Early life

Leslie was born in Memphis, Tennessee and later moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Jordan has discussed his early life in Chattanooga, saying that he had a difficult time with religion growing up in the South and that he was baptized 17 times. Whenever the preacher would ask if anyone had sinned, Leslie would always think of something and come forward even when his mother thought he was overreacting about the situation.

During an appearance on Today with Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford, Jordan discussed his personal life and career. He described his mother, Peggy Ann, as being supportive and accepting though never truly understanding him. When asked about his mother he said that she was a very private woman and that she still lives in Chattanooga. Jordan's father was a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army and he died in a plane crash when Jordan was eleven.

Jordan left Tennessee and arrived in Los Angeles in 1982. During this time he became involved with drugs and alcohol and was arrested many times. When Jordan was seventeen years old, he started to write in journals every day. He said that writing in his journals helped him with recovering from drug and alcohol abuse.

Jordan became involved in volunteer work. "Early on in the AIDS crisis, Jordan became involved in AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) as a buddy and as a food delivery person for Project Angel Food."

Career

Jordan has made numerous appearances in both film and television. He is recognizable for his diminutive size and Southern drawl. He appeared as a newspaper editor named Mr. Blackly in the popular movie, The Help. He is best known for his television work, including guest appearances on Will & Grace, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Star Trek: Voyager, Caroline in the City, Reba, Boston Public, Boston Legal, Nash Bridges and his secondary role on Hearts Afire. He guest-starred on the comedy-drama Ugly Betty as celebrity-trasher Quincy Combs. In 2007, Jordan starred as Jesse Joe in the short-lived CW television program Hidden Palms. He also portrayed the ski patrol director in Ski Patrol.

He is best known for his role as Karen's pretentious, sexually ambiguous rival Beverley Leslie on the series Will & Grace. For that role he received an Emmy Award for Best Guest Actor in a Comedy Series at the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards in 2006. Because Jordan won the award for Best Guest Actor in a Comedy Series, he was invited to present the awards for outstanding comedy writing and outstanding comedy directing at the 2006 Emmy Awards with Cloris Leachman a week later.

Jordan starred in the pilot episode of Laugh Out, the world's first interactive, gay-themed comedy show. On August 18, 2014, Jordan became a housemate in the celebrity edition of the British reality game show Big Brother. He was the second person to leave the Big Brother house (August 29, 2014). In January 2015, Jordan guest starred in the British sitcom Benidorm for two episodes as the character "Buck-A-Roo".

Jordan is an accomplished stage actor and playwright. In one of his best-known performances onstage, he played Earl "Brother Boy" Ingram in Sordid Lives, a role he took to the big screen in the popular cult film of the same name. Jordan reprised the role in the Sordid Lives: The Series, a televised spin-off of the movie airing on Logo where he plays a character that is in a mental hospital. He wrote and starred in the autobiographical play Lost in the Pershing Point Hotel, which was also made into a motion picture. He recently toured the country performing his one-man stage comedy, Like a Dog on Linoleum, to generally favorable reviews.

Jordan's first one-person show was called Hysterical Blindness and Other Southern Tragedies That Have Plagued My Life Thus Far. Next, he distilled his experiences growing up as an effeminate tiny boy in the Southern United States and in show business into an autobiographical one-man show, My Trip Down the Pink Carpet. During the opening of My Trip Down the Pink Carpet, Jordan's microphone stopped working but he kept on with the show like nothing happened and his show was a success. After touring the nation for several months with the production, the show opened off-Broadway at the Midtown Theater on April 19, 2010. The show is produced by Jordan's friend, actress Lily Tomlin. Jordan announced on The Paul O'Grady Show that he will be bringing his show to London's Apollo Theatre.

