Anecdotes

She began performing regularly at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem as an extra added attraction before the performances of such legends as Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington at age six.

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".

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

Off stage, Leslie is a founding member of the BRAVO Chapter/City of Hope - a charitable organisation dedicated to the study, treatment and eradication of all blood-related diseases.

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

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.

Attended the Juilliard School of Music in Manhattan, New York City.

Friends with Sammy Davis Jr..

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.

Among her most recent concerts are the Pittsburgh Symphony, Rhode Island Symphony, and The Memorial Day Concert on the Washington Mall, in front of 300,000 people, televised live by PBS.

She is also a board member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, and TADA, a children's musical theatre.

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.

Grew up in the Washington Heights section of New York City.

Mother of Danielle Chambers and Justice Pratt, mother-in-law of Keith Chambers.

Alumna of Stella Adler Studio of Acting.

She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.

Daughter Danielle Chambers is a singer/actress who attended high school in Beverly Hills, California. Upon graduating, she went to New York City to study Theatre and Film at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. She has sung on cruise ships, appeared in a number of regional musicals ("Titanic", "Into the Woods", "Beehive") and produced and performed her own cabaret show.

In 1968, Leslie Uggams and Patricia Routledge tied for the Tony for Lead Actress in a Musical. Leslie won for "Hallelujah, Baby!" and Patricia won for "Darling of the Day". Theirs was the fifth of ten ties in Tony history.