American singer, actress (b. 1995)

Musical artist

Leslie Grace Martínez (born January 7, 1995) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. For her work as a singer she has received three Latin Grammy Award nominations. She starred as Nina Rosario in Jon M. Chu's film adaptation In the Heights (2021) and will portray Barbara Gordon / Batgirl in the upcoming Batgirl film on HBO Max, set in the DC Extended Universe.

Contents

• 1 Early life and education
• 2 Career
  • 2.1 Music career
  • 2.2 Film career
• 3 Filmography
• 4 Discography
  • 4.1 Studio albums
  • 4.2 Extended plays
  • 4.3 Singles
• 5 Awards and nominations
• 6 References
• 7 External links

Early life and education

Grace was born to Dominican parents on January 7, 1995, in The Bronx, a borough of New York City. Her mother runs a hair salon in South Florida. She was raised in Davie, Florida and attended Indian Ridge Middle School and Western High School, where she participated in musicals, talent shows, and choral performances. Singing and dancing from a young age, Grace entertained them along with her five older siblings since she was two. She speaks English and Spanish.

Career

Music career

She recorded and released an independent Christian music album in partnership with CD Baby while in middle school. Her mainstream debut came with "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow", a bilingual cover of the 1961 Shirelles hit. Her bachata-tinged rendition peaked at number one on both the Billboard Tropical Songs chart and Billboard Latin Airplay charts, making her the youngest female artist to do so. Her self-*led second studio album, Leslie Grace (2013), reached number four on the Billboard Latin Albums chart, and number three on the Billboard Tropical Albums chart.

Among her nominations are "Best Contemporary Tropical Album" at the 14th Annual Latin Grammy Awards (in which she sang along with the Zarkana cast of Cirque du Soleil), "Female Tropical Artist of the Year" and "Tropical Album of the Year" at the 26th Premio Lo Nuestro. In 2014 she also obtained nominations in the Billboard Awards in the categories of "New Artist of the Year" and "Hot Latin Songs, Artist of the Year, Female".

Among her tours abroad is her presentation on the Caribbean island of Curaçao at the North Sea Jazz Festival, and the tour of the United States with the musical director Rayner Marrero and several bachata musicians in 2013. She also performed on Sábado Gigante with Don Francisco, and at the Chile Telethon and at the closing of the same at the National Stadium of Chile, where she sang in front of approximately 60,000 people.

In mid-2016 she participated as captain of the Univision reality show Va por ti with Luis Coronel, Chiquis Rivera and the host Galilea Montijo. After releasing the single "Aire" with Maluma, they made a tour of 14 concerts through Mexico. In the same year she released the single "Nada de amor".

In January 2017 she collaborated with the duo Play-N-Skillz, Wisin and Frankie J in the reggaeton-style cover of Selena's song, "Si una vez". And in February of the same year she was nominated for the Premios Lo Nuestro in the category "Female Artist of the Year – Pop / Rock".

As of June 2015, Grace is the face of Colgate toothpaste and has signed a distribution deal with Sony Music Latin and a worldwide contract with Sony/ATV.

On 12 April 2018, her collaboration with Super Junior "Lo Siento" was released on S.M. Entertainment's YouTube channel.

Film career

On 11 April 2019, it was announced that Grace would be starring as Nina Rosario in the 2021 film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Tony Award-winning musical In the Heights. The film originally set for a 2020 release date was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was released the following summer in movie theatres and HBO Max simultaneously. The film received near universal acclaim with many citing it as one of the best films of the year. Grace received praise from critics including David Ehrlich from IndieWire who wrote that she "shined" in the role. K. Austin Collins of Rolling Stone wrote, "Its highest accomplishment is that it succeeds as the star vehicle Hollywood seemed to demand." On 21 July 2021, Grace was cast as Barbara Gordon / Batgirl in HBO Max's Batgirl.

Filmography

• In the Heights (2021) – Nina Rosario
• Batgirl (2022) – Barbara Gordon / Batgirl

Discography

Studio albums

• Pasión (2009)
• Leslie Grace (2013)

Extended plays

• Lloviendo Estrellas (2015)

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Awards and nominations

Lo Nuestro Awards

Billboard Latin Music Awards

Latin Grammys

Nickelodeon Mexico Kids' Choice Awards

References

1. "Mi Mala (Remix)": "Hot Latin Songs: The Week of May 12, 2018". Billboard. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
2. "Mi Mala (Remix)": "Latin Airplay: The Week of May 19, 2018". Billboard. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
3. "Mi Mala (Remix)": "Latin Pop Songs: The Week of May 19, 2018". Billboard. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
4. "Díganle (Remix)": "Argentina Hot 100 – Semana del 13 de Octubre del 2018". Billboard Argentina (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 October 2018.
5. "Duro y Suave": "Argentina Hot 100 – Semana del 20 de Octubre del 2018". Billboard Argentina (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 October 2018.
Pre-Argentina Hot 100 era:
• "Mi Mala (Remix)": "Top 20 Argentina – Del 2 al 8 de Abril, 2018" (in Spanish). Monitor Latino. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
6. "Díganle (Remix)": "Top 100 Ecuador – Semana 14 del 2019 – Del 29/03/2019 al 04/04/2019" (in Spanish). National-Report. Archived from the original on 8 April 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
7. "Duro y Suave": "Top 100 Canciones – Semana 16: del 13.4.2018 al 19.4.2018" (PDF) (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Retrieved 25 April 2018.

External links

• Leslie Grace at AllMusic
• Leslie Grace discography at Discogs
• Leslie Grace at IMDb:
• Leslie Grace on Facebook