Julia Lous-Dreyfus was mortified to be mistaken for her 'Seinfeld' character when she was "naked" and in labour.

The 63-year-old actress - who has sons Henry, 31, and Charlie, 26, with husband Brad Hall - admitted although it is usually "lovely" that fans feel a connection to her after seeing her on screen for so long, it has led to some "awful" moments when people have confused her with her TV alter egos at inappropriate times.

On her 'Wiser Than Me' podcast, Julia and her guest Ina Garten talked about how people expect them to be like their onscreen personas, with the actress telling the cook: “I think particularly with television, with computer, I should say, I mean everybody’s watching it on all these other devices. But you’re in their home.

“You’re in their home so they feel relaxed with your presence."

Ina agreed: “And they feel like you’re a friend.”

The 'Veep' star then noted it can be "lovely" to be seen by fans that way, but went on to recall the "crazy" incident when she was in hospital giving birth and a nurse called her Elaine after confusing her with her 'Seinfeld' alter ego.

She said: “I was giving birth, and when you’re in labour, they put that monitor around your tummy.

“And I was in the bathroom, and I was naked, and I had the thing around my tummy, and I was massive, by the way. I gained like 50 pounds when I was pregnant.

“I was standing there, and my water broke, and all of a sudden a nurse came into the room and I went, ‘My water broke!’ Ok, reminding you — naked. And she goes, ‘Elaine!’ It was so awful. Isn’t that crazy?”