Cooke was cast as Billy Elliot in
Billy Elliot the Musical in September 2005. During his time as Billy Elliot,
BBC's
Blue Peter followed and filmed Cooke for a day on 18 November 2005. After completing 21 months and 200 shows as Billy, Cooke left the cast on 7 July 2007. Between December 2008 and February 2009, he appeared as Tadzio in the
English National Opera's production of
Death in Venice at the
Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in
Brussels and two shows at the
Grande Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg. Cook appeared as Quaxo and
Mr. Mistoffelees in the musical
Cats at Jersey (
Fort Regent) and Guernsey (Beau Sejour) in 2009. In March 2010, he returned to the stage of the
Victoria Palace Theatre to take part in a specially choreographed finale to celebrate the fifth anniversary of
Billy Elliot the Musical opening in the
West End. He completed the United Kingdom's second tour of
We Will Rock You directed by
Ben Elton. Cooke made his
Chichester Festival debut as Wilton in
Barnum, returning the following year to perform in
Amadeus. He has performed in the musical
Mamma Mia at the
Prince of Wales Theatre and as part of the West End Live cast in
Trafalgar Square, London. He performed in
Mamma Mia at its new venue, the
Novello Theatre. Between 2014 and 2015, Cooke was cast in
Miss Saigon in the
West End. He worked with the National Theatre in their production of the musical
Wonder.land, playing the role of Dee. His workshops with the National Theatre include
Helen by
Euripides (2016, Paris) and
The Threepenny Opera (2016).
Choreography Leon Cooke choreographed the Songtime Theatre Arts Billy Youth Theatre's production at the
Richmond Theatre in 2010. He was an assistant choreographer for the BBC 2 series
Our Dancing Town which aired in January 2017.
Television While in
Billy Elliot the Musical, Cooke appeared on
Blue Peter,
Ready Steady Cook, the ''
Paul O'Grady Show, Happy Birthday Bafta
, and as a guest performer on Any Dream Will Do. He also performed with the cast on Sunday Night at the Palladium'' for their tenth anniversary. Cooke appeared in Series 3 of Sky One's
Got to Dance, where he gained three gold stars for a tap routine that was described by
Adam Garcia as "awesome". He performed at the
Royal Variety Performance, the
Olivier Awards 2015, and the Olivier Awards in 2016. In March 2016, Cooke returned to the
Mamma Mia cast for a one-off television performance on
ITV's ''
Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway''. In 2019, he performed on television for the D-Day 75th Anniversary commemorations in front of
veterans and world leaders.
Commercials Cooke had featured roles in commercials for
Gap,
Old Navy, and
McDonald's in 2015. In 2019, he had a featured role in a commercial for
Nestle. He also made commercials for the
Disney Channel and
Colgate. == Credits ==