Leslie Charleson was born on February 22 1945 in Kansas City, Missouri. Her first acting job came when she was a little girl, appearing in a car commercial alongside her mother. Leslie Charleson first appeared on television in 1964 in a recurring role on the soap opera A Flame in the Wind (renamed A Time for Us in 1965). She was a regular on the soap opera As the World Turns and from 1967 to 1970 she was a regular on Love is a Many Splendored Thing. In the Sixties she also guest starred on the TV shows N.Y.P.D., The Wild Wild West, and Mannix. She made her film debut in 1968 in an uncredited role in A Lovely Way to Die.
It was in 1977 that Leslie Charleson began playing Monica Quartermaine on General Hospital, a role she would play until 2023. In the Seventies she guest starred on the shows Adam-12; O'Hara, U.S. Treasury; Marcus Welby, M.D; Search; The Rookies; Emergency!; Cannon; Medical Center; Ironside; F.B.I.; Owen Marshall: Counsellor at Law; The Streets of San Francisco; Kung Fu; Happy Days; Caribe; Medical Story; Barnaby Jones; Bert D'Angelo/Superstar; McMillan & Wife; and The Rockford Files. She appeared in the movies Day of the Dolphin (1973) and Cheering Section (1977).
In the Nineties Leslie Charleson appeared as Monica Quartermaine in a recurring role on the General Hospital spinoff Port Charles. She guest starred on the shows Diagnosis Murder. Dharma & Greg; and Friends. She appeared in one episode of the short-lived primetime spinoff General Hospital: Night Shift.
Not having watched General Hospital regularly, I can't speak to Leslie Charleson's performance was Monica Quartermaine on the show, but I can say that she gave some good performances in her various guest appearances. In The Wild Wild West episode "The Night of Fire and Brimstone," she played Dooley Sloan, the plucky daughter of Dr. Sloan. On Mannix she played a woman who hires Joe Mannix to investigate a case in which her husband was accused of shooting a pharmacy employee. In the Emergency! episode "Women" she played Christy Todd, a reporter assigned to accompany paramedics John and Roy on their rounds. Leslie Charleson always gave a good performance and was always enjoyable to see regardless of the show on which she was appearing.
