Originally from Ottawa, Randy Leslie is the Co-founder of Kelowna Actors Studio. He’s been at the helm of Actors Studio for 21 years and is the driving force in the Academy Foundations’ educational programming.
Randy’s clear passion for inspiring youth in the arts has led to many of his students moving on to attend internationally acclaimed performing arts schools, including the Tisch School of the Arts and The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, Guildford School of Acting in London, England, Sheridan College in Toronto, The American Academy of Dramatic Art in Los Angeles/New York and The Randolph Academy.
Before relocating to the Okanagan in 2002, Randy was the Director of Programming and Marketing for the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts in downtown Toronto all the while working with numerous professional and community arts organizations in the roles of Director, Actor, Designer, Board Member and Producer.
Randy has amassed 200 directorial and design credits across the country throughout his career.
In 2022, Randy’s dedication to his art and our community led to him receiving Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee Award.
Randy received the first ever-Okanagan Angel Award and the Kelowna Civic Award for Honour in the Arts. His home theatre group in Toronto has created an annual award (The Randy Leslie Award) given to an individual that shows great dedication, talent, skill and work ethic. He has won Best Teacher 2013 and Kelowna Citizen that Deserves Recognition 2017 for Best of Kelowna.
Kelowna Actors Studio has won Best Theatre Company and Best Arts Organization for 20 years running.
When not leading our Artistic Team, Randy can be found designing costumes, wigs and lights.
Occasionally he can be seen on stage performing. Favourite roles include Les Miserables (Jean Valjean), The Producers (Max Bialystock) and Love Letters (Andrew Makepeace Ladd III).
Favourite Directing/Design credits include 1984, Equus, Mamma Mia, Evil Dead - The Musical, Amadeus and Xanadu.
He is the lead instructor for the Young Performance Company (YPC)