Leisa is a native of Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, better known as the former nickel mining capital of the world! She started singing at events when she was 9 years old, and at age 12 sang for Queen Elizabeth. Since then, she has performed for every member of the Britain’s Royal Family, excluding the young princes! Her studies took her to the University of Toronto where she studied opera, and the Banff School of Fine Arts where she caught her bug for musical theatre.

Leisa took her first professional role in 1981, when she played Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, and she has performed in over 100 professional productions since then, both plays and musicals. In Canada, she is perhaps best known for her starring role as Anne in Anne of Green Gables, a role she played for six years at the Charlottetown Festival, including six tours to Japan and Canadian and U.S.A. tours and over 1,000 performances.

Her 25-year career in theatre has taken her to countries and theatres all over the world, starring in such roles as “Peter Pan” in Peter Pan (both in Canada and the United States, including the Forrest Theatre in Carmel, CA.), as well as playing “Wendy” to Olympic Medalist Cathy Rigby’s Peter Pan (U.S.A. Tour), Polly in Crazy For You (South American tour) and Peggy in 42nd Street (Ntl Tour). In Canada, Leisa starred as Magnolia in ShowBoat; as Billie Dawn (the Judy Holiday role) in Born Yesterday; Patsy Cline in A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline; The Woman in Dave Carley’s Test Drive; Guenevere in Camelot; Carly in Maritime Star; Maria in The Sound of Music; Josefine/Monica in Romance, Romance; Diana in Lend Me a Tenor; Laurey in Oklahoma; Sally in Me and My Girl; Maggie in Harvest Moon Rising; Eileen in The Invisibility of Eileen; Laurey in Oklahoma; Sandy in Grease!; and as Heather in the Canadian hockey musical, Home and Away.

In the United States, Leisa performed the leading roles in Crazy for You; Forty Second Street, Grease!; TinTypes, Peter Pan; and she also starred in the U.S. National tour of the hit off-Broadway musical, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change!, a show about love and marriage that touches people of every generation. She also did a long run of this show at the beautiful Gem Theatre in Detroit, and returned to her hometown of Sudbury in the show.

Leisa is a great fan of Canadian playwright Norm Foster and has been privileged to star in a few of his plays, including The Long Weekend (in Bermuda and Canada), The Melville Boys, The Love List, (at 6 different theatres), and Race Day, his musical with composer Steve Thomas.

Leisa has performed her one-woman Cabaret shows on various cruise lines including Silver Sea Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Regal Cruises and Japan’s Venus Cruise Line. Her latest Cabaret is a one-woman tribute to Patsy Cline that has been overwhelmingly received by audiences and critics. Leisa also performs a Judy Garland cabaret, an Evening of Jazz; a Stroll Down Broadway, a cabaret of Latin music, and an old War-time Radio show.

Leisa began another exciting chapter of her career, when she wrote her one-woman show, Sweet Dreams: A Tribute to Patsy Cline, which she began touring in the fall of 2007. Leisa's passion for the music of Patsy Cline inspired her to write a show that would give the audience not only a fabulous evening of entertainment, but an insight into the heart and soul of the real Patsy Cline, the person, as well as the singer. Watch for it at a theatre near you!