Leon Thomas III is a Grammy Award-winning multi-talented American singer-songwriter and record producer, who is signed with Rostrum/Columbia Records. He’s also voiced Tyrone in the second and third seasons of the animated series “The Backyardigans”, and Andre Harris in “Victorious,” which aired on Nickelodeon.
Age, Early Life, and Education Background
Leon G. Thomas III is a native of Brooklyn, New York City, and was born under the Leo zodiac sign on 1 August 1993, which makes him 39 years old as of 2022. He’s the son of Leo Thomas II and his better half Jayon Anthony, and was raised alongside his younger sister, Jayla.
Leon attended a local high school in New York City. He developed a strong interest in performing arts at a young age, and his parents enrolled him at Tennessee State University, Nashville, where he studied Music.
Career
Acting Career
Thomas began his acting career at the age of 10, when he was cast as Simba in the 2003 “The Lion King” Broadway production. In 2004, he portrayed Jackie Thibodeaux in the original musical Broadway production “Caroline, or Change” by Tony Kushner, and later appeared in another Broadway production, “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker.
He made his screen debut in two episodes of Nickelodeon’s comedy series “Just for Kicks” as Ty in 2006, then between 2006 and 2008, he landed the main singing voice role of Tyrone in the second and third seasons of Janice Burgess’ computer-animated musical kid’s series “The Backyardigans”
Concurrently, Thomas portrayed Arthur in the Kirsten Sheridan drama movie “August Rush” in 2007, sharing the screen with Freddie Highmore, Terrence Howard and Robin Williams – he also performed the song entitled “La Bamba” in the drama film.
Thomas later appeared in a couple of TV shows, mostly playing guest roles in “Just Jordan,” “The Naked Brothers Band” and “Jack’s Big Music Show.” He played his next major role as Andre Harris in the Nickelodeon sitcom “Victorious” between 2010 and 2013, appearing alongside Matt Bennett, Victoria Justice, Ariana Grande and Elizabeth Gillies among others. 2014 saw him playing Mateo in six episodes of Sean Jablonski’s drama TV series “Satisfaction”, and later appeared in an episode of “Fear the Walking Dead” before he landed the recurring role of Eddie in the comedy-drama “Insecure” in 2017, and in the same year played Darryl in the crime drama “Detroit.”
Musical Career
Leon began his musical career officially in 2012, with the release of his debut mixtape “Metro Hearts,” which comprised several hit songs such as “Moving On,” “Like Clay,” “Forever,” and “Take Care” – the latter was Drake’s cover, and featured Ariana Grande. 2013 saw him featured in Stooshe girl’s band’s debut album “London with the Lights On”, moreover, he was featured in the collaborative album “Love, Marriage, & Divorce” by Babyface and Toni Braxton, and is also credited with writing Braxton’s hit song “I’d Rather Be Broke.” Before he released his second mixtape, “V1bes” in 2014, Thomas collaborated with the accomplished rapper Wiz Khalifa to release the single hit “Hello How Are You.” 2016 saw him produce his third mixtape, “Before the Beginning” and in 2018, he released the EP “Genesis”, then in 2022, he released his debut studio album “Electric Dusk.”
Awards and Nominations
Thomas’ role in “August Rush” saw him win the 2008 Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a feature film. He scooped Grammy Awards for the song “August Rain” in 2015, and also bagged a joint Streamy Award for Best Ensemble Cast for “Mr. Student Body President” in 2017. In 2012, Thomas was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding performance in a Children’s Program for his contribution to “Victorious.” Moreover, he won a joint Grammy Award nomination for Best Rap Song for the song “Gold Roses”, shared with Drake, Rick Ross and Noel Cadastre, among others in 2020.
Social Media Presence
Leon is active on several social media platforms, including Twitter – @leonthomas – with over 1 million followers. He’s also active on Instagram with at least 1.4 million followers, and goes by @leonthomas. Moreover, he has over a million fans on Facebook. Thomas has a self-titled YouTube channel that has over 80,0000 subscribers, which he opened on 26 August 2008, and now has over 3.5 million views.
Personal Life
Thomas began dating the Ethiopian-American singer, content producer, and activist Alia Kadir in 2018. Kadir was born in Ethiopia on 5 September 1999, so is now 23 years old. She is famous for the singles “Gold” (2019), Duse Henny (2019), and “Not 4 Nothin” (2020), among others. She is also a famed Instagram sensation, who is followed by over 140,000 fans. Previously, Thomas shared his photo kissing Alia on Valentine’s Day.
Thomas was rumored to be romantically linked with the singer-songwriter and actress Ariana Grande. The duo spent a significant part of their childhoods together on the sets of “Victorious”, and had grown very fond of each other. The rumor began spreading after the two were spotted sharing intimate moments on-screen, but they later denied the allegations, insisting that they were just friends. Ariana is married to the American realtor, Dalton Gomez.
Leon is good friends with his “Victorious” cast member, Victoria Justice. The duo often tweets each other, and has been spotted hanging out together at several celebrity events – they previously attended the premiere of “Fred: The Movie.” Leon described her as the most honest person who is true to herself, and in another interview, Victoria described him as the nicest and coolest musical prodigy, whom she can hang out with whenever, wherever, wearing whatever. Previously, she wished him a happy birthday on Twitter: ‘Happy happy birthday to my amazingly talented cast mate and friend @Leonthomas3!! We love you Leon, miss u.’
Height, Weight, and Physical Appearance
Thomas is of Afro-American roots, and has a set of dark brown eyes and black hair with dreadlocks. He stands 5ft 9ins (1.75m) tall and weighs approximately 160lbs (73kgs). Moreover, he wears shoe size 10 (US).
Net Worth
Leon is a very successful producer who has worked with the likes of J. Cole, Rick Ross, Ariana Grande and Post Malone, among others, which has made him very popular. He has earned a net worth of approximately $600,000 from his musical and acting careers.
