Caroline Lesley is an American-Canadian actor and singer. She had a role in the movie ''

Fruitvale Station ''Fruitvale Station'' is a 2013 American biographical drama film written and directed by Ryan Coogler. It is Coogler's feature directorial debut and is based on the events leading to the death of Oscar Grant, a young man killed in 2009 by Bay ...

'' which won the Grand Jury and Audience Awards at

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

, and the Future Award at

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

. Lesley's recent work includes roles on

FX on Hulu FX Networks, LLC, is a company consisting of a network of cable channels plus a production company and a subsidiary of the Disney General Entertainment Content segment of The Walt Disney Company. Originally a part of 21st Century Fox, the comp ...

series Y: The Last Man (TV series),

Amazon Studios Amazon Studios is an American television and film producer and distributor that is a subsidiary of Amazon. It specializes in developing television series and distributing and producing films. It was started in late 2010. Content is distributed th ...

series ''

The Boys Boys are young male humans. Boys or The Boys may also refer to: Film and television Films * ''The Boys'' (1962 British film), a courtroom drama by Sidney J. Furie * ''The Boys'' (1962 Finnish film), a war drama by Mikko Niskanen * ''Boys'' ( ...

'',

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television television network, network and flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel owned by the National Geograp ...

show Air Crash Investigation (TV series),

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

show

Condor (TV series) ''Condor'' is an American thriller television series based on the novel '' Six Days of the Condor'' by James Grady and its 1975 film adaptation '' Three Days of the Condor'' written by Lorenzo Semple Jr. and David Rayfiel. The series stars Max ...

Ion Television Ion Television is an American broadcast television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August 31, 1998, as Pax TV, focusing primarily on family-oriented enter ...

series

Private Eyes (TV series) ''Private Eyes'' (during production first known as ''The Code'') was a Canadian comedy-drama television series inspired by the novel of the same name by G.B. Joyce, created by Tim Kilby and Shelley Eriksen starring Jason Priestley and Cindy Samps ...

. Lesley performed at the

Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (shorter UCB Theatre) is an American improvisational theatre company and training center founded by the Upright Citizens Brigade troupe members Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh. Prior to ...

(UCB) in New York City, and

The Groundlings The Groundlings is an American improvisational and sketch comedy troupe and school based in Los Angeles. The troupe was formed by Gary Austin in 1974 and uses an improv format influenced by Viola Spolin, whose improvisational theater techniques ...

in Los Angeles. Lesley guest-starred on the satire TV series

The Onion News Network ''Onion News Network'' is a parody television news show that ran for two seasons of ten episodes each, both during 2011, on the Independent Film Channel. History In March 2007, ''The Onion'' launched ''The Onion News Network'', a daily web v ...

Independent Film Channel IFC (formerly known as the Independent Film Channel) is an American basic cable channel owned by AMC Networks, originally launching in 1994 as a TV channel devoted to independent films. The Independent Film Channel originally operated as a com ...

. Her one-woman show, Doppelganger Joe, premiered at the

New York International Fringe Festival The New York International Fringe Festival, or FringeNYC, was a fringe theater festival and one of the largest multi-arts events in North America. It took place over the course of a few weeks in October, spread on more than 20 stages across seve ...

. Lesley co-created Periscope's first TV Channel, Parachute TV. Parachute TV won the Digital Entertainment World startup award.

Early life

Caroline attended the

Ryerson Theatre School Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU or Toronto Met) is a public research university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, although it also operates facilities elsewhere in Toro ...

in Toronto, where she received her BFA with honors. She played Queen Isabella in her graduate production of Richard II directed by John Neville.

Career

Early career

She was a guest host on Toronto's urban FLOW 93.5 radio (where she was also a copywriter) and she lent her voice to numerous radio and TV commercials. Lesley continued her work in theater and performed improv shows in Ontario with the Canadian Improv Showcase. She also appeared in shows at the Summerworks Festival in Toronto and the Toronto Fringe Festival. She starred in 13 episodes of

Rogers Cable Rogers Cable Inc. is Canada's largest cable television service provider with about 2.25 million television customers, and over 930,000 Internet subscribers, primarily in Southern & Eastern Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador. Ro ...

improv show ''The Canadian Improv Showcase''. She performed in the play ''In Between'' at the Centre for the Arts in Toronto. Caroline received rave reviews for her role as Wendy, a neurotic misfit, trying to find her place. She guest-starred on ''

Soul Food Soul food is an ethnic cuisine traditionally prepared and eaten by African Americans, originating in the Southern United States.Soul Food originated with the foods that were given to enslaved Black people by their white owners on Souther ...

