Leslie Uggams is an 78 year old American actress and singer started her career as an side artist in film industry since 1962 until now.
Which means actress Leslie Uggams has been in film industry for almost 6 decades as of 2022, wherein she has made her appearance in multiple hollywood movies and Tv series.
Some of the well known movies of Leslie Uggams are Deadpool (2016), Deadpool 2 (2018) and Black Girl (1972).
In this article you will find out everything about Leslie Uggams – Age, Height, Movies, Biography, Net Worth, Husband, Kids, Early & professional life.
Leslie Uggams Bio
| Full Name | Leslie Marian Uggams |
| Birth Name | NA |
| Nickname | NA |
| Profession | Actress + Singer |
| Nationality | American |
| Date of Birth | 25 May 1943 |
| Age | 78 years as of 2022 |
| Birth Place | Harlem, New York, United States |
| Gender | Female |
| Religion | Christianity |
| Hometown | United States of America |
| Hobbies | NA |
| School | NA |
| University | The Juilliard School, New York |
| Qualification | Degree in Dramatic Arts |
| Zodiac Sign | Gemini |
| Languages | English |
| Net Worth | $ 4 million |
| Salary (per annum) | NA |
| Ethnicity | NA |
| Marital | Married |
| Spouse | Grahame Pratt (m. 1965) |
| Boyfriend | Mitch Miller |
| Children | Justice Pratt, Danielle Chambers |
| Parents | Harold Uggams, Juanita Uggams |
| Siblings | Leslie |
Leslie Uggams is an American actress and Singer, daughter of Juanita Ernestine (Smith) and Harold Coyden Uggams. Her complete name is Leslie Marian Uggams. She was born on May 25 1943 in Harlem, New York, U.S.
She was born as talented child, also she began her career at very young age in 1950s, started this career life in 1951 playing the niece of Ethel Waters on Beulah. With the short time of periods she got another chance to performer at the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem, alongside Ella Fitzgerald.
She was named as the first black woman to start her own television variety show, The Leslie Uggams Show in 1969. Uggams married to her longtime manager Grahame Pratt since 1965. Then she stated as “It was not as hard as I expected it to be,” as it was a interracial marriage.
Uggams began performing in 1949 at in a nationally televised series called Beulah and starring Ethel Waters in the title role at the age of nine. She is extremely sensitive, perceptive, and a bit shy.
These qualities are both her strengths and weaknesses. She won so many awards and got nominated for so many roles she performed.
She has also rejuvenated her acting career by playing Blind Al in the ‘Deadpool’ movie franchise and Leah Walker in the ‘Empire’ series.
Education
Leslie completed her schooling from the York Professional Children’s School. Then she prestigious Juilliard School. As she was not much interested in academics she hasn’t disclosed much about her education in any interviews.
Early life
Uggams was born to Juanita Ernestine (Smith), who was a chorus dancer of Cotton Club and Harold Coyden Uggams who was an elevator operator and maintenance man, he was also singing with with the Hall Johnson choir.
So basically Leslie’s parents were into singing industry. One of her grandfathers was Coyden H. Uggams, twice pastor of Zion Presbyterian Church in Charleston, South Carolina from 1902 to 1906 and 1913 to 1919.
She completed her schooling in Professional Children’s School of New York and higher studies in Juilliard School in New York itself.
As she was not into academics she was missing school sessions with her silly reasons. Her musical interest was recognized by her aunt and she encouraged her musical training.
Professional life
As Leslie started her career at the age of six, she debuted Ethel Water’s niece on the sitcom ‘Beulah’ (1951). At the same age she starred 28 shows each week at the prestigious Apollo Theatre in Harlem. Her first show in singing field was The Lawrence Welk Show’ (1951).
Leslie released 14 records Meet My Friend, Mr. Sun’. A multi-record deal with ‘Columbia Records’. Her 14 records also includes One More Sunrise’ (1959), ‘The Carefree Years’ (1960), ‘And I Love Her’ (1964), and ‘Hallelujah, Baby!’ (1967). She won US $12,500 in the musical game show ‘Name That Tune’.
After her victory she became household. At the same time she showed her vocal skills on TV to the audience by performing in shows like ‘Sing Along with Mitch’ (1961 – 1964), ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ (1964 – 1969), and ‘The Dean Martin Show’ (1965 – 1972).
