Leslie Jordan

Famous for his impish energy and diminutive stature, Leslie Jordan became a beloved character actor beginning in the mid-'80s. Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Jordan moved to Los Angeles in 1982 with the goal of joining the entertainment industry. Though he would battle drug and alcohol abuse early on, Jordan also found tremendous meaning by volunteering during the AIDS crisis, donating his time to AIDS Project Los Angeles and Project Angel Food. Eventually, Jordan began to find traction as an actor, landing appearances on shows like "The Fall Guy" (ABC, 1981-86) and "The Wizard" (CBS, 1986-87) in 1986. Within a few years, he would become a starring cast member of the short-lived series "The People Next Door" (CBS, 1989). Six years later, Jordan originated the role of Earl "Brother Boy" Ingram in the play "Sordid Lives." He reprised the role when the play was adapted into a feature film in 2000, and again when it was adapted into the series "Sordid Lives: The Series" (Logo, 2008-09). In the meantime, Jordan earned tremendous popularity playing the recurring role of Beverley Leslie on "Will & Grace" (NBC, 1998-). He would also write and star in the autobiographical play "Hysterical Blindness and Other Southern Tragedies That Have Plagued My Life Thus Far," which ran the Soho Playhouse for seven months, and later co-starred in an acclaimed off-Broadway production of "Lucky Boy" in 2011. Jordan would go on to play recurring characters on shows like "American Horror Story" (FX, 2011-) and "The Cool Kids" (Fox, 2018-). Leslie Jordan died on October 24, 2022 in Hollywood, CA at the age of 67.