Credits

Writer

• Lost in the Pershing Point Hotel (play)
• My Trip Down the Pink Carpet (2008)
• Hysterical Blindness and Other Southern Tragedies That Have Plagued My Life Thus Far

Stage

• Found A Peanut (1986)
• Sordid Lives (1996)
• Southern Baptist Sissies
• Lost in the Pershing Point Hotel
• Like a Dog on Linoleum (2004)
• My Trip Down the Pink Carpet (2010)
• Lucky Guy (2011); off-Broadway musical in the role of Big Al Wright

Filmography

Genre	Year	Title	Role	Notes
TV series	1986	Fall Guy, TheThe Fall Guy	Malone
TV series	1986	Wizard, TheThe Wizard	Jimmy
TV series	1987	CBS Summer Playhouse	Worm
Film	1988	Frankenstein General Hospital	Iggy
Film	1988	Moving	Customer at Bar
TV series	1988	Night Court	Irwin
TV series	1989	Midnight Caller	Little Bob Johnson
TV series	1989	Murphy Brown	Kyle
TV series	1989	Newhart	L. Gardner
TV series	1989	People Next Door, TheThe People Next Door	Truman Fipps	10 episodes
TV film	1989	Road Raiders, TheThe Road Raiders	Whip	uncredited
TV series	1990	American Dreamer	Short
TV series	1990	Babes	Clem
TV series	1990	Pee-wee's Playhouse	Busby
Film	1990	Ski Patrol	Murray
TV series	1990	Sugar and Spice	Monsieur Jacques
TV series	1991	Top of the Heap	Emmet Lefebvre	06 episodes
TV series	1992	Bodies of Evidence	Lemar Samuels	16 episodes total
Film	1992	Hero	Court Official
Film	1992	Missing Pieces	Krause
TV series	1992	Perfect Strangers	Rob Bob Phillips
TV series	1992	Reasonable Doubts	Asst. Public Defender Clifford Sizemore Marvin Sizemore	16 episodes total
TV series	1993	Getting By	Mr. Bergner
Film	1993	Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday	Shelby
TV series	1993	Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman	Alan Morris / The Invisible Man
TV series	1993	Nurses	Mr. Cooley Waits
TV series	1993	Reasonable Doubts	Asst. Public Defender Clifford Sizemore	16 episodes total
TV series	1994	Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman	William Wallace Webster Waldecker / Resplendant Man
TV series	1993	Hearts Afire	Lonnie Garr	28 episodes total
TV series	1994	Hearts Afire	Lonnie Garr	28 episodes total
Film	1995	Black Velvet Pantsuit	Ernie
TV series	1995	Charlie Grace	Darnell Sims
TV series	1995	Courthouse	Mr. Barnes
TV series	1995	Hearts Afire	Lonnie Garr	28 episodes total
Film	1996	Shoot the Moon
TV series	1996	Coach	Blatt
TV series	1996	Star Trek: Voyager	Kol
TV series	1996	Mr. & Mrs. Smith	Earl Borden
TV series	1997	Arli$$	Skip Lloyd
TV series	1997	Pretender, TheThe Pretender	Pat
Short film	1997	Two Weeks from Sunday		25 minutes
TV series	1997	Weird Science	Boyd Butayne
TV series	1997	Wings	Teddy Kolb
TV series	1998	Buddy Faro	Frankie Delgado
TV series	1998	Caroline in the City	Dr. Leslie
TV series	1998	Dharma & Greg	Kenny
TV series	1998	Ellen	Top Studio Executive
Film	1998	Goodbye Lover	Homer
Short film	1998	Hamburger Helper	Larry Lewis	22 minutes
TV series	1998	Maximum Bob	Cletus Huntley
TV series	1998	Pacific Blue	Bo Nyby
TV series	1999	Martial Law	Horatio Hawkins
Film	1999	Eat Your Heart Out	Director
TV series	2000	Any Day Now
TV series	2000	FreakyLinks	Hotel Clerk
Film	2000	John John in the Sky	Tot Dixon	a.k.a. I'll Wave Back
Film	2000	Lost in the Pershing Point Hotel	Storyteller	writer (play; screenplay)
TV series	2000	Nash Bridges	Walter Marley
TV series	2000	Sabrina, the Teenage Witch	Chuck
TV series	2000	Son of the Beach	Jordan	02 episodes total
Film	2000	Sordid Lives	Earl "Brother Boy" Ingram
TV series	2000	Strip, TheThe Strip	Gaston
TV series	2001	Ally McBeal	Dr. Benjamin Harris
