Leslie Zemeckis

Leslie Zemeckis is an American actress, author, and documentary filmmaker whose subjects are women in burlesque, strippers, and the circus. She has directed four documentaries, including Grandes Horizontales, which looks at French courtesans in nineteenth century high society, as well as Behind the Burly Q, Bound by Flesh, and Mabel Mabel Tiger Trainer. Behind the Burly Q started as a film and later became a book; for it she crossed the country to interview people from old burlesque shows, collecting more than fifty interviewees at the Stardust in Las Vegas prior to its demolition. She has written three nonfiction books and writes a monthly book column for the Montecito Journal. She created and starred in the burlesque show Staar: She'd Rather Be A Mistress, which she turned into a short mockumentary with Carrie Fisher and Fabio, and she performed as her alter ego Staar with the Santa Barbara Symphony. In 2023 she received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.