Leslie Lloyd Odom Jr. (/ˈoʊdəm/; born August 6, 1981) is an American actor and singer. He made his acting debut on Broadway in 1998 and first gained recognition for his portrayal of Aaron Burr in the musical Hamilton, which earned him a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical and a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album in the same year. His performance was captured in the Disney live stage recording of Hamilton which earned him a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in a Leading Role in a Limited Series or Movie nomination.

Odom is also known for his roles in the television series Smash (2012–2013) and Person of Interest (2013–2014), as well as the films Red Tails (2012), Murder on the Orient Express (2017), Harriet (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), and Glass Onion (2022). For his role as singer Sam Cooke in One Night in Miami... (2020) he earned nominations for the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was also nominated for the Oscar and Golden Globe for writing the film's original song "Speak Now".

Odom currently voices the character of Owen Tillerman in the Apple TV animated musical-comedy series Central Park, for which he was nominated for an Primetime Emmy Award in 2020. Odom has released four albums, Leslie Odom Jr. (2014), Simply Christmas (2016), Mr. (2019), and The Christmas Album (2020). He released his autobiography Failing Up in 2018.

Early life and education
Odom was born in Queens, New York City. His father Leslie Lloyd Odom worked in sales. One of his maternal great-grandfathers was from South Africa, and a maternal great-great-grandfather was from Bridgetown, Barbados. Odom's family moved to the East Oak Lane section of Philadelphia, where he grew up. He attended Julia R. Masterman School for middle school and Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts for high school. Odom and his family attended Canaan Baptist Church in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, where he sang solos in the church choir.

He earned a degree with honors at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and then moved to Los Angeles in the summer of 2003.