Leslie Nielsen
Golf Speaker & Comedian
Leslie Nielsen had a reputation for playing very manly authority figures, until his performance in Airplane. He has continued in this manner of comedy, and is best known for his performance in The Naked Gun series.
Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, the son of a Canadian Mounted Policeman, Nielsen spent his earliest years living near the Arctic Circle, coming south to Edmonton, Alberta when he and his brothers had to attend school. After graduation, he served as an aerial gunner in the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Leslie made his entry into show business in a Calgary radio station where he worked as an engineer, disc jockey and announcer. He then studied acting at Lorne Greene's Academy of Radio Arts in Toronto, where he received a scholarship to the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City. He studied there under Sanford Meisner, learned dancing with Martha Graham, and followed up with a season of summer stock and further training at the Actor's Studio.