TV series	2001	Boston Public	Dr. Benjamin Harris	05 episodes total
Film	2001	Gristle, TheThe Gristle	Jake Bennett
TV series	2001	Will & Grace	Beverley Leslie	11 episodes total
TV series	2002	Boston Public	Dr. Benjamin Harris	05 episodes total
TV series	2002	Son of the Beach	Jordan	02 episodes total
TV series	2002	Will & Grace	Beverley Leslie	11 episodes total
Short film	2003	Farm Sluts	Coroner	17 minutes
TV series	2003	Judging Amy	Reginald Hoyt
Film	2003	Moving Alan	Arthur
TV series	2003	Reba	Terry	03 episodes total Terry is the jeweler from the rings.
TV film	2003	Tracey Ullman in the Trailer Tales	Rog Monroe
TV series	2003	Will & Grace	Beverley Leslie	11 episodes total
TV series	2004	George Lopez	Doctor
Animated film	2004	Home on the Range	Additional Voice	voice actor
Film	2004	Madhouse	Dr. Morton
TV series	2004	Monk	Town Official
TV series	2004	Reba	Terry	03 episodes total
TV series	2004	Will & Grace	Beverley Leslie	11 episodes total
Animated TV series	2005	American Dad!	Mr. Beauregard	voice actor; 2 episodes total
TV series	2005	Boston Legal	Bernard Ferrion	06 episodes
TV film	2005	Chasing Christmas	PastPast
Short film	2005	Sissy Frenchfry	Principal Principle	28 minutes
TV series	2005	Will & Grace	Beverley Leslie	11 episodes total
Animated TV series	2006	American Dad!	Mr. Beauregard	voice actor; 2 episodes total
TV series	2006	Will & Grace	Beverley Leslie	11 episodes total
Short film	2007	Watch & Learn	Martin	12 minutes
Film	2007	Undead or Alive: A Zombedy	Padre
TV series	2007	Ugly Betty	Quincy Combs
TV series	2007	Hidden Palms	Jesse Jo	05 episodes
TV series	2008	12 Miles of Bad Road	Kenny Kingman	06 episodes
TV series	2008	Privileged	Dale Dart
TV series	2008	Sordid Lives: The Series	Earl "Brother Boy" Ingram	10 episodes
TV series	2008	Under the Pink Carpet	Himself	02 episodes total
TV film	2009	Alligator Point
Film	2009	Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat	Harry
Animated TV series	2009	Glenn Martin, DDS		voice actor
Film	2010	Demonic Toys: Personal Demons	Prof. Butterfield
Film	2010	Love Ranch	Mr. Hainsworth
Film	2010	Leslie Jordon: My Trip Down The Pink Carpet	Himself	Stand Up
TV series	2011	Desperate Housewives	Felix Bergman
Film	2011	Help, TheThe Help	Mr. Blackly
Film	2011	Mangus!	Bruce Jackson
Film	2009	Rockabilly Baby		writer (play)
TV series	2011	Shake It Up	Theodore Van Glorious
TV series	2011	Under the Pink Carpet	Himself	02 episodes total
TV series	2012	DTLA	Theatre Director
TV series	2012	Game, TheThe Game
Documentary	2012	Hollywood to Dollywood	Himself
TV series	2012	Raising Hope	Reverend Bob
TV series	2012	Secret Life of the American Teenager, TheThe Secret Life of the American Teenager
Short film	2012	Yahoo! News/Funny or Die GOP Presidential Online Internet Cyber Debate	Ron Paul
TV series	2013	American Horror Story: Coven	Quentin Fleming	3 episodes total
TV series	2013	Baby Daddy	Edwin the Mall Elf	Episode: "Emma's First Christmas"
Film	2013	Southern Baptist Sissies	Peanut
TV series	2013	RuPaul's Drag Race	Himself	Guest judge on Season 5, Episode 7
TV series	2013	Supernatural	Yorkie Mutt	voice actor; 2 episodes
Film	2014	Lucky Dog	Mr. Kaufman
TV series	2014	Partners	Marion Phillips	Episode: "Jurist Prudence"
TV series	2014	Celebrity Big Brother UK	Himself	Series 14, 12 episodes
TV series	2015	Benidorm	Buck A. Roo	Series 7, Episode 1 & 2
Film	2016	Fear, Inc.	Judson

Charities

Leslie Jordan supports the following charitable causes: Gay Youth, Gay Rights.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]