When Julia Louis-Dreyfus joined "Saturday Night Live," she was the youngest cast member at 21 years old. She told Digital Spy she initially felt like Cinderella on the sets because it was her first professional acting gig. However, things took a turn for the worse. In an interview for "Evening with Stephen Colbert, Louis-Dreyfus said, "I was unbelievably naïve and I didn't really understand how the dynamics of the place worked" (via People). At her young age, she couldn't identify the rampant drug use and sexism prevalent among the cast and crew.
However, Louis-Dreyfus was able to make the best out of a bad situation by thinking of it as a lesson. "I learned I wasn't going to do any more of this show business crap unless it was fun," she added. "I don't have to walk and crawl through this kind of nasty glass if it's not ultimately going to be fulfilling, and so that's how I sort of moved forward from that moment. I sort of applied the fun-meter to every job since, and that has been very helpful." Luckily for Louis-Dreyfus, "Seinfeld" turned things around. She told "Charlie Rose" that the cast had a terrific time making the show, and their happiness fueled their performances in the sitcom.
After a breast cancer diagnosis, she took some time away from "Veep" for her treatment. But as soon as she returned, she tweeted how grateful she was to work with "superb people."
