Leslie Uggams

Leslie Uggams was born on May 25, 1943 in New York City, New York, USA.

She made her national television debut at age six on the television series Beulah (1950), portraying the niece of Ethel Waters.

She was in the audience when Buddy Holly and The Crickets made their debut at the Apollo Theater (1957).

She was awarded Broadway's 1968 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for "Hallelujah, Baby!" in a tie with Patricia Routledge for "Darling of the Day".

Although John Amos and Madge Sinclair were only three and five years her senior in real life, they played her parents in Roots (1977). Similarly, she is only three years older than her on-screen son Ben Vereen and four months older than her on-screen grandson Georg Stanford Brown in the same production.

Reprised her role in 1989/90 at the Lincoln Center's Vivien Beaumont Theatre on Broadway. 1991 saw Leslie touring in "Stringbean", a new play with music based on Ethel Waters' rise to fame in the 1920s and 1930s.

She was nominated for the 2001 Antoinette Perry (Tony) Award for Best Actress in a Play for "King Hedley II" on Broadway in New York City.

Actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and civil rights activist Ruby Dee took Ugghams under Dee's wing, when she was 29. The friendship had lasted 42 years until Dee's passing in 2014.

She is an actress, known for Deadpool (2016), Deadpool 2 (2018) and Roots (1977).