With looks that can be sympathetic and charming – as well as devious and unscrupulous – Tony Award-winner Jason Alexander is Jerry Seinfeld's witty, angst-ridden sidekick George Costanza. For his flawless portrayal of George, Alexander has earned two Emmy nominations, a Golden Globe nomination and has won an American Television Award and two American Comedy Awards for Best Supporting Actor in a television series.

An actor whose talents span all media, Alexander began by entertaining his classmates at a young age to keep them from teasing him about his chubbiness. He memorised comedy albums and movie dialogue, and did impressions so well that he never gave his peers a chance to laugh at him, only with him. Alexander took singing and dancing lessons outside of school – he considered his Bar Mitzvah his "first paid gig". At 17 he earned his first professional job when he was spotted in a children's theatre group and was asked to perform on a local New York children's program.

Two years later, Jason landed his first film while studying acting at Boston University – a horror film entitled The Burning, which also features Holly Hunter. Subsequent films include Brighton Beach Memoirs, Mosquito Coast, Jacob's Ladder, White Palace, The Paper and playing Richard Gere's friend and villainous lawyer in Pretty Woman. He also starred in the feature film North, with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Bruce Willis.

A theatre lover, his Broadway debut came with Merrily We Roll Along. He starred in the Broadway production of Rupert Holmes' Accomplice, Neil Simon's Broadway Bound and The Rink with Liza Minnelli and Chita Rivera.

His theatrical capstone however, was Jerome Robbins' Broadway, for which he won the 1989 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Further displaying his Broadway talents, Alexander also authored the narration for the show.

On television, Alexander starred in his own series Everything's Relative, was a series regular on E/R and co-starred in the acclaimed miniseries Favourite Son. Last year, a dream of Alexander's came true when he hosted Saturday Night Live.

Born and raised in New Jersey and a longtime resident of New York, Seinfeld forced Alexander and his wife to move to Los Angeles. His wife began a neighbourhood-recycling program in New York, and together they have brought their environmental zeal to Los Angeles. They have two sons.

George Louis Costanza – Did you know?

Also known as: Boy George, Georgie Boy, Georgie Porgie, George Bonanza Costanza, Lord of the idiots.

He's right-handed, so he must sit on a woman's right side on a couch in order to make a move.

George met Jerry at JFK High School when he fell off a rope in gym class and landed on Jerry's head.

Among George's hidden talents, according to Jerry: He can "run like the wind", hoist 100 pounds over his head and masterfully bait a hook.

Jobs George thinks he might enjoy but for which he isn't qualified: general manager of a baseball team, colour man for baseball telecasts, projectionist, talk show host, Civil War history professor, stable boy.

He's proud of his "unbalanced record of staunch heterosexuality".

He boasts of his formidable parallel parking abilities and comes from a family that regards paying for parking as the moral equivalent of patronising a prostitute.

George doesn't want to die with dignity. He has lived his whole life in shame, he explained, so why should things change when he dies?