Leon Robinson

Biography

Leon Robinson, born in 1962, is an American actor and singer who has worked in film since the early 1980s. Credited simply as Leon, he has appeared in film, television and theatre. His profile grew through the 1990s with films that reached wide popular audiences.

His early roles include a part as a football teammate of Tom Cruise in All the Right Moves (1983) and as a co-worker of Matt Dillon in The Flamingo Kid (1984). After appearing in Colors (1988), directed by Dennis Hopper, he reached a broader audience with Cool Runnings (1993), and that same year he starred in Cliffhanger. He later appeared in Waiting to Exhale (1995) and, uncredited, in Ali (2001). On television he was part of the ensemble of HBO's Oz and played singers in biographical miniseries, including David Ruffin in The Temptations (1998).

Alongside acting, he leads the band Leon and the Peoples, which released the album The Road Less Traveled and a second album in 2018. His musical work and theatre tours have given him a public profile wider than that of a typical supporting actor.

Key films

• All the Right Moves (1983): a football teammate of Tom Cruise in a high school sports drama.
• The Flamingo Kid (1984): a co-worker of Matt Dillon in a coming-of-age comedy set in the 1950s.
• Colors (1988): a gang member in the police drama directed by Dennis Hopper.
• Cool Runnings (1993): a leading role in the sports comedy about the Jamaican bobsled team.
• Cliffhanger (1993): henchman to the villain played by John Lithgow in Renny Harlin's mountain thriller.
• Waiting to Exhale (1995): the married lover of a character played by Lela Rochon in Forest Whitaker's drama.