Michael-Leon Wooley
Wooley in 2008
Born	(1971-03-29)March 29, 1971 (age 54) Fairfax, Virginia, U.S.
Other names	Michael Leon Wooley
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1992–present

Michael-Leon Wooley (born March 29, 1971) is an American actor. He was the voice ofLouis the Alligator inDisney's Oscar-nominated animated feature film,The Princess and the Frog and played Judge Grady on the radio station WKTT inRockstar'sGrand Theft Auto IV.

Wooley was born on March 29, 1971 inFairfax, Virginia, to George and Winnie Wooley. He has a twin brother, Marcus-Leon, and a younger brother, George Jr. He grew up inBowie, Maryland. Wooley began playing the piano at age 5 and initially wanted to be a classical concertpianist. However, after participating in a high-school production ofOklahoma! he became interested in theatre.

At 16, he was given the opportunity to study piano at theDuke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C., but turned it down to instead focus on acting and singing. At age 18, Wooley was awarded a full scholarship to theAmerican Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) inNew York City, one of 21 scholarships granted in a nationwide competition. He studied at AMDA for a year before embarking on his own to pursue an acting career.

Wooley performed in the national tour ofPurlie,^[1] after which, worked as a singing waiter on theSpirit of New York,^[2] a dinner cruise ship that circlesManhattan.^{[citation needed]}

In 1992, Wooley made hisBroadway debut as an understudy (Big Moe) in theClarke Peters' musical,Five Guys Named Moe.^[3] AfterFive Guys Named Moe he embarked on national tours withThe Pointer Sisters inAin't Misbehavin'^[4] andThe Wiz withStephanie Mills. He returned to Broadway in 2000 as Olin Britt^[5] in the Broadway revival ofThe Music Man, directed and choreographed bySusan Stroman.^[6]

He was also the voice of the man-eating plant, Audrey II, in the 2003 Broadway revival of the musicalLittle Shop of Horrors^[7] at theVirginia Theatre (renamed theAugust Wilson Theatre in 2005).Ben Brantley of theNew York Times wrote Wooley had a "soulful bass voice"^[8] andClive Barnes of theNew York Post said Wooley as the "doom-struck voice of Audrey II" rounded out "one of the best casts on Broadway."^[9]

With conductor,Skitch Henderson, Wooley made hisCarnegie Hall debut with theNew York Pops as one of the "New Faces of 2004," along with otherBroadway notables such asJohn Tartaglia andStephanie D'Abruzzo, the stars of the Broadway'sAvenue Q. The event was hosted byNew York Post gossip columnistLiz Smith.^[10]

Wooley was the voice ofLouis the jazz trumpet-playingalligator, inDisney'sThe Princess and the Frog; and Tiny Joe Dixon in the 2006 motion picture,Dreamgirls, singing "Takin' The Long Way Home" on the film's soundtrack.^{[citation needed]} He also played Cocoa Butter in the Netflix Original seriesAJ and the Queen.

Wooley's voice has been heard in many television ad campaigns forReebok,General Motors,McDonald's,Dairy Queen,K-Mart,Oxygen Network and others. He was the voice of the demon boss, Twayne Boneraper, on Comedy Central'sUgly Americans.^[11] He made numerous guest appearances onCosby,^[12][13]Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,^[14]The Knights of Prosperity,^[15]Now & Again,Rescue Me^[16] andThe Rosie O'Donnell Show. He was a guest singer onThe Penguins of Madagascar in"The Falcon and the Snow Job" and voiced theDC Comics villainsDarkseid andKalibak on the animated series,Batman: The Brave and the Bold.^{[citation needed]}

From 2013 to 2014, Wooley voicedTobias Whale inBeware the Batman. In 2014, he voiced Chill Bill fromSanjay and Craig as well as Master Lun inKung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness and Pumpers inBreadwinners. In 2015 and 2017, he was a guest voice onPenn Zero: Part-Time Hero and Acorn and Achaka in the 2015–16 video game seriesKing's Quest.^[17] He voices Judge Grady on radio stationWKTT, in the video gameGrand Theft Auto IV and Dexter DeShawn in the video gameCyberpunk 2077.^{[citation needed]}

In 2012, he voiced Impossibear inPendleton Ward'sBravest Warriors which airs on Frederator'sYouTube funded channelCartoon Hangover.^[18]

Jon-Marc McDonald, a close friend and sometimes-publicist for Wooley, confirmed on his website that Wooley performedWe Have To Change at a fundraiser forBarack Obama in New York City on August 11, 2008. The song was specifically written for the fundraiser byBill Russell andHenry Krieger.^[19][20]

• Michael-Leon Wooley atIMDb

• 1971 births
• Living people
• 20th-century African-American male actors
• 20th-century American male actors
• 21st-century African-American male actors
• 21st-century American male actors
• Male actors from Fairfax, Virginia
• African-American activists
• American male film actors
• American male stage actors
• American male television actors
• American male video game actors
• American male voice actors
• American Musical and Dramatic Academy alumni

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