What Has Heidi Swedberg Been Doing Since Playing Susan On Seinfeld?
Most of the other characters on "Seinfeld" end up worse off for having met the main four friends. But there's a good reason Esquire called Susan Ross (Heidi Swedberg) the "most tragic character" on the beloved sitcom.
Susan pops up in 28 episodes of "Seinfeld" as a recurring girlfriend, and later, the fiancée of George Costanza (Jason Alexander). Ironically, despite proposing, George is always trying to wriggle out of the relationship. Meanwhile, George and his friends give Susan plenty of reasons to leave. Not only does Kramer (Michael Richards) vomit on her and burn down her father's beloved cabin, but George gets Susan fired from her presumably lucrative job as an NBC executive.
Yet the pair stay together until the Season 7 finale, when Susan outright dies after licking too many wedding envelopes with a cheap, toxic adhesive. Here's what actress Heidi Swedberg has been up to since playing Susan on "Seinfeld."
She now teaches the ukelele in schools
Susan is far less eccentric than George and Kramer. She's probably even more normal than the comparatively well-adjusted Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) and Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). However, it's been frequently reported that Susan was killed off at the suggestion of Louis-Dreyfus, as the other cast members found it difficult working with Heidi Swedberg.
Nevertheless, Swedberg continued to act professionally for more than a decade after wrapping up "Seinfeld." This included movies such as "Dennis the Menace Strikes Again!" and "Galaxy Quest," as well as guest spots on "Gilmore Girls" and "Bones." She finally left acting behind in 2010 though, writing in a 2015 op-ed appearing in Ukulele magazine, "I had made the mistake of turning 30. Few actresses' careers survive this unpardonable gaffe."
She returned to her first love, music, and went on to work full-time teaching ukulele to children as well as playing the instrument live. Swedberg even wrote about how this changed her life for the better: "I no longer cared about being important or impressive. I didn't even care that I wasn't the best. I began to have fun." "Seinfeld" fans may remember Swedberg as Susan Ross, but teaching music became her true calling.