LESLIE STRATTON … Leslie Stratton, a 2009 Bryan High School graduate, came home to Williams County to share her newly published book, Let’s Share Panda Bear, with the elementary students at Montpelier and Bryan. Montpelier was visited Wednesday, November 29, and Bryan was visited on Thursday, November 30, before she headed back to L.A. on Friday to start shooting “When it Rains” in L.A.
By: Anna Wozniak
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
anna@thevillagereporter.com
“Do you think when I was your age I knew I was going to be an author and actor? No! But I believed in myself, and here I am today,” Leslie shared to the students in the Montpelier auditeria on November 29th.
Leslie Stratton visited her family for Thanksgiving from L.A. this year, and took the time to share a new branch of her success with students around the area she will forever consider “home.”
A successful actor, the 2009 Bryan High School and 2012 University of Toledo graduate knew that she wanted to get into acting after her first semester at college.
Stratton’s parents convinced her to obtain her bachelor’s degree in communications before pursuing her love for acting, first spurred in her junior year of high school with the Odd Couple, Seussical the Musical, and, later in her senior year, Les Miserables.
So, she worked hard to graduate college a year early and took off for L.A., where she got a professional headshot taken and enrolled in some acting classes.
It was from these acting classes that Stratton first began networking with others in her field. “The first four years truly were just getting established, being in acting classes, and establishing connections within the industry,” she shared, stating that during this time she worked on “student films, gaining experience, and getting an agent and a manager to land some real auditions.”
It was from these auditions that Stratton was able to “form relationships with producers and casting directors.”
When asked, Stratton shared that she “did a couple of small parts 2017-2018,” but that her career really took off in 2019 when she “booked a lead role in a movie called “Asking For It” where she traveled to Guthrie, Oklahoma, to shoot every day on set for six weeks. It was then Leslie shared that she finally realized she was “in the business for real now.”
Since then, she has done several large roles in a variety of media including Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman, which includes one of her “favorite scenes as an actor.”
With the strike having ground media production to a halt, Stratton found herself with more time on her hands.
Having always wanted to write a book, she put that can-do attitude into putting a pen to paper in honor of her mother, Mrs. Cindra Keeler, who loves pandas.
The result of this hard work was the publication of Let’s Share Panda Bear on September 19th of 2023, which was self-published through Leslie Stratton’s own publishing company, and is available on Amazon.
A story of sharing happiness and finding belonging, Let’s Share Panda Bear puts an imaginative spin on how pandas became black and white.
With such a valuable lesson to be learned, Stratton was happy to present her book to students at both Montpelier and Bryan elementary schools.
The kids were super excited to see someone from Williams County who has made a national name for themselves, and had loads of questions for Leslie regarding her transition from Ohio to L.A. .
Stratton was on the go this week, and found herself back in L.A. this weekend preparing for her lead role in the upcoming film “When it Rains” in L.A., co-starring Eric Roberts .
Stratton is excited for this production, sharing it gives her the “perfect opportunity to practice playing the antagonist,” as her character seeks revenge for an unforgivable crime.
Leslie shared that she wanted “to emphasize that I appreciate all the support from Northwest Ohio as a whole from my friends, family, and acquaintances for not just supporting me by watching my movies and buying my book, but also for being my family ‘back home’ in Ohio.”