Leslie Lewis Sword is currently at work on a new performance piece about an inspirational survivor of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

She will be performing her sold-out one-woman revue, Leslieland, Off-Broadway in NYC in Fall 2006.

Leslie co-starred with Billy Zane in the short film Starving Hysterical Naked, a biopic about the Beat Generation Writers. She attended Harvard University for her BA, and UCLA?s Department of Theater for a Masters of Fine Arts in acting.

In 2005, Leslie's performance as Dorothy Dandridge in Jamal William's one-woman show Yesterday Came Too Soon sold out for all performances at the National Black Theatre Off-Broadway in Harlem, New York, under the creative direction of Dr. Barbara Ann Teer.

Film/TV

The Black Count (Lead) - dir. Abiola Abrams
Prey (Lead) - dir. Myron Murakami et al
Lone Star (Featured) - dir. Victor Buhler
Distractions (Lead) - dir. Edward Vilga
Starving Hysterical Naked (Lead) - dir. Michael Bockman
Project Light Pilot (Lead) - dir. Karen Rosin
Chaos Theory (Lead) - dir. Edward Vilga
Being Claudine (Lead) - dir. I-fan Quirk

Theater

Yesterday Came Too Soon (Solo show) - dir. Dr. Barbara Ann Teer
A Little Night Music (Petra) - dir. Dallas Dunnagan
LeslieLand: A One-Woman Revue (Lead) - dir. Denise Uyehara
The Carnal Cabaret (The Fat Lady) - dir. Jose Luis Valenzuela
Wintertime (Dr. Jacqueline Benoit) - dir. Mel Shapiro
Second City Improv: La Ronde (Ensemble) - dir. Craig Cacowsky
A Lesson Before Dying (Vivian) - dir. Rodney Scott
The Inspector General (Dobchinsky) - dir. Mel Shapiro
The Unemployment Project (Nadine Cooper) - dir. Max Snyder
As You Like It (Phebe) - dir. Joe Olivieri
Random Acts of Shakespeare (Lady Percy, Witch, Julia) - dir. Ellen Geer
Betty's Summer Vacation (Voice 2) - dir. April Shawhan
Hospital at Time of Revolution (Patient A) - dir. Jenniger Epps

Education and Training

Harvard University - cum laude AB in Social Studies
University of California, Los Angeles - MFA in Acting
The Second City Los Angeles Training Center - IFA Levels 1-3, Conservatory Level

Awards

UCLA Streisand/Sony Fellowship, Theater Faculty Memorial Award

Skills

Bilingual in French, conversant in Spanish, rudimentary German and Kiswahili, Jazz, African and Hip-hop dance experience, published poet, horseback riding, tennis, alpine and cross-country skiing, certified aerobics instructor