Leshem was born January 2, 1962 in Israel, but spent much of his childhood in the United States. He is the son of Alyssa Leshem and Moshe Leshem, a former Israeli ambassador to several countries, including The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Denmark, and was part of Israel’s delegation at the United Nations.
Leshem moved to New York in 1978 and began his career in theater, performing in off-Broadway productions, including a role as James Joyce in Exiles at the Asphalt Green. After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College, he started an interactive theater company with his theater teacher, Megan McCombs in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Leshem and McCombs staged their own interactive murder mystery, Hilton Head Homicides.
After a year with the production, Leshem relocated to Hollywood.
Leshem received his master’s degree in directing from the American Film Institute. In 1996, Leshem co-founded Cobalt Moon, a Los Angeles-based interactive entertainment company.
Cobalt Moon produced Second City Naked News, a daily updated news parody. The following year, Leshem was hired by Barry Diller as editor in chief of Silver King Broadcasting, where he was responsible for the development, production, scheduling and marketing of all programs on the Miami television station, WAMI. In 2003, Leshem partnered with Michael Davies to form Diplomatic Productions.
Leshem was also executive producer on several television shows including United States of America Network"s Smush and the documentary series Ultimate Reality on A&East. In 2003, Leshem formed, a marketing and television production company that focuses on the creation of sponsored television shows built around the sponsor"s brand.
Pepsi became "s first client and remained with for more than ten years. United States of America Rock Paper Scissors League In 2005, Leshem founded the United States of America Rock Paper Scissors League and launched a nationwide tournament for sponsor Bud Light. GAME_JAM controversy In 2014, Leshem, as a middleman for sponsor Pepsi Cola, came under criticism for disrupting GAME_JAM, a Maker Studios-developed reality show about a competitive game jam.
Leshem reportedly intended to deliberately stir up the participants by repeatedly asking sexist questions in the presence of female developers, which led to his eventual removal from the project and, despite this, the event"s failure.
Leshem made his television debut in the prime time soap opera, Falcon Crest. Later, he was cast as Doctor Dan Shae, appearing in more than 160 episodes of the 1988 television show, Family Medical Center.
In 2004, Leshem was a judge on the new version of Star Search hosted by Arsenio Hall.
He is founder and Chief Executive Officer of, a Los Angeles-based brand management company. At Diplomatic, Leshem developed integrated brand shows, most notably Pepsi Play for a Billion, a two-hour summer special offering the chance for one player to win $1 billion. The winner of the 2008 League finals was awarded a prize of $50,000.
