Leon Robinson

Leon Preston Robinson (born March 8, 1962), usually credited as simply Leon, is an American actor and singer who began his professional career as a film actor in the early 1980s. He is best known for his roles as J.T. Matthews in the 1991 Robert Townsend film The Five Heartbeats, Derice Bannock in the 1993 film Cool Runnings, Shep in the 1994 basketball drama film Above the Rim, and Little Richard in the 2000 film Little Richard.

Leon Robinson
Robinson in 2019
Born	Leon Preston Robinson (1962-03-08) March 8, 1962 (age 62)[1] New York City, U.S.
Other names	Leon/noel
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1982–present
Partner	Patricia Blanchet
Children	1

Career

Leon appeared in a 1989 episode of the NBC series Midnight Caller, in which he played an athlete who falls victim to crack cocaine. He also co-starred in the 1989 ABC miniseries The Women of Brewster Place, as the boyfriend of a suburbanite (played by Robin Givens). He was cast as Saint Martin de Porres in Madonna's controversial 1989 music video "Like a Prayer".

Leon's early film roles included a football teammate of Tom Cruise in All the Right Moves (1983) as Shadow Nading, and the Notre Dame-bound basketball-playing co-worker of Matt Dillon, in The Flamingo Kid (1984).^[2] He co-starred in the Michael Mann-produced Tri-Star Pictures film Band of the Hand, as well as the "Killer Bee" in the Dennis Hopper-directed gang film Colors, starring Sean Penn and Robert Duvall. After his exposure in the 1989 video for the song "Like a Prayer" by Madonna, he played a leading role in the 1993 Disney film Cool Runnings. That same year, he co-starred as John Lithgow's henchman in Renny Harlin's Cliffhanger and followed with a turn as a disillusioned ex-jock in New Line Cinema's Above the Rim (1994). Leon also appeared as Lela Rochon's married lover in 1995's Waiting to Exhale directed by Forest Whitaker and starring Whitney Houston. He had a starring role in the Merchant/Ivory produced movie Side Streets with Rosario Dawson. He produced as well as starred in the 1997 romantic drama The Price of Kissing with TV star Pauley Perrette. He also starred in the movie Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored, directed by Tim Reid and winner of Best Picture at the NAACP Image Awards.

Leon has received critical acclaim^{[by whom?]} for his portrayal of three singers: David Ruffin in the 1998 NBC miniseries The Temptations, Little Richard in the self-titled 2000 NBC movie biography, and JT in the 20th Century Fox movie The Five Heartbeats, directed by Robert Townsend. Leon received an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Little Richard. During this period, he joined the ensemble cast of two TV series, playing the popular Jefferson Keane on HBO's first series, Oz, and as Lawrence Hill on Showtime's Resurrection Blvd.. He co-starred as "Stoney", best friend of Joaquin Phoenix, in Miramax's military drama Buffalo Soldiers and had an uncredited role as "Joseph 13 X" in Michael Mann's award-winning biopic, Ali, starring Will Smith.

Leon briefly hosted his own late-night talk show, The L-Bow Room, on BET.

In 2008, he starred in the 20th Century Fox thriller Cover, directed by Bill Duke, and starred alongside Danny Masterson and Dominique Swain in the indie comedy The Brooklyn Heist, directed by Julian Mark Kheel.

In 2009, AOL Black Voices voted Leon one of the Sexiest Actors of All Time.^{[citation needed]}

Between 2013 and 2014, he appeared in four movies, the romantic comedy I Really Hate My Ex, written and directed by Troy Beyer; the southern drama Soul Ties, based on the book by Tee Austin; the indie rock/drama 37; and the romantic drama And Then There Was You with Garcelle Beauvais.

Theater

In theater, Leon has headlined three national tours, with sold-out performances at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre, NYC's Beacon Theatre, Detroit's Fox Theater, Washington, DC's Warner Theater. These tours were of Friends and Lovers (2005), based on Eric Jerome Dickey's New York Times bestselling book; of 3 Ways to Get A Husband (2009 and 2010), as a soldier returning from Iraq, co-starring Billy Dee Williams; and the revival of Why Do Good Girls Like Bad Boys (2012).

Music

Leon is the lead vocalist and songwriter of the band Leon and the Peoples. In 2007, he received an International Reggae and World Music Award nomination for the band's debut CD, The Road Less Traveled. He won Best International Artist at the Joe Higgs Reggae Awards. He completed a 36 city US tour with reggae greats Beres Hammond and Marcia Griffiths, titled the "For The Love Of It Tour". He was a frequent guest on Beres Hammond's 2008 and 2010 North American tours. He headlined NYC's Central Park 2010 and 2013 AIDS Walk concerts. Other performances include the 2011 Aspen Jazz Festival, 2012 Catalpa NYC Music Festival, New Orleans Music Festival, Chicago's Festival Of Life, Reggae on River, Jamaica's Rebel Salute, and BET's popular 106 & Park.

