Leslie Marian Uggams (; born May 25, 1943) is an American actress and singer. After beginning her career as a child in the early 1950s, she garnered acclaim for her role in the Broadway musical Hallelujah, Baby!, winning a Theatre World Award in 1967 and the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 1968. Uggams gained wider recognition for portraying Kizzy Reynolds in the television miniseries Roots (1977), earning Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominations for her performance.
Later in her career, Uggams received renewed notice with appearances as Blind Al in the superhero films Deadpool (2016), Deadpool 2 (2018), and Deadpool & Wolverine (2024). Her other prominent roles were as Leah Walker on the Fox musical drama series Empire (2016–2020); as Agnes Ellison in the comedy-drama film American Fiction (2023); and as Betty Pearson in the Amazon Original post-apocalyptic drama series Fallout (2024–present), based on the video game of the same name.
Early life Uggams was born in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, the daughter of Juanita Ernestine (Smith), a Cotton Club chorus girl/dancer, and Harold Coyden Uggams, an elevator operator and maintenance man, who was a singer with the Hall Johnson choir. She attended the Professional Children's School of New York and Juilliard. Her aunt, singer Eloise C. Uggams, encouraged her musical training. 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.
Career Early work Uggams started in show business as a child in 1951, playing the niece of Ethel Waters on Beulah. That same year she appeared as a featured performer at the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem, alongside Ella Fitzgerald. She made her professional debut at the age of six on Jack Barry's NBC show "Stars And Stardust." Following that, she performed on "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts". Uggams got her biggest break on The Lawrence Welk Show and was a regular on Sing Along with Mitch, starring record producer-conductor Mitch Miller. In January 1954, ten-year-old Uggams released a double-sided single by MGM Records. In 1960, she sang, off-screen, "Give Me That Old Time Religion" in the film Inherit the Wind. Uggams came to be recognized by TV audiences as an upcoming teen talent in 1958 on the musical quiz show series Name That Tune. A record executive was in the studio audience and signed her to a contract. Her records "One More Sunrise" (an English-language cover of Ivo Robic's "Morgen", 1959) and "House Built on Sand" made Billboard magazine's charts.
Television and film
She appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show singing The Beatles' "Yesterday" in 1965 and later had her own television variety show, The Leslie Uggams Show in 1969. This was the first network variety show to be hosted by a black person since The Nat King Cole Show of the mid-1950s."The Leslie Uggams Show" museum.tv. Retrieved March 4, 2012 She had a lead role in the 1977 miniseries Roots, for which she received an Emmy nomination, as Kizzy."Roots" museum.tv. Retrieved March 4, 2012 In 1979, she starred as Lillian Rogers Parks in the Emmy-winning miniseries Backstairs at the White House. She also made guest appearances on such television programs as Family Guy (as herself), I Spy, Hollywood Squares, The Muppet Show, The Love Boat and Magnum, P.I.. In 1996, Uggams played the role of Rose Keefer on All My Children. She won a 1983 Daytime Emmy Award as a host of the NBC game show Fantasy.
In her first film, she was neither seen, nor credited. In Inherit the Wind (1960), she sang the opening, "(Gimme Dat) Old Time Religion", and the closing, "Battle Hymn of the Republic". Her film career includes roles in Skyjacked (1972), Black Girl (1972) and Poor Pretty Eddie (1975), in which she played a popular singer who, upon being stranded in the deep South, is abused and humiliated by the perverse denizens of a backwoods town.Stafford, Jeff. " 'Poor Pretty Eddie' Synopsis". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved March 4, 2012 She later appeared in Sugar Hill (1994) opposite Wesley Snipes, and played Blind Al in Deadpool (2016) in February 2016. In April 2016, she portrayed Leah Walker, the bipolar mother of Lucious Lyon in the hit Fox series Empire. Uggams appeared as Sadie in the 2017 television film The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and in 2018, she returned as Blind Al in Deadpool 2.
She is an active Democrat and hosted a 1984 Democratic Telethon. In 1999 and 2021, she guest starred in two episodes of Family Guy. Additionally, she reprised her role as Blind Al in Deadpool & Wolverine.
In 2023, Uggams voiced a character, Grandma, in My Dad the Bounty Hunter and appeared as Agnes in the film American Fiction.
In 2025, in season 3, episode 7 of The Gilded Age she shared a scene with Phylicia Rashad.
