Leslie Odom Jr.

Leslie Odom, Jr., the Tony Award recipient recognized for his warm vocal timbre and magnetic stage presence, converted appearances in the premiere Broadway production of Hamilton along with the NBC series Smash into cinematic opportunities and a flourishing path as a solo recording artist. During 2016 his self-titled debut reached the top of the Billboard jazz chart through elegant, finely shaded renditions spanning a wide-ranging assortment of covers. The year 2019 brought Mr, his earliest album devoted entirely to original compositions. Odom then issued a second holiday collection, earned dual Academy Award nominations linked to One Night in Miami in the supporting-actor category and for the song "Speak Now," took parts in motion pictures that include Glass Onion, and reclaimed a Broadway stage in a revival of Ossie Davis' Purlie Victorious Judson before unveiling When a Crooner Dies, his next album of newly written material, in 2023.

Born in Queens, New York, in 1981, Odom grew up in Philadelphia. A performer since childhood, he first stepped onto a Broadway stage at age seventeen as a replacement in Rent. After completing drama studies at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, he moved to Los Angeles upon graduation in 2003. Guest appearances and recurring parts on series such as Gilmore Girls, CSI: Miami, and Vanished soon followed.

Odom secured a role in the 2012 Broadway musical Leap of Faith and contributed to its cast recording. Later that year he was cast as Sam Strickland on the NBC drama Smash, a program centered on Broadway hopefuls vying for roles; fellow cast member Megan Hilty had attended Carnegie Mellon one year behind him. The series ran two seasons and produced the album Bombshell, a Columbia release in 2013 that preserved the Marilyn Monroe-centered musical embedded within the show's narrative, featuring music and lyrics by Marc Shaiman.

Around the same period Odom married actress Nicolette Robinson. While continuing television work he joined early workshops for Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton, taking the part of Aaron Burr. Drawing from Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton, the project reimagined historical events through an ethnically diverse ensemble and a score that incorporated hip-hop. In 2014 Odom independently issued his debut solo album, Leslie Odom, Jr., a vocal-jazz program of Broadway and popular standards.

He originated the role of Aaron Burr when Hamilton opened on Broadway in 2015, capturing the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical and prevailing over Miranda in that category, while Miranda received Tonys for book, score, and musical plus a Pulitzer Prize for Drama among numerous honors for the production. The cast album Hamilton: An American Musical topped Billboard's Cast Albums and Rap Albums charts, with Odom appearing on more than half its tracks.

S-Curve issued a revised edition of the debut LP in June 2016 that removed three tracks and inserted four others, among them Kosma-Mercer's "Autumn Leaves" and Jule Styne's "The Party's Over." The updated set ascended to number one on Billboard's jazz chart and entered the Billboard 200 at a peak of number 147. Citing frequent requests for holiday material, Odom released Simply Christmas later that year; the jazz album also reached number one and attained the Billboard 200's Top 40, followed by a 2017 deluxe edition containing four additional tracks. That same year he joined the ensemble of Kenneth Branagh's Murder on the Orient Express.

In March 2018 Feiwel & Friends, a Macmillan imprint, published Odom's book Failing Up: How to Take Risks, Aim Higher, and Never Stop Learning. He maintained a recurring part that year on the CBS series One Dollar and, the following year, co-starred in the Harriet Tubman biopic Harriet. His third album and first containing original songs, Mr, appeared on S-Curve in November 2019, recorded in Los Angeles with producers Joseph Abate and Neff-U. The holiday LP The Christmas Album followed in 2020. In 2021 Odom received Academy Award nominations both for his portrayal of Sam Cooke and for co-writing "Speak Now" with Sam Ashworth for One Night in Miami, and he performed on the film's soundtrack. Subsequent screen roles included The Many Saints of Newark, the prequel to The Sopranos, John Ridley's Needle in a Timestack, and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. The latter half of 2023 proved especially active: he assumed the lead in a Broadway revival of Ossie Davis' Purlie Victorious Judson, appeared onscreen in The Exorcist: Believe, and issued When a Crooner Dies, his fifth album and second of original material, which arrived that November on BMG and merged adult-pop and R&B sensibilities. ~ Marcy Donelson