Lesli Margherita is an American musical theatre, voice, film and television actress. She trained at UCLA and was soon after chosen to star in MGM's television series Fame L.A. directed by Kenny Ortega. She has gone on to star and recur on numerous television shows and pilots including Major Crimes, The Suite Life on Deck, Charmed, NYPD Blue, The District, JAG, and On The Lot, produced by Steven Spielberg. She is also known for her theatre work, playing Inez in Zorro the Musical in London's West End, for which she won an Olivier Award. She played Mrs. Wormwood on Broadway in Matilda the Musical for over 2 years; followed by a shorter run as the diva, Mona Kent in Dames at Sea which ran for about a year. She then returned to Matilda a year later to close the acclaimed Broadway production. From 2013 to 2017, Margherita hosted the Broadway.com series Looks Not Books, showing what is like backstage at Matilda. The series ran for three seasons, with a total of 24 episodes, and due to its popularity, Margherita also hosted Ship Happens for Broadway.com in 2015, showing what went on backstage at Dames at Sea. This ran for one season of eight episodes and was never renewed. The reason being that the show itself ended in January 2016. In October 2015, Margherita played a guest in the Maximum Fun podcast Can I Pet Your Dog?.