Thomas was born in
Brooklyn,
New York City, to Jayon Anthony and Leon George Thomas II. His maternal grandfather is John D. Anthony, a jazz musician and opera singer who appeared on
Broadway in
Jimmy and
Porgy and Bess. Thomas' parents divorced when he was young and his mother remarried to musician Jon Kevin Jones when he was 6 in 1999. He has a younger half sister through his mother's second marriage. Thomas made his Broadway debut at the age of 10 in 2003 as Young
Simba in the Broadway production of
The Lion King. In 2004, he appeared as Jackie Thibodeaux in the original Broadway cast of
Tony Kushner's
Caroline, or Change. and toured with the company during its five-month run in
Los Angeles and
San Francisco,
California. Thomas also performed in the Broadway production of
The Color Purple. In 2007, Thomas appeared in the film
August Rush as Arthur, performing the song "La Bamba", and briefly after signed a development deal with
Nickelodeon appearing as the singing voice for Tyrone in the animated series
The Backyardigans. Thomas has also guest-starred on ''
Jack's Big Music Show and Just Jordan. He also appeared as Harper in the iCarly episode "iCarly Saves TV" and was featured on The Naked Brothers Band'' "
Christmas Special". He played a main character on
Victorious, portraying Andre Harris, which premiered on Nickelodeon on March 27, 2010. Thomas also appeared as Andre in the crossover episode between
Victorious and
iCarly,
iParty with Victorious. He also appeared as himself in an episode of
True Jackson, VP. On August 2, 2011, the soundtrack album
Victorious: Music from the Hit TV Show was released, with Thomas featured in the songs "Song 2 You" and "Tell Me That You Love Me". On June 5, 2012,
Victorious 2.0: More Music from the Hit TV Show was also released, with Thomas featured in the songs "Countdown" and "
Don't You (Forget About Me)".
Victorious ended production in July 2012 and the series' last episode aired on February 2, 2013. In 2012, Thomas started to record his first mixtape called
Metro Hearts; it was released on August 1, 2012. Songs on the mixtape include "Forever", "Bad", "Moving On", "Vibe", "Like Clay", and "Never Look Back". The mixtape also included a cover of
Drake's "
Take Care" with
Ariana Grande. Thomas co-wrote the song "Ain't No Other Me" for the British girl group
Stooshe, which features as a deluxe edition track on their debut album,
London with the Lights On. Thomas co-wrote four songs on his former co-star Ariana Grande's 2013 album
Yours Truly. He also co-produced four songs on the album, in addition to the song "Last Christmas" from Grande's EP
Christmas Kisses, as a member of production duo the Rascals alongside
Khristopher Riddick-Tynes. His production work under the Rascals was also included on
Toni Braxton and
Babyface's
Grammy Award-winning album
Love, Marriage & Divorce, contributing to the solo "I'd Rather Be Broke", performed by Braxton. On September 24, 2013, Thomas released a new single, "Hello How Are You" (featuring
Wiz Khalifa). On January 1, 2014, Thomas released a new mixtape,
V1bes, under the name
Leon Thomas, via
DatPiff. He also announced that a music video for "Hello How Are You" was in the works. In 2016, he served as a co-producer for
Post Malone's album
Stoney. In 2016, Thomas released the mixtape
Before the Beginning via
SoundCloud, which compiled eight songs which he had "[held on] for a long time". In 2017, he appeared in the
Kathryn Bigelow-directed film
Detroit. 2018 saw the release of Thomas' debut EP
Genesis, which featured guest appearances from
Buddy and
Tayla Parx. The next year, Thomas earned a
Grammy Award for Best Rap Song nomination at the
62nd Annual Grammy Awards for co-writing and co-producing the song "
Gold Roses" by
Rick Ross (featuring
Drake). Thomas would also go on to write and produce more records under the Rascals production duo, as well as a solo producer, co-writing, and co-producing two songs on Ariana Grande's
Positions, and three songs on Drake's
Certified Lover Boy. In May 2022,
Ty Dolla Sign signed a joint venture deal with
Motown for his newly launched EZMNY Records imprint, announcing Thomas to be the label's first artist. He was one of the writers and producers on the track "
Burn" by
¥$ (
Kanye West and Ty Dolla Sign) from their album
Vultures 1, released on February 10, 2024. Furthermore, in 2024 Leon won his first
Grammy Award for Best R&B Song for his contribution to SZA's hit song "Snooze". On June 13, 2025, the track "Brown Sugar" was released; a collaboration between Thomas and
Dylan Sinclair. Thomas released the
NPR Tiny Desk version of "Mutt" on August 9, 2025. ==Filmography==