You probably know Leslie Odom, Jr. (4/30) from his role as Aaron Burr in the Broadway smash hit Hamilton – but this Tony Award-winning superstar doesn’t always play the villain! His long and varied career spans theater, television, film, music, and publishing. His roots are firmly in the theater though. He debuted on Broadway at age 17 after successfully navigating an open call audition for Rent; followed by roles in Dreamgirls, Leap of Faith, and several Off-Broadway roles including starring opposite Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda in Tick, Tick… Boom! He also appeared in Smash, the behind-the-scenes musical series on NBC.
Odom, Jr.’s journey with Hamilton began when it was still a musical experiment called The Hamilton Mixtape. After scoring the last available ticket to a reading of it when he was a student at Vassar College, it only took Odom, Jr. 20 seconds of listening to be hooked on its promise. Mere months later, he was playing Aaron Burr in workshop productions, then Off-Broadway at The Public Theater, and eventually for sold-out Broadway houses. It’s the role that won him a leading man Tony Award, a GRAMMY Award for Best Musical Theater Album, and an Emmy Award nomination for the version of Hamilton filmed for Disney+. And it’s the role that earned him the ticket to the next phase of his career.
“I wanna do all the things that no one would let me dare do before Hamilton,” Odom, Jr. said in an interview with CBS. He unarguably has. Recent roles include Sam Cooke in the movie version of One Night in Miami, which landed him an Academy Award nomination; a mobster in The Sopranos prequel, The Many Saints of Newark; and Owen Tillerman in the Apple TV+ animated musical-comedy series Central Park. In 2018, he wrote an inspirational book: Failing Up: How to Take Risks, Aim Higher, and Never Stop Learning. In 2021, he co-hosted the Tony Awards with Audra McDonald. He recently released his third full-length album – his first of original songs – called Mr.
Don’t miss Leslie Odom, Jr. in concert on April 30 at Merchant Hall!