The first in her family to earn a Bachelor’s Degree, Leela graduated from Illinois State University with a B.A. in Acting. In her time at school, Leela acted under the direction of five-time Emmy Award winner Jane Lynch in a production of Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers, interned with the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, acted in the festival’s traveling acting troupe “Bard in a Box”, and directed a production of Diana Son’s Stop Kiss. She has been nominated for the Kennedy Center’s Irene Ryan Acting scholarship three times- for her performances as Rosaura in Sueño by José Rivera, Norma McCorvey aka “Jane Roe” in Roe by Lisa Loomer, and Patient Griselda/Nell/Jeanine in Carol Churchill’s Top Girls. She was the 2021 recipient of the Norman J Funk scholarship, a scholarship bestowed to a student of the Illinois State University School of Theatre and Dance who “demonstrated exceptional talent and ability in acting, and shown a true joy and passion for the theatre craft”.

Since graduation, Leela has acted with Chicago-area theatre companies such as The Factory Theater, Haven Chicago, Buffalo Theatre Ensemble, Laughing Stock Theatre, and Ego Death Theatre Collective. Leela has also acted in a variety of indie film and TV projects, and commercials.

Besides “actor”, Leela can also be described as a dog mom, a voracious reader, a Drag Race superfan and generally a huge fan of drag artists, a beginner guitar player, a letterboxd girly, and an artist (digital artist and analog collage animator with 7k+ on TikTok).