Leon and the Peoples' single "Love Is A Beautiful Thing'" was featured on the BET/Centric TV show Culture List, which premiered on July 21, 2013. The band's second album, Love Is A Beautiful Thing, was released on the Spectra Music label on July 20, 2018, with the title track debuting at No. 3 on Billboard's Hot Singles Chart, and the next single, "Beautiful" appearing on the same chart at No. 12.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	All the Right Moves	Austin "Shadow" Williams
1984	Sole Survivor	Gang Leader
	The Flamingo Kid	Fortune Smith
1985	Streetwalkin'	Jason
1986	Band of the Hand	Moss
1987	The Father Clements Story	Ice	TV movie
1988	The Lawless Land	Road Kill
	Colors	Killer Bee
1989	Flying Blind	Larry Brown	TV movie
	A Mother's Courage: The Mary Thomas Story	Michael Thomas	TV movie
1991	The Five Heartbeats	J.T. Matthews
1993	Cliffhanger	Kynette
	Cool Runnings	Derice Bannock	credited as Leon
	Bad Attitude	Eddie Johnson	TV movie
1994	Above the Rim	Shep
1995	Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored	Uncle Melvin
	Waiting to Exhale	Russell
1996	Spirit Lost	John
	Pure Danger	Felix	Video
1997	Runaway Car	Officer Isaiah 'Beau' Beaufort	TV movie
	B*A*P*S	Leon
	The Price of Kissing	Larry	[3]
1998	Side Streets	Errol Boyce
1999	Friends & Lovers	Tyrell
	Mean Streak	Altman Rogers	TV movie
	Bats	Jimmy Sands
	Mr. Rock 'n' Roll: The Alan Freed Story	Jackie Wilson
2000	Little Richard	Little Richard	TV movie
2001	Buffalo Soldiers	Stoney
	Ali	Joe Simmons
2002	Four Faces of God	Jah	Short
2005	Get Rich or Die Tryin'	Slim
2006	The Tested	Curtis	Short
	Ways of the Flesh	Dr. Lee
2007	Cover	Ryan Chambers
2008	The Brooklyn Heist	Ronald
2009	3 Ways to Get a Husband	Devon	Video
2011	The Heart Specialist	Dr. Lee
2012	From This Day Forward	Deon	TV movie
2013	Je'Caryous Johnson's Marriage Material	Michael
	Someone to Love	Joshua Gilbert
2014	37: A Final Promise	Dr. Koehm
2015	Ex-Free	Sean
	Against the Jab	DJ Mike
	Where Children Play	David Mccain
	Soul Ties	Dale Sr
2016	The Rhythm and the Blues	Eddie Taylor Sr.	Short
	Love Had Everything to Do with It	-
2017	The Cheaters Club	James
2018	Make America Black Again	Candidate Johnson	Short
	Her Only Choice	Melvin
	Before You Say I Do Live!	Edward
2020	The Glorias	Frank
	The Sin Choice	Doug Stephens
	Time for Us to Come Home for Christmas	Jasper Penderson	TV movie
2022	A Day to Die	Tyrone Pettis
2023	First Lady of BMF: The Tonesa Welch Story	Emerson

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	Making the Grade	-	Episode: "Pilot"
	CBS Schoolbreak Special	Bobby Joe Tucker	Episode: "Journey to Survival"
1987	Houston Knights	Scarecrow	Episode: "Scarecrow"
1989	The Women of Brewster Place	Abshu	Episode: "Part 1 & 2"
	Midnight Caller	Nathan 'Skate' Fillmore	Episode: "The Fall"
	Hunter	Iceman	Episode: "Investment in Death"
1990	L.A. Law	Ronald 'Pinto' Sewell	Episode: "Blood, Sweat and Fears"
1995	Central Park West	Gabe Sands	Recurring cast: Season 1
1997	Oz	Jefferson Keane	Recurring cast: Season 1
1997–98	C-16: FBI	Robert Robinson	Recurring cast
1998	The Temptations	David Ruffin	Episode: "Part 1 & 2"
2001	Resurrection Blvd.	Lawrence Hill	Recurring cast: Season 2
2003	Oz	Jefferson Keane	Episode: "Dead Man Talking"
	Crossing Jordan	Detective Vicellous Owens	Episode: "Sunset Division"
	Hack	Ulysses Sims	Episode: "To Have and Have Not"
2004	The L-Bow Room	Himself/Host	Main Host
	Super Secret Movie Rules	Himself	Episode: "Sports Underdogs"
2009–11	Diary of a Single Mom	Lawrence Hill	Recurring cast
2011	Are We There Yet?	Dr. Harvey Cleveland	Episode: "The Compatibility Test Episode"
	Reed Between the Lines	Don	Episode: "Let's Talk About Affairs"
2016	Recovery Road	Alan	Recurring cast
2017	Unsung Hollywood	Himself	Episode: "Tupac Shakur"
2018	Rel	Nickels	Episode: "Re-Enter the Dragons"
	40 and Single	Dan Mayor	Main cast
2018–19	Blue Bloods	Cameron Gooding	Guest cast: Season 9-10
2021	A Luv Tale: The Series	George Montgomery	Recurring cast
	Games People Play	Walter King	Recurring cast: Season 2
2021–22	City on a Hill	Reverend Isaiah Hughes	Recurring cast: Season 2, Guest: Season 3
2023	Swarm	Harris	Episode: "Girl, Bye"
2023–24	The Chi	Alonzo	Recurring role; season 6

References

1. "Leon (8 March 1962, New York City, New York, USA) movies list and roles - #1 Movies Website".
2. Rotter, Joshua (June 26, 2019). "Leon joins diverse cast of 'A Luv Tale'". San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
3. Klady, Leonard (April 20, 1997). "The Price of Kissing". Variety. Retrieved December 18, 2017.

External links

• Leon at IMDb
• Leon's official website