Elaine Benes (Joulia Louis-Dreyfus)

Unlike her three close friends, Elaine was missing from the pilot episode (episode one). She first appeared in the second episode, "The Stakeout." NBC executives felt the show was too male-centric, and demanded that creators Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David add a woman to the cast as a condition for commissioning the show. In addition to the first episode, Elaine did not appear in two other episodes: "The Trip, Part 1" and "The Trip, Part 2", meaning she has made fewer appearances than the other main characters.

Elaine is supposedly a composite based on comedian Carol Leifer, Seinfeld's real-life ex-girlfriend, and Monica Yates, Larry David's real-life ex-girlfriend.

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 to be a Baltimore Orioles fan, causing a disruption when she wore an Orioles cap while seated in the owner's box at a New York Yankees game. In "The Dog", she tells George she moved to New York in 1986.

In "The Pick" Elaine mentions having sent a Christmas card to "Sister Mary Katherine" and "Father Chelios", implying that Elaine was brought up Catholic. She repeatedly asserts herself to be either agnostic or atheist, however, such as when she agreed with Jerry's assessment of what she wanted out of life as "a barren, sterile existence that ends when you die" and when she expressed shock and revulsion when her longstanding boyfriend, David Puddy, was a devout Christian.

Elaine claims to have an IQ of 145 (although her scores range from 85 to 151) and completed her undergraduate education at Tufts University (her safety school). For comparison, Jerry and George attended Queens College, and Kramer's highest level of education was revealed to be a "high school equivalency" in "The Barber".

Elaine was one of the few characters who worked steady jobs throughout the show's entire run, mostly as a writer or editor.

Elaine's signature move is expressing incredulity by frontally shoving people while yelling "Get out!" after hearing unbelievable news. It sometimes causes the person to fall down or trip.
She is also a poor dancer, as evidenced in the episode "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." She repeats her performance in her bedroom in a scene of the episode "The Slicer." Both clips appear in "The Clip Show, Pt. 1"
It's also noted near the end of "The Friar's Club" when she tested the hearing aid but with the offset of the alarm by George and Jerry has caused her to get hysterical with a deleted scene when Elaine's ears are still ringing, similar to "The Mom and Pop Store".
Her clothing is normally quite conservative; however, her breasts are a major part of two episodes. In "The Pick" she sends many people a Christmas card that has a picture of her baring a nipple (accidentally). George, irate that he didn't receive one, confronts her and she responds by rubbing his head in between her breasts and threw him back when she couldn't take it anymore. In "The Shoes," she wears a low cut dress that push up her breasts to get Jerry and George a deal with Russell (the head of NBC) after George blew the initial deal by staring at his daughter's chest. In "The Gum" after the show, her chest almost exposed to Lloyd, then the man with the hose then the policeman.
In the eighth season, Elaine dates a man who is notorious for being a "bad break-upper" and when they break up, he calls her "big head".
She is noticably small and apparantly somewhat light as well. In "The Betrayal" Jerry is able to carry her without losing normal walking speed and is even capabale of not flinching or dropping her as she haphazardly swings from his back to his front side while hanging from his neck.