eteran American actress and singer Leslie Uggams' showbiz career spans over six decades, in the course of which she has portrayed a number of memorable roles on television, film and stage. She is perhaps best known for essaying the role of Kizzy Reynolds in the acclaimed miniseries Roots (1977), which earned her Golden Globe and Emmy nominations that year. The present generation is best familiar with the seasoned thespian as Blind Al, the feisty elderly woman who is the roommate of Wade Wilson in the superhero film series Deadpool.

Uggams started out as a child artist at the age of eight, establishing herself as a singing prodigy through popular shows of the day like Name That Tune and The Lawrence Welk Show. In the 1960s, she segued into acting, and subsequently won both the Tony Award and Theatre World Award for Best Actress for her performance in the acclaimed musical Hallelujah, Baby. The miniseries Backstairs at the White House (1979), the political drama The Good Wife (2009-2016) and the musical drama Empire (2015-) are among Uggams' other significant tv credits. Notable feature film credits include Black Girl (1972), Sugar Hill (1993) and the superhero films Deadpool (2016) and Deadpool 2 (2018).