Meet Leslie Odom Jr.

Leslie Odom Jr.

Leslie Odom Jr. has captured the hearts of Audible listeners with beautiful narrations
of audiobooks ranging from his personal memoir of perseverance to a featured
performance of Martin Luther King’s words in The Radical King.

Top Performances

"You know how to succeed when the phone is ringing, but what about when the phone’s not ringing?"
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"Clearly, over time, racial undercurrents have tilted and even inverted the prevailing view of our past…"
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  • Failing Up
  • "You know how to succeed when the phone is ringing, but what about when the phone’s not ringing?"
  • The King Years
  • "Clearly, over time, racial undercurrents have tilted and even inverted the prevailing view of our past…"

Greatest Hits

Quotes About Hard Work to Keep You Motivated and Moving Forward


The things most worth doing require the most from us—it takes hard work to accomplish important tasks, achieve major goals, and realize your dreams. There will be times when you’re tempted to simply give up, roll over, and go back to sleep—or do something easier instead. In such moments, look to these quotes about hard work from successful authors to help motivate you.

The Narrator's Favorite Performance

More About Leslie Odom Jr.

Leslie Odom Jr. is best known for his breakout role as Aaron Burr in the smash hit Broadway musical Hamilton, for which he won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical and a Grammy Award as a principal soloist on the original cast recording. Making his Broadway debut in Rent at age 17, he also starred in the stage adaptation of Leap of Faith. His off-Broadway work includes Venice and the original staging of Hamilton, both at the Public Theater. He also starred opposite Lin-Manuel Miranda and Karen Olivo in a 2014 City Center Encores! revival of Jonathan Larson’s Tick, Tick ... Boom!.
Odom was most recently seen on the big screen in Kenneth Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express. His previous film work includes the 2012 historical drama Red Tails, as part of an all-star cast that included Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding, Jr., and David Oyelowo. On television, he starred in the cult-classic musical drama series Smash and had recurring roles on NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and CBS’s Persons of Interest and CSI: Miami.
In December 2017, Odom returned to the New York stage in a solo concert at Jazz at Lincoln Center—a cabaret-style performance that was also filmed for PBS’s Emmy Award-winning series Live from Lincoln Center, which aired in April 2018. The actor and singer was nominated for a 2021 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Sam Cooke in the Amazon film One Night in Miami. Odom is also a featured performer on the Audible Audiobook The Radical King.

Behind the Scenes with Leslie Odom Jr.

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Awards and Accolades

Grammy Award
Best Musical Theater Album, 2016

Tony Award
Best Actor in a Musical, 2016