Leslie Marian Uggams 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.
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.
Date of Birth | 25th May 1943 |
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Age | 81 Years |
Zodiac Sign | Gemini |
Country | United States of America |
Current City | New York City |
Birth Place | New York City |
Nationality | United States of America |
Citizenship | United States of America |
Language | English |
Reference | IMDB |
Relatives | Eloise C. Uggams |
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Education |
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Juilliard School |
Occupation | actor, television actor, stage actor, film actor, singer |
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Awards |
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