Leslie Uggams

The Apollo and Her First Paycheck

Leslie Uggams was six years old when she first stepped onto the stage of the Apollo Theater in Harlem. It was 1950, and the young girl was already working with giants like Milton Berle and Ethel Waters. At that age, most kids are playing in the park. She already knew what it felt like to have the spotlight hot on her face.

But her career was no bed of roses, nor a straight path to fame. In 1968, she won a Tony Award for the musical Hallelujah, Baby! after years of rigorous training. New York's theater industry demanded military-level discipline, and she accepted it without complaint.

In 1969, CBS made a risky decision for the era. They put a Black woman in charge of her own variety show in prime time. The Leslie Uggams Show lasted only one season, but it broke a glass ceiling that seemed made of reinforced concrete.

Television wasn't ready for her.

Kizzy's Scar

Kizzy Reynolds's role in the miniseries Roots in 1977 was an unprecedented social phenomenon in the United States. Nearly 100 million viewers stayed glued to their screens to see how the story ended. Uggams played Kunta Kinte's daughter with a raw intensity that earned her an Emmy nomination.

After that massive success, the industry didn't know what to do with her. During the 80s and 90s, she turned to the stage and to occasional appearances on television series. She took part in productions such as Backstairs at the White House in 1979 and kept her presence on Broadway stages with August Wilson plays.

The risk was worth it.

Because Leslie never stopped working despite the lack of lead roles in film. In 1996 she returned to Broadway in Anything Goes and proved her voice was still intact. Casting directors respected her, but the major Hollywood studios seemed to have forgotten her name.

A Comeback Thanks to Marvel

The call to shoot Deadpool in 2016 changed the global perception of her career. Ryan Reynolds was looking for someone who could match his caustic humor, and found in Uggams the perfect scene partner. She played Blind Al, a blind, foul-mouthed elderly woman who shared an apartment with the mercenary.

In 2018 she reprised her role in the franchise sequel, with the same success among critics. Younger audiences who had never heard of Roots discovered an actress with devastating comic timing. Her schedule filled up again with big-budget projects after years of independent productions.

In 2024, she appeared in the series Fallout, playing Betty Pearson under the direction of Jonathan Nolan. That same year, she returned to the role of Blind Al in Deadpool & Wolverine. The film had an estimated budget of $200 million.

Production wrapped filming in London.