Which Stars Were Considered For Roles On Seinfeld?

After a couple of NBC executives approached Jerry Seinfeld about developing a sitcom vehicle for himself (as depicted in the fourth season of the ensuing series), it was pretty much decided that the lead role of such a series would be played by Seinfeld himself. But after Seinfeld penned a pilot script that would eventually become Seinfeld with fellow comic Larry David, the other roles were open to anybody.

A bunch of actors who have since become big stars auditioned to play the main characters in Seinfeld. From Danny DeVito to Rosie O’Donnell, these are the actors who could’ve starred in Seinfeld and David’s groundbreaking sitcom.

10 Danny DeVito As George Costanza

In an interview with Howard Stern, Jason Alexander mentioned that the role of George Costanza was initially offered to Danny DeVito, but he turned it down. This might have been because he didn’t want to commit to another regular TV role so soon after Taxi ended its run.

Alexander speculated on why DeVito turned down the part: “I think in the case of Danny, he probably didn’t want to be — his career, when we started Seinfeld, would’ve been at its apex, so he probably didn’t want to do a sidekick role.”

9 Rosie O’Donnell As Elaine Benes

Jerry Seinfeld confirmed that Rosie O’Donnell was up for the role of Elaine early in Seinfeld’s development. She came in for an audition and although he thought she was funny, Seinfeld didn’t think she was right for Elaine.

O’Donnell later played a recurring role as herself on Seinfeld co-creator Larry David’s next series, Curb Your Enthusiasm. In the show, Rosie has a longstanding rivalry with Larry.

8 Tony Shalhoub As Cosmo Kramer

Before Michael Richards was cast to play Kramer, Tony Shalhoub was considered for the role. Funnily enough, years later, when Monk was in development, the producers initially wanted Richards for the title role.

Richards didn’t like the Monk script and instead opted to play a private eye on the short-lived The Michael Richards Show, allowing Shalhoub a second career wind as Adrian Monk.

7 Nathan Lane As George Costanza

Steve Buscemi confirmed on The Tonight Show that the rumor he auditioned to play George in Seinfeld was false, although his character in Reservoir Dogs, Mr. Pink, had a lot of Seinfeldian dialogue. His complaints about the etiquette of tipping are ripped straight from the George Costanza playbook.

One actor who is confirmed to have auditioned for the role of George is Nathan Lane, who went on to play the recurring role of Pepper Saltzman in Modern Family.

6 Tim Russ As Newman

While it’s now impossible to picture anyone besides Wayne Knight as Newman, the character was originally conceived as a Black man who would be the son of Jerry’s landlord.

Before the character was retooled to suit Knight, Star Trek: Voyager’s Tim Russ auditioned for the part. The Cosby Show’s William Thomas Jr. also came in to read for Newman.

5 Patricia Heaton As Elaine Benes

Before Julia Louis-Dreyfus was chosen to play Elaine, Patricia Heaton did an audition. Heaton, of course, went on to star in a different hit ’90s sitcom: Everybody Loves Raymond.

After the success of Raymond, Heaton managed to land a leading role in another successful sitcom, The Middle, which is like catching lightning in a bottle twice.

4 Larry Miller As George Costanza

Larry Miller, a comedian and close friend of Jerry Seinfeld, auditioned for the role of George Costanza, but despite being Seinfeld’s real-life BFF, he didn’t land the part.

Six seasons into the show’s run, Miller finally got to appear on Seinfeld as the titular guest role in “The Doorman.” He plays Elaine’s boss’ doorman, who torments Jerry.

3 Larry Hankin As Cosmo Kramer

Although Larry David knew Michael Richards from their collaboration on Fridays, which gave him an advantage in the casting process, several other actors read for the role of Cosmo Kramer.

One of them was Larry Hankin, a character actor who went on to play the actor cast to play Kramer on the show-within-a-show that Jerry and George develop for NBC in season 4.

2 Megan Mullally As Elaine Benes

When Howard Stern asked Jerry Seinfeld which alternate actors came close to being cast in the lead roles in Seinfeld, the comedian said, “You know who was very close was Megan Mullally. We liked her a lot. But [then], Julia came in.”

Mullally went on to play a different iconic sitcom character, Karen Walker in Will & Grace, for which she received a whopping eight Emmy nominations (and two wins).

1 Chris Rock As George Costanza

According to Jason Alexander, Chris Rock was under consideration for the role of George Costanza. Rock rose through the ranks of the New York standup scene around the same time as Jerry Seinfeld in the ’80s, so the two had already developed a friendship that could be translated to the screen.

It’s unclear if Rock was ever brought in for an audition, or if he was just a name mentioned in passing by an NBC executive at a board meeting. Rock ended up joining the cast of Saturday Night Live a year after Seinfeld hit the airwaves.

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Ben Sherlock
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Ben Sherlock is a writer, comedian, independent filmmaker, and Burt Reynolds enthusiast. He writes lists for Screen Rant and features and reviews for Game Rant. He’s currently in pre-production on his first feature (and has been for a while, because filmmaking is expensive). You can catch him performing standup at odd pubs around the UK that will give him stage time. Previously, he wrote for Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop.

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