Hi everyone and thank you for tuning in to episode 63 of Awards Chatter, the Hollywood Reporters Awards Podcast.

I'm the host Scott Feinberg and on this very special episode which is coming to you

from the iconic Empire Hotel on New York's Upper West Side, I am joined by a Fast Rising Star of

Stage and Screen, Leslie Odom Jr. The 34-year-old can currently be seen on

Broadway as Aaron Burr in Hamilton. That is, if you have about $1,200 to spare or some major connections.

Hamilton, of course, is the biggest Broadway phenomenon in memory, a Pulitzer and Grammy-winning show that's been attended by everyone from President Obama to Rosie O'Donnell 12 times and has now been nominated for a record 16 Tony nominations including Best Musical for which it's a slam dunk to win, and Best Actor

in a Play, for which Odom is competing against his co-star and the man who wrote the show's music

and book, Lynn Manuel Miranda.

What's all the commotion about?

Well, through colorblind casting

and a hip-hop soundtrack that's as cool

as anything you'll hear on the radio,

Hamilton recounts the story of one of America's founding fathers and the man who

infamously shot him in a way that puts history classes to shame.

Odom's personal journey has been no less remarkable. He emerged from inner city Philadelphia at the age of

17 and hit the Broadway stage running as a replacement in rent, the

Hamilton of its day in 1998. He then went back to finish high school and head off to college after which he

returned to Broadway in Leap of Faith, a short-lived show in 2012.

He spent a number of years on TV shows for which he had no real passion but which helped to pay the bills before attending an early reading of the show that would become Hamilton and then participating in some informal workshops after which he made sure he was not going to miss his shot.

The show first exploded at the public theater off-Broadway last year before heading to Broadway and blowing up even further this year.

Over the course of our conversation, Odom talks about how he managed to get out of a seven-year

commitment to do a network TV show in order to remain a part of Hamilton, why he and his castmates who

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