Sharon Leal is an American actress. She was born in Tucson, Arizona to an African-American father and a Filipino mother. Her adoptive father, Jesse Leal, was a Master Sergeant in the United States Air Force and a police officer at Clark Air Base, Philippines; he married Leal's mother in 1972 and legally adopted Leal.

Her career began with the role of Dahlia Crede in the CBS daytime serial Guiding Light from 1996 to 1999. In 1998, she joined the Broadway company of Rent. Soon after, she was cast as Mimi for the San Francisco leg of the first national tour of Rent, staying with the company until it closed in September 1999. From 2000 to 2004, Leal starred in the Fox prime time TV series Boston Public. She also had a role in the theatrical release Face The Music and appeared in a recurring role in the short-lived NBC series LAX, as the wife of airport co-director, Roger de Souza.

She also co-starred in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Dreamgirls as Michelle Morris, Effie White's replacement in the pop group The Dreams. The film was released on December 25, 2006. In 2007 Leal starred in This Christmas and in the Tyler Perryproduction Why Did I Get Married?. Her directed TV Shows include Sister, Sister, The Game, One on One, Girlfriends, Half & Half, and The Parent 'Hood.