Leslie Jordan

On April 2, 2020, it was announced Jordan will play the lead role of Phil in the Fox sitcom Call Me Kat, along with Mayim Bialik, Swoosie Kurtz, Kyla Pratt and Cheyenne Jackson.

As of 29 May 2020, Jordan has 4.6 million Instagram followers. He celebrated his milestone of 1 million followers by making a video wearing sunglasses and a fancy little suit for his followers. His following grew substantially in response to his posts during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the fall of 2018, Jordan starred in the Fox network sitcom The Cool Kids, along with Martin Mull, Vicki Lawrence and David Alan Grier.

On November 1, 2017, Jordan 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.

Leslie Jordan was born and raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In a 2014 interview, Jordan said that he had a difficult time growing up Southern Baptist. "I was baptized 14 times. Every time the preacher would say, 'Come forward, sinners!' I’d say 'Oooh, I was out in the woods with that boy, I better go forward.'"

Jordan starred in the pilot episode of Laugh Out, the world's first interactive, gay-themed comedy show. On August 18, 2014, Jordan became a housemate in the celebrity edition of the British reality game show Big Brother. He was the second person to leave the Big Brother house (August 29, 2014). In January 2015, Jordan guest starred in the British sitcom Benidorm for two episodes as the character "Buck-A-Roo".

Jordan's first autobiographical stage show was called Hysterical Blindness and Other Southern Tragedies That Have Plagued My Life Thus Far, with music and lyrics by Joe Patrick Ward. 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 Southern United States 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, and his show was a success. 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 is produced by Jordan's friend, actress Lily Tomlin. Jordan announced on The Paul O'Grady Show that he will be bringing his show to London's Apollo Theatre.

Jordan is recognized for his diminutive size and Southern drawl. He appeared as newspaper editor Mr. Blackly in the movie The Help. His television career includes guest appearances on Murphy Brown, 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 and Hearts Afire. He guest-starred on the comedy-drama Ugly Betty as celebrity-trasher Quincy Combs. In 2007, Jordan starred as Jesse Joe in the short-lived CW television program Hidden Palms, and portrayed the ski patrol director in Ski Patrol.

On the television series Will & Grace, Jordan played Karen's pretentious, sexually ambiguous rival Beverley Leslie for which he received an Emmy Award for Best 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.

Jordan moved to Los Angeles in 1982 where he became involved with drugs and alcohol and was arrested several times. When Jordan was 17 years old, he began to journal daily, which helped him recover from drug and alcohol abuse. In 2010, Jordan told talk show host Wendy Williams that he had been sober for thirteen years. In the same appearance Jordan said that before he gave up drinking, he once shared a cell with Robert Downey Jr., and when they both appeared later on Ally McBeal, Downey couldn't quite place where they had met before.

Leslie Allen Jordan (born April 29, 1955) is an American actor and writer. He is best known for his roles as Lonnie Garr in Hearts Afire (1993–1995), Beverly Leslie in Will & Grace (2001–2006, 2017–2020), several characters in the American Horror Story franchise (2011–present), and Sid in The Cool Kids (2018–2019). One of his best-known onstage performances was in Sordid Lives, where he played Earl "Brother Boy" Ingram, a role he took to the big screen in the popular cult film of the same name.