Her top rated record in musical field was with ‘Atlantic Records’ and it was her second major music deal as well, it includes ‘A House Built on Sand’ (1967), ‘River Deep, Mountain High’ (1968), and ‘Walk Him Up The Stairs’ (1970) etc. ‘Hallelujah, Baby’ was her first theatrical performance in 1967.
She continued the same way in Her First Roman’ (1968), ‘Blues in the Night’ (1982), ‘Jerry’s Girls’ (1985), and ‘Anything Goes’ (1987). Later performing in movies like ‘Two Weeks in Another Town’ (1962), she appeared in TV shows like ‘The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.’ (1966) and ‘That’s (1968 – 1969).
In 1969 she was the first black woman to host the first-ever African-American woman hosted series ‘The Leslie Uggams Show’. She crowned herself in the movies ‘Skyjacked’ and ‘Black Girl’ in 1972.
In 1977, she played the nowiconic role of Kizzy Reynolds Moore in the TV series ‘Roots’. She followed that up with ‘Backstairs at the White House’ (1979).
Uggams earned an ‘Emmy’ nomination for her portrayal of the real-life Lillian Rogers. She stand out by giving a winning role being a host of the family game show ‘Fantasy’ (1982 – 1983). She also shined in shows like ‘The Love Boat’ (1981 – 1987) and ‘All My Children’ (1996).
Her only movie during the time, ‘Sugar Hill’ (1993) failed at the box-office. Again in 2001 she came back to Broadway which is theatrical performances and gave a ‘Tony Award’ nominated performance in ‘King Hedley II’, ‘Thoroughly Modern Millie’ (2002) and ‘On Golden Pond’ (2005).
She has also gave so many stage performances like ‘On Golden Pond’ (2005), ‘The First Breeze of Summer’ (2008), and ‘Gypsy’ (2014), etc. Her major works would be ‘Deadpool’ (2016) and ‘Deadpool 2’ (2018), these two .
And the most notable role was in the TV series ‘Roots’, the characterized drama of Kizzy Reynolds, in the America slave-drama, opened everyone’s eyes to the horrors of human slavery. It also won her a ‘Primetime Emmy’ award nomination in 1977.
Personal life
Leslie was in a long relationship with her manager Grahame Pratt since 1965. Uggams’s stated as “It was not as hard as I expected it to be,” as it was a interracial marriage.
Grahame Pratt was the student in Professional Children’s School and that was the place where Leslie met him. When she was performing on stage in Sydney during one of Uggams’s celebrity tours in Australia they both ran into each other and exchanged their feelings towards each other.
Himself became the manager of Leslie. Later they decided to make their permanent place in New York, to avoid America’s racial segregation laws of that time.
Now they are the parents of two children daughter Danielle, born in 1970, and son Justice, born in 1976.
Everyone has the thought like is she still doing movies? Is she continuing her career? the answer is Yes! She is still active in her profession and she has been working as Actress and singer from last 70 Years as she started her career in 1951.
Physical Appearance
Height – 5 feet 6 inches (1.67 m)
Weight – 54 kg (119 lbs)
Body Measurements – NA
Skin Tone – Dark
Hair color – Brown
Eye Color – Brown
Salary & Net Worth
Leslie Uggams’ Net Worth in was $4 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. She has had a number of breakthrough roles in a number of successful films and television series. Her acting career is her primary source of income.
Awards/Accolades
In 1977 she got nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress for a Single Appearance in a Drama or Comedy Series for the drama “Roots” for playing “Kizzy Reynolds”.
For episode: “Part VI”. Then she crowned the winning award of All Def Movie Awards in 2017 for the role Best Superhero Token Sidekick for the movie “Deadpool” (2016). In 1984 she got nominated for Daytime Emmy Awards for the role Outstanding Host or Hostess in a Variety Series for the drama “Fantasy”.
For the same role as previous she won the award of Daytime Emmy Awards in 1983 for the movie “Fantasy”. She was the nominee of Golden Globes, USA in 1997 for the role Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series for the drama All My Children (1970).
She shot the goal of winning LAFA May Award in Los Angeles Film Awards in 2021 for the Best Ensemble for the movie “The Ravine” (2021) and also she is the winner of Anniversary Award for TV Land Awards in 2007 for the movie “Roots”.