The New Instagram Influencer: Leslie Jordan
Leslie Jordan
Actor, writer and Instagram sensation
What makes you feel like a real grown-up?
When I discuss things like 401(k)s and CDs (which, I learned, do not refer to music) and other money matters with my business manager.
Last time you were surprised by anything?
When Donald Trump won the election. I am not very political and I hadn’t paid a lot of attention until I saw my Republican neighbors running up and down the hall cheering.
Best thing that happened to you in the 80s or 90s?
I got sober.
I refuse to give a F about ________
What other people think of me. It’s a challenge, but it gets easier. At this age, it takes far too much energy. One of the things they tell you in recovery is “what you think of me is none of my business.”
Fashionably Late to the Instagram Party
I don’t particularly remember this, but when I was little, I reportedly walked out of Sunday School and told my father I’d never go back. Perplexed, he reminded me that I loved Sunday School. But the other kids had laughed at me, I told him. He said they were laughing with me—not at me—and that I’d been given a gift. He then quoted from Matthew 5:15, which in so many words tells you not to hide your light under a bushel, but to let it shine. So there you have it—making people laugh is what I do.
When I started my quarantine posts, friends texted to tell me I was going “viral.” Nope, I said, I was completely healthy and staying with my mother. I had no idea! I thought it was crazy when I hit a million followers, but well, shoot, 4 million is really something. I guess stupid criminals and pet plants are what the people want right now. I’m working on a new show (Call Me Kat) so I can’t get too caught up in myself, but when I see a message from someone telling me they’re having a rough go and they just wait for my posts, I know I’m a 65-year-old IG celeb (imagine!) for a reason.
Many people know me as Beverly Leslie (Karen Walker’s frenemy) on Will & Grace. You might call it my breakout role, and I got it in my late 40s. The part was originally written for Joan Collins (picturing a lot of Dynasty-style catfights—the OG Real Housewives). For whatever reason, she couldn’t do it and the writers decided to cast a man. I got the part and the writers essentially let me create him. I think if Karen and Beverly were living through COVID, they would be behaving very badly. They’d shun masks and there’d be a lot of gratuitous day drinking. Rosario would probably be with Karen—but only after stealing my silver and tapping my toilet paper stockpile.
People always wonder how actors deal with rejection. The best advice I ever heard is to show up and be of service. My industry has lots of different measures of success, but I always come back to this. I am always thinking of how to make a director more successful or allow someone to do their job. When I audition (no different from a job interview), I just want to show what I’d bring to the role and how it would serve them. What I offer may not be what they need, but the approach depersonalizes any decision to tap someone else. Also, being on the other side of the casting table has helped. I know it is really about the fit.
So where do I take it from here? I have gotten to do Broadway, TV and film so everything from now on is gravy. But what the hell—as long as I’m thinking big, I’d love to work with either Bette Midler, Dolly Parton or Carol Burnett. I hope their agents are reading.
