Draft:Leslie Kimbell

• Comment: Borderline about to be WP:G11ed. ABG (Talk/Report any mistakes here) 04:33, 23 October 2024 (UTC)

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Leslie Kimbell (b. 1966) is an American playwright, actor, and director based in North Georgia, USA.

BIOGRAPHY

Kimbell was raised in a conservative Christian family in Tennessee and North Georgia. Childhood, while outwardly normal and idyllic was difficult and confusing. "I barely managed to get through high school. I hated school, everything except creative writing and theatre. The thespian bug big me hard in fifth grade. Because I was very sheltered and introverted, I was bullied severely in high school and found my people among the freaks and geeks of the drama club. The drama club probably saved my life...yes...actually...theatre saved my life." Leslie often found escape in her local community theatre too. "When I was thirteen, a new community theatre started just two blocks from my house. If I wasn't at home, that's where you would find me. I learned a lot more about the theatre there...directing, staging, lighting, costumes, props...it was my happy place. I felt so much acceptance and love there."

Leslie blossomed in her early twenties and began a career in modeling and eventually became a burlesque entertainer. She appeared in numerous magazines, calendars, and catalogues. Leslie traveled North America for seventeen years, headlining at nightclubs across the US, Canada, and Mexico. "It was an exciting job...until it wasn't," says Kimbell "All that travel can begin to weigh on you...and we wanted a family." Leslie abruptly quit her career in burlesque in July of 2006 and began making preparation with her husband to adopt children through the the foster care system.

In 2015, during a late night dinner after a rehearsal, a friend made a very bawdy joke. "After I stopped laughing, I remember telling everyone that it would be a fantastic line in a play. So, I wrote it on a napkin and put it next to my laptop." Leslie started writing her first play in the Fall of 2015 while her children were at school. "I would put them on the bus and go straight to my computer and write. I wrote and wrote and wrote...like a madwoman." In 2017, Leslie's first play Four Old Broads simultaneously won two "new works" competitions at Centre Stage Greenville, in South Carolina and Theatre Victoria in Texas. Later that year, Four Old Broads went on to receive an AEA Workshop at New York City's Cherry Lane Theatre, with Playhouse Creatures Theatre Company. Four Old Broads was then published by Samuel French, now Concord Theatricals, in 2018. Since then, Leslie has published three more plays, including Four Old Broads On The High Seas, The Miss Magnolia Senior Citizen Beauty Pageant, and Packing Up Polly. All of Leslie's play's are published with Concord Theatricals

ACTOR

Leslie has appeared in film and television projects such as Tyler Perry's House of Payne, Some Kind of Christmas and Blue Lightning

IMDB

PERSONAL LIFE

Leslie is married to Scott Kimbell. She is Mother to Cameron and Logan Kimbell and Grandmother "Sassy" to Enzo Kimbell.

WORKS

Four Old Broads

Four Old Broads On The High Seas

The Miss Magnolia Senior Citizen Beauty Pageant

Packing Up Polly

Leslie has appeared in numerous theatrical productions and has directed productions at several area theatre companies. She has also appeared on television in shows such as Nowhere U.S.A., Swamp Murders, Snapped, Killer Couples, Murder Decoded, and Tyler Perry’s House of Payne, as well as many commercials and industrial videos. She has also had supporting roles in the films Buried Cain, The Midnight Man, Some Kind of Christmas, and Blue Lightning.

Leslie is a proud member of Dramatists Guild, recipient of a 2021 Georgia Theatre Conference Hall of Fame Award, and a board member of the Del Shores Foundation.