The CW Source

Canada.com has a great story on Leslie Jordan, the actor behind drag queen/AA sponsor Jesse Jo. It seems he’s bringing a lot of his life to the part. For example, Leslie is drawing on his own struggles with drugs and alcohol to play Johnny’s sponsor – a drunk driving conviction once had Leslie sharing a cell with Robert Downey Jr. – and the Tammy Wynette line in the pilot is a reference to his role as a drag queen fixated on the country legend in the play (and later film) “Sordid Lives.”

“I've been a huge fan of [Leslie’s] for a long time, “ Hidden Palms creator Kevin Williamson said. “He has this amazing one-man show, 'Like a Dog on Linoleum,' in which he tells his life story. I've seen it several times, and I mean, he's got so much depth. Not everybody could make you laugh and cry at the same line of dialogue.”

The only bad news in the article? Leslie is so busy that Williamson couldn’t get him for every episode of Hidden Palms. “He would have been in the show a lot more, but he's been too busy,” Williamson said. “Had I had him for all eight episodes, I would have put him in every one of them. He walks onto the screen and WOW! Little man, big presence.”

Check out the article for more on how Leslie came to Hollywood (on a Trailways bus, “with a dream and $1,200 pinned in my undershorts,”) when his career took off, and his plans for publishing a memoir entitled “My Trip Down the Pink Carpet: Or How I Became Insufferably Satisfied With Myself.” “I read some of it and I was thinking, my mother will DIE,” Leslie said. “She told me one time, 'Leslie honey, if I live to be 105, I will never understand this deep-seeded need you have to air your dirty laundry.' She said, 'Why can't you just whisper it to a therapist?

MORE: Did you know Leslie's only 4' 11"? Get more Leslie Jordan trivia on his IMDB page!