Leslie Uggams

A singer and actress perhaps best known for her work in the landmark television miniseries Roots, Leslie Uggams was born May 25, 1943 in New York City. The daughter of a show biz family -- her father sang with the Hall Johnson Choir and her mother was a chorus dancer -- she began her own career while still a child, making her TV debut at the age of six on the series Beulah. A year later, Uggams began performing regularly at the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem, opening for such legends as Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and Dinah Washington; she subsequently attended the Profe...