Leslie Jordan

Film and television

Jordan began his career in 1986, appearing as Malone in the adventure series The Fall Guy.^[13] He quickly became recognizable in the industry for his diminutive size and Southern drawl.^[3] He appeared as newspaper editor Mr. Blackly in the movie The Help.^[14] His television career includes guest appearances on Murphy Brown, Designing Women, Will & Grace, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Star Trek: Voyager, Caroline in the City, Pee-Wee's Playhouse, Reba, Boston Public, Boston Legal, Nash Bridges, American Horror Story, Perfect Strangers, and Hearts Afire.^[15] In 1990, Jordan portrayed the ski patrol director in Ski Patrol.^[16] In 2007, he guest-starred on the comedy drama Ugly Betty as celebrity-trasher Quincy Combs, and starred as Jesse Joe in the short-lived CW television program Hidden Palms.^[17]

On the television series Will & Grace, Jordan played Beverley Leslie, Karen Walker's pretentious, poorly-closeted rival,^[18] for which he received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series at the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards in 2006. His Emmy Award earned him an invitation to present the awards for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series and Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series at the 2006 Emmy Awards with Cloris Leachman a week later.^[19] Jordan starred in the pilot episode of Laugh Out, the world's first interactive, gay-themed comedy show.^[18] On August 18, 2014, he became a housemate in the fourteenth season of the British reality game show Celebrity Big Brother. He was the second person to leave the Big Brother house (August 29, 2014).^[20] In January 2015, he guest-starred in the British sitcom Benidorm for two episodes, as the character Buck A. Roo.^[21] On November 1, 2017, he appeared in the new British television drama Living the Dream, produced jointly by Sky and Big Talk Productions but branded as a Sky Original Production.^[22] In 2018–2019, he starred in the Fox sitcom The Cool Kids, along with Martin Mull, Vicki Lawrence, and David Alan Grier.^[23]

On April 2, 2020, it was announced Jordan would play the series regular role of Phil in the Fox sitcom Call Me Kat, along with Mayim Bialik, Swoosie Kurtz, Kyla Pratt, and Cheyenne Jackson.^[24] The show premiered in January 2021. In the same year, Jordan was a guest panelist on season six of The Masked Singer during Week 5 where he also did a performance of "This Little Light of Mine" as "Soft Serve".^[25] He later returned as a guest panelist in season seven and season eight. A posthumously-airing holiday episode of Lego Masters was one of his final works before his death.^[26]

Theater

Jordan played Earl "Brother Boy" Ingram in Sordid Lives, and also portrayed this character in the popular cult film of the same name. He reprised the role in a televised spin-off of the movie, which aired on Logo, where he played a character who is institutionalized in a mental hospital.^[27] He wrote and starred in the autobiographical play Lost in the Pershing Point Hotel, which was also made into a motion picture. In 2004, he toured the country performing his one-man stage comedy, Like a Dog on Linoleum, to generally favorable reviews.^[28][29]

Jordan's first autobiographical stage show was called Hysterical Blindness and Other Southern Tragedies That Have Plagued My Life Thus Far,^[12] with music and lyrics by Joe Patrick Ward.^[30][31] The production, in which Jordan was backed by a gospel choir singing satirical songs about racism and homophobia, was produced off-Broadway at the SoHo Playhouse and ran for seven months. Next, he distilled his experiences growing up as an effeminate, tiny boy in the South 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; the show was a success.^[12] 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 was produced by Jordan's friend, actress Lily Tomlin. He announced on The Paul O'Grady Show that he would be bringing his show to London's Apollo Theatre.^[32]

Music

Jordan released a gospel music album, Company's Comin' in 2021.^[1]

Social media

At the time of his death, Jordan had accumulated 5.8 million Instagram followers. His following grew substantially in response to his comedy posts during the COVID-19 pandemic.^[33]

Writer

• Lost in the Pershing Point Hotel (play)^[42]
• My Trip Down the Pink Carpet (2008)^[42][43]
• Hysterical Blindness and Other Southern Tragedies That Have Plagued My Life Thus Far^[42]
• How Y'all Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived (2021)^[42]

Stage

• Found a Peanut (1986)^[44]
• Sordid Lives (1996)^[42]
• Southern Baptist Sissies (2000)^[42]
• Lost in the Pershing Point Hotel^[42]
• Like a Dog on Linoleum (2004)^[42]
• My Trip Down the Pink Carpet (2010)^[42]
• Lucky Guy (2011); off-Broadway musical, in the role of Big Al Wright^[42]

Film

Television