soldiers in Iraq. Accompanied by anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, whose son has died in the conflict, Sarandon addressed a 24-hour vigil opposite the White House by reading out a letter she had written to First Lady Laura Bush. She also brandished a copy of the board game Risk to highlight the dangerous plight of US soldiers serving abroad. Her letter called on the president's wife to force George W. Bush to personally notify mothers that their sons had been killed in action. She said, "Those moms praying as they wait for the phone to ring and they hear the voice of their child serving in Iraq. Let him be the one to tell them that this week the call will not be coming." The 200-strong Washington protest was organized by women's anti-war group Code Pink.

It was after the 1968 Democratic convention and there was a casting call for a film with several roles for the kind of young people who had disrupted the convention. Two recent graduates of Catholic University in Washington DC, went to the audition in New York for Joe (1970). Chris Sarandon, who had studied to be an actor, was passed over. His wife Susan got a major role.

That role was as Susan Compton, the daughter of ad executive Bill Compton (_Dennie Patrick_ ). In the movie Dad Bill kills Susan's drug dealer boyfriend and next befriends Joe(_Peter Boyle_ )-- a bigot who works on an assembly line and who collects guns.

Pop queen Janet Jackson has undergone a punishing fitness regime in a bid to regain her svelte physique. The singer deliberately piled on the pounds for a possible movie role, according to her boyfriend Jermaine Dupri. But Jackson is fed up of her flab and, while she insists she isn't under contract to lose weight, she couldn't wait to get slim in time to promote new album 20 Years Old. Dupre says, "She was gaining weight for a potential movie." A spokesperson for Jackson says, "It is not a requirement of her contract to lose weight."

Janet Damita Jo Jackson was born on May 16, 1966 in Gary, Indiana, living in a lower class home with several brothers and sisters. Janet was the youngest. After her birth, her brothers formed a band later called The Jackson 5. She lived at home with her sisters, while her brothers, and dad, Joe Jackson, lived an extravagant life in Los Angeles. She later moved in with them while her brothers were making a name for themselves, and signed a deal with Motown. Janet was in the shadow but later also made a name for herself.

As she was touring, and making appearances with her brothers, and the rest of the family, she co-starred with the rest of them in "The Jacksons". In 1977, she got the part of Penny Gordon on "Good Times". That showed her acting abilities early on. She also made a few memorable appearances on the hit TV show "Diff'rent Strokes" as Charlene Dupree. Soon afterwards came her role on "Fame".