Leslie Uggams
Biography
Leslie Uggams is an American actress and singer who began in show business as a child in the early 1950s. Born in New York City, she attended the Professional Children's School and Juilliard. Her biggest break came on The Lawrence Welk Show, and she was later a regular on Sing Along with Mitch. On Broadway she starred in Hallelujah, Baby!, winning a Theatre World Award in 1967 and, in 1968, the Tony for best actress in a musical. She earned Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for playing Kizzy Reynolds in Roots (1977). Later she played Blind Al in Deadpool (2016), then Deadpool 2 (2018), and later Deadpool & Wolverine (2024). She also appeared as Leah Walker on Empire, Agnes in American Fiction (2023), and Betty Pearson in Fallout. Her other films include Skyjacked (1972), Black Girl (1972), Poor Pretty Eddie (1975), and Sugar Hill (1994). In 2001 she appeared in King Hedley II, a role that brought a Tony nomination.
83years old
Turns 84 on May 25in 215 days
- Born New York City
- Star sign: GeminiThe sign runs May 21 to June 20
- Also credited as Leslie Marian Uggams
Movie Career
- Films
- 13
- Career span
- 62 years1962 to 2024
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First role
Uggams made her professional debut at age six on Jack Barry's NBC show Stars and Stardust, and went on to perform on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts.
A first
Uggams became the first African American woman to play Rose in a professional production when she starred in Gypsy at Connecticut Repertory Theatre's Nutmeg Summer Series in 2014.
First role
Uggams sang off-screen in her first film, Inherit the Wind (1960), performing the opening and closing numbers without being seen or credited.
Leslie Uggams movies on Netflix
Best known for
The films on Netflix they are best known for, with the part played in each.
Most often with
David Leitch directed two of these films. Two actors appear in four of them each. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
Ryan Reynolds's page
Morena Baccarin's page
Karan Soni's page
T.J. Miller's page
Randal Reeder's page
Brianna Hildebrand's page
All films by David Leitch
Also three films together1 more actor
- Stefan KapicicDeadpool 2 (2018), Once Upon a Deadpool (2018) and Deadpool (2016)
When several people share the same number of films, the ones with the most films on Netflix are in the chart.
Box office
What Leslie Uggams's films earned in cinemas worldwide.
Combined worldwide box office
$3.0 billion
8 of the 13 films have a worldwide figure.
Of the 13 films: 8 worldwide figure; 1 us gross only; 1 never in cinemas; 1 streaming, short cinema run; 2 figure not found.
- 8Worldwide figure
- 1US gross only
- 1Never in cinemas
- 1Streaming, short cinema run
- 2Figure not found
Highest grossing
The eight biggest films earned 100% of the total. The bars are drawn to scale.
- 1$1.3B44.5% of the total
- 2$786M26.1% of the total
- 3$783M26.0% of the total
- 4$51M1.7% of the total
- 5$22M0.7% of the total
- 6$18M0.6% of the total
- 7$6.5M0.2% of the total
- 8$2.5M0.1% of the total
Awards
Three awards and honors, one of them major.
| Year | Award | Film | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tony Awards | |||
| Best Actress in a Musical | Won | ||
| Other honors | |||
| 1967 | Theatre World Award | Won | |
| TV Land Award | Won | ||
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.