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Birth
Leslie Odom Jr was born on Augusts 6th, 1981 in Queens New York. Making him 42 years old today. His father is Leslie Lloyd Odom sr., he worked in sales, His mother, worked as a nursing home director. ( I believe her name is Elizabeth Odom, she was mentioned in a speech but there is little to none information on her) -
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Early interests
From a young age, Leslie showed his love of singing. He showed an early interest in it and would perform in a Baptist church his family attended. -
Early acting
When Leslie was 13 years old, won a competition on African history, which gave him a scholarship to Philadelphia's nonprofit freedom theater. Where he acted as an enslaved person for the playwright "A miracle worker" by William Gibson. This was his first known performance in a theater production. -
Broadway musical rent
At age 16 Leslie auditioned for the Broadway musical "Rent" and was casted when he was 17 as a member of ensemble when he was still in highschool. This is seen as his first official debut in theater. Now he says that the production started his appreciation for musical theater, and he holds the production very close to his heart. -
Education
Even though Leslie had another offer in a Broadway production, he chose to leave New York and go to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburg to study Musical theater. He graduated in 2003 with a degree in musical theater. -
Relocating
After graduating Leslie chose to relocate to Los Angeles where he worked doing singing gigs, and landed a few onscreen roles on shows like:
-CSI: Maimi (2003-2006)
-Vanished(2006)
-Big Day (2006-2007) -
Relocated AGAIN
In 2012 Leslie moved back to New York to work on the musical drama tv series "Smash".
Leslie also worked as supporting roles for other tv shows. -
Love is in the air
Leslie got married to actress Nicolette Robinson, she is most known for her acting in the Musical "Waitress" On Broadway. Their wedding was held in Los Angeles and their relationship has lasted around 10 years. The wedding was private and Nicolette's father officiated it. -
The start of Hamilton
Leslie attended a musical rehearsal by Lin Manuel Miranda, which was soon to become "Hamilton" Leslie was immediately interested in the production, he was asked to read for the role of Aaron burr- and got the part. This would start the mark of something amazing for leslies career. -
Hamilton off Broadway
In 2015 Leslie made his first appearance in Hamilton off Broadway which was the first full-stage production of Hamilton. This production was very rough, there was no official recording of any of the music for it, and later on many scenes got cut/ things changed. -
Broadway!
Hamilton was moved to Broadway a few months after its first full-stage production. Hamilton was a success, creating a huge fanbase for the musical and Leslie. His performance in Hamilton was highly praised for his singing and acting skills. Many claimed that Aaron burr was the role he was born to play. His role was a major part of Hamilton, he was a lot of scenes and had solos. -
The Tony's.
After giving an amazing performance as Aaron Burr in Hamilton, Leslie was awarded a Tony for best lead actor in a Musical in 2016. His award is one of the 11 times that Hamilton won. -
Leaving Hamilton
Shortly after winning his tony award, Leslie gave his last performance as Aaron Burr the following month. It wasn't clear why he left, but he did and still does express his love for the show and how much he enjoyed his time acting in it. He left along with other members of the production. -
Behind the scenes Money troubles
Leslie along with other Hamilton cast members wanted to create a plan that would demand future royalties from the show to the actors because they helped create it. They didn't want the common payments the industry gave. The show had made insane amounts of money and they felt like it was fair that they got the money. This started a sort of falling out between Leslie and Lin, but they eventually made up. -
After Hamilton
After Leslie left the Hamilton production he turned his focus to his music and on-screen acting life. He created music albums and appeared in "The Good Wife" and "Murder On the Orient Express" on TV and helped on the children's cartoon "We Bare Bears" -
The first born
Leslie and Nicolette became parents in April of 2017 when they introduced their daughter Lucille Ruby (nicknamed Lucy) into the world. Both of them have unconditional love for her. -
Musical cartoon.
Even though Leslie had taken a pause from theater, he never left his love for singing. Along with creating more music and releasing albums, he voiced a character in a animated Musical sitcom called "Central Park" along side his former Hamilton Co-star Daveed Diggs -
The second child
Leslie's family of three became a family of four on March 25th, 2021, when they announced the birth of their son, Able Phineas. -
Love for his family.
Leslie and his wife wanted to show their undying love for their children. Even though both actors had very busy schedules filled with TV shows, Films, and music opportunities, they still found time to create a children's book- paired with a song called "I'll love you more than you'll ever know" for their children. -
Back on stage!
After years of not stepping back on stage, Leslie chose to work on the production for "Purlie Victorious" on September 27th 2023. Not only was he an actor in the production but he was one of the co-producers for it. The production had its last showing on February 4th, 2024. -
Quote
"There was a lot of question marks on this role for me.. at the start of it and what cleared it away was love." -Leslie Odom jr. The tony awards 2016. -
References
[https://screenrant.com/leslie-odom-jr-career-roles-after-hamilton-musical/]
[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leslie-Odom-Jr]
[https://www.popsugar.com/celebrity/how-many-kids-does-leslie-odom-jr-have-47679445]
[https://www.essence.com/awards-events/red-carpet/tony-awards/tony-winner-leslie-odom-jr-exit-hamilton/]
[https://pianity.com/leslie-odom-jr]