Stage
Uggams was picked to star in Hallelujah, Baby! after Lena Horne declined the role of Georgina. The musical premiered on Broadway in 1967 and "created a new star" in Uggams. She won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a musical (in a tie with Patricia Routledge)."Tony Awards, 1968" broadwayworld.com. Retrieved March 5, 2012 She appeared on Broadway in the revue Blues in the Night in 1982 and in the musical revue of the works of Jerry Herman, Jerry's Girls in 1985.Rich, Frank (December 19, 1985). "Theater: 'Jerry's Girls,' A Musical Entertainment" The New York Times. Uggams replaced Patti LuPone as Reno Sweeney in the Lincoln Center revival of Cole Porter's musical Anything Goes on Broadway in March 1989. She had played Reno in a US tour in 1988–1989.Nemy, Enid (March 17, 1989). "On Stage" The New York Times. Later Broadway roles include Muzzy in Thoroughly Modern Millie (2003–2004) and Ethel Thayer in On Golden Pond at the Kennedy Center in 2004 and on Broadway at the Cort Theatre in 2005.Jones, Kenneth (April 7, 2005). "Jones and Uggams Face Facts of Family Life in Broadway Return of 'On Golden Pond' " Playbill. In 2001, she appeared in the August Wilson play King Hedley II,Brantley, Ben (May 2, 2001). "Theater Review: The Agonized Arias Of Everyman In Poverty and Pain" The New York Times, Subscription required. receiving a nomination for the Tony Award, Best Actress in a Play."Tony Award, 2001" broadwayworld.com. Retrieved March 5, 2012 In January 2009, Uggams played Lena Horne in a production of the stage musical Stormy Weather at the Pasadena Playhouse in California, directed by Michael Bush and choreographed by Randy Skinner.Jones, Kenneth. Playbill, January 21, 2009 In June 2012, Uggams played Muzzy in a production of Thoroughly Modern Millie at The Muny in St. Louis. In 2014, she starred as Rose in Connecticut Repertory Theatre's Nutmeg Summer Series production of Gypsy, becoming "the first African American female to play Rose in a professional production." In 2024, Uggams appeared in the role of Gran Mimi in the New York City Center Encores! production of Jelly's Last Jam, which ran from February 21 to March 3. December 9-10 2025, Uggams was a guest narrator at Disney's Candlelight Processional at Walt Disney World.DisneyWorld.Com Candlelight Processional Narrators 2025accessed 12/11/2025
Personal life Uggams has been married to her longtime manager Grahame Pratt since 1965, at the time a rare high-profile interracial marriage. "It was not as hard as I expected it to be," Uggams says. "I think the reason is that Grahame was not an American white man. But of course we did get mail." Uggams met her husband at the Professional Children's School of New York, where they were both students. The couple met again while she was performing in Sydney, Australia, during one of Uggams's celebrity tours, and he became her manager afterward. After their wedding, they decided to settle in New York City for its relative tolerance of interracial relationships. The couple's daughter Danielle was born in 1970, and their son Justice in 1975.
Acting credits Film Year Title Role Notes 1962 Two Weeks in Another Town Chanteuse 1972 Skyjacked Lovejoy Wells Black Girl Netta 1975 Poor Pretty Eddie Elizabeth 'Liz' Wetherly 1993 Sugar Hill Doris Holly 2009 Toe to Toe Grandma 2014 Just the Three of Us Regina Short film 2016 Deadpool Blind Al 2018 Deadpool 2 Blind Al 2021 The Ravine Joanna 2022 Nanny Kathleen Dotty & Soul Dotty 2023 American Fiction Agnes Ellison 2024 Deadpool & Wolverine Blind Al
Television Year Title Role Notes 1966 Hullabaloo Herself / Host January 10 1966 The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. Natasha Brimstone Episode: "The Jewels of Topango Affair" 1967 I Spy Tonia Episode: "Tonia" 1969 The Leslie Uggams Show Herself 10 episodes 1970 Swing Out, Sweet Land Saloon Singer TV special 1972 The Mod Squad Dina Lane Episode: "Kill Gently, Sweet Jessie" 1974 Marcus Welby, M.D. Laurie Williams Episode: "Feedback" 1977 Roots Kizzy Reynolds Miniseries 1979 Backstairs at the White House Lillian Rogers Parks Miniseries 1981 Sizzle Vonda Television film 1982–1984 Fantasy Host 4 episodes 1984 Magnum, P.I. Alexis Carter Episode: "Paradise Blues" 1987 Hotel Amanda Price Episode: "Discoveries" 1981–1987 The Love Boat Leslie / Marion / Callie 3 episodes 1991 The Cosby Show Kris Temple Episode: "The Return of the Clairettes" 1993 A Different World Dr. Eileen Redding Episode: "College Kid" 1995 Under One Roof Geneva Episode: "Secrets" 1996 All My Children Rose Keefer October 15 – December 11, 1996 1999 Family Guy Herself Episode: "Mind Over Murder" 2011 Memphis Beat Estelle Episode: "Troubled Water" 2011 The Good Wife Suzanne Packer Episode: "Death Row Tip" 2015 Nurse Jackie Vivian 3 episodes 2016–2020 Empire Leah Walker 21 episodes 2017 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Sadie Television film 2021 The Bite Dr. Hester Boutella 3 episodes 2021 Family Guy Herself Episode: "The Birthday Bootlegger" 2019–2022 New Amsterdam Mama Reynolds 5 episodes 2023 Extrapolations Isabel Zucker 2 episodes 2023 My Dad the Bounty Hunter Grandma Voice 2024–present Fallout Betty Pearson 9 episodes 2025 The Gilded Age Mrs. Ernestine Brown Season 3, episode 7
Theatre Year Title Role VenueRef.1967 Hallelujah, Baby! Georgina Martin Beck Theater, Broadway 1968 Her First Roman Cleopatra Lunt-Fontanne Theater, Broadway 1982 Blues in the Night Woman #1 Rialto Theater, Broadway 1985 Jersey's Girls Performer St. James Theater, Broadway 1987 Anything Goes Reno Sweeney (replacement) Vivian Beaumont Theater, Broadway 2001 King Hedley II Ruby Virginia Theater, Broadway 2002 Thoroughly Modern Millie Muzzy Van Hossmere (replacement) Marquis Theater, Broadway 2005 On Golden Pond Ethel Thayer Cort Theater, Broadway
Discography The Eyes of God (Columbia CS8174, 1959) LESLIE UGGAMS ON TV with Mitch Miller's sing along chorus (Columbia CL1706, 1962) So in Love! (Columbia CS8871, 1963) A Time to Love (Atlantic 8128, 1966) What's an Uggams? (Atlantic SD8196, 1968) Just to Satisfy You (Atlantic SD8241, 1969) Leslie (Columbia CS9936, 1970) Try to See It My Way (Sonday SL8000, 1972) Leslie Uggams (Motown M6846S1, 1975) Leslie Uggams: On My Way to You: Songs of Alan and Marilyn Bergman (2003)
Awards and nominations