Jeffrey Wright claims Leslie Uggams 'loved' finding out about his childhood crush

Jeffrey Wright has insisted that Leslie Uggams "loved" discovering he had a childhood crush on her.

While accepting an award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in January, the Oscar nominee told his American Fiction co-star, "I've had a crush on you since the first day I saw you."

During a recent appearance on the Inside Total Film podcast, Jeffrey recalled how Leslie, 80, reacted to the confession.

"Oh yeah, I told Leslie that. She loved that," Jeffrey shared. "She says, 'I may be old, but I'm not dead,' so she loved it."

He also elaborated on how his celebrity crush on the actress first evolved.

"She used to have a variety show (1969's The Leslie Uggams Show), when I was four or five years old, and I'd look at her and go, 'Oh, wow, who is this woman?' She was so graceful and so talented - like supremely talented," he said. "Beautiful singing voice. And she would perform with (Frank) Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr., The Rat Pack, Dean Martin, all those guys."

The Westworld actor added that Leslie made everything "possible" for himself and his American Fiction co-stars Tracee Ellis Ross and Sterling K. Brown.

Jeffrey, 58, credited the "creative freedom and agency" that actors have now to "the incredible toughness and brilliance of those folks and the work that they did", concluding, "All of those incredible performers, and Leslie is representative of those folks. Hell yeah, I had a crush on her."