'' on

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

and

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los A ...

. She also appeared in a number of short films and TV commercials, including

Bud Light Anheuser-Busch, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, is the largest brewing company in the United States, with a market share of 45 percent in 2016. The company operates 12 breweries in the United States and nearly 20 in othe ...

Bell Canada Bell Canada (commonly referred to as Bell) is a Canadian telecommunications company headquartered at 1 Carrefour Alexander-Graham-Bell in the borough of Verdun in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is an ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) in t ...

, and

TJ Maxx TJ Maxx (stylized as T•J•maxx) is an American department store chain, selling at prices generally lower than other major similar stores. It has more than 1,000 stores in the United States, making it one of the largest clothing retailers in ...

Hosting work

In 2004, Lesley was a host on the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

television series '' The X''. Lesley was a red carpet correspondent for

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

. She performed one-on-one celebrity sit-down interviews and covered red carpets for EW parties, film festivals (including Sundance and

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

) and

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

and

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology), ...

events. Caroline was the official periscope live-streaming red carpet Daytime Emmy host for the 2016 Daytime Emmy Awards. Lesley covered the red carpet for the opening of ''

Billy Elliot ''Billy Elliot'' is a 2000 British coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Daldry and written by Lee Hall. Set in County Durham in North East England during the 1984–1985 miners' strike, the film is about a working-class boy wh ...

'' on Broadway and appeared in the ''Finding Billy'' documentary produced by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

with

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

. She also covered the

Tony Awards The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...

. She hosted several YouTube shows called "Simple Do's and Don'ts", "The Captain Humphrey's Project", and created the comedic mom show "Eating My Cake Too." She created a weekly show on Parachute TV called "Puppet's Place" that she hosted and voiced the puppet.

Voice work

Lesley was the voice of Yoplait and is the voice of the little boy Kam Kamazaki on ''

Medabots ''Medabots'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese role-playing video game franchise created by Rin Horuma (Horumarin) and currently owned by Imagineer. The main series of RPGs focus on collecting and battling with the titular robots. The bulk of ...

'', an anime television series. She is the voice of Lidda on the ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...

'' movie: '' Scourge of Worlds''. Caroline was also the sultry intermission voice on early episodes of

The Starters ''The Starters'' (previously known as ''The Basketball Jones'') was a podcast, blog, and television program that analyzed, and often satirized, the National Basketball Association (NBA). The show was written and hosted by Canadians Tas Melas and ...

when it was known as the Basketball Jones podcast.

Other work

Caroline filmed a television pilot with Eddie Steeples in Los Angeles. Lesley did several episodes of the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

daytime soap opera ''

As the World Turns ''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other soa ...

'' She starred in the indie film: ''Sister Blister'' in New York City and jumped out of a plane for the role. Lesley appeared in a TV commercial for

Anderson Cooper Anderson Hays Cooper (born June 3, 1967) is an American broadcast journalist and political commentator from the Vanderbilt family. He is the primary anchor of the CNN news broadcast show ''Anderson Cooper 360°''. In addition to his duties at C ...

's daytime talk show: ''Anderson''. She wrote, produced, and directed her own short film, ''Audio Guide'', which screened at the NYC Downtown Short Film Festival and the Long Island International Film Festival. She has several sketch comedy videos on

Funny or Die Funny or Die is a comedy video website and film/television production company owned by Henry R. Muñoz III that was founded by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Mark Kvamme, and Chris Henchy in 2007. The website contained exclusive material from a reg ...

and appeared in sketches for Details.com and EW.com. Lesley was the face of Farmland Dairies milk ad seen in ''Shape'' and on billboards across New York City and New Jersey. She released a single called ''The Rainbow''.

Filmography

References

External links

Official site of Caroline Lesley
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lesley, Caroline Canadian television actresses Canadian voice actresses Living people Year of birth missing (living people)