Actor / Director Profile

Leslie Silva was raised primarily in Saratoga, New York, but also lived in Connecticut, Iowa and Georgia, moving frequently, because her father worked as a nuclear engineer.Education: The Juilliard School New York, New York BFA drama.Leslie made her professional stage debut in a 1995 Shakespeare Theater production of "Macbeth" in Washington DC and starred in Sam Shepard's one-act play "Chicago", for New York's Signature Theater in 1996. She appeared Off-Broadway in "Edmond" and starred as Helena in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.Silva has additionally worked in theater with Anna Deavere Smith, Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory and made her feature debut with a brief role as a process server in the romantic comedy "Fools Rush In" (1997).Her wide eyes, expressive features and commanding presence making for an enviable appeal, helped her to land a regular television role as Doctor Helen Reynolds on the hit NBC drama "Providence" in 1999, less than four years after her professional stage debut. As a tough and uncompromising medico, Silva offered impressive work, her skillful portrayal nuanced enough to keep the character from treading into the two-dimensional stereotype of the hard-nosed and ambitious African-American woman all-too-familiar on contemporary television.Silva's previous television credits include guest appearances on the CBS sitcom "Cosby" in 1997 and as a nun on a 1998 two-part episode of NBC's police drama "Homicide: Life on the Street".