Jackson Smith-Leishman

Jackson was born on the Sunshine Coast, Australia, where he received his early training at the Amanda Bollinger Dance Academy in Southport. During his studies, he participated in the Australian Ballet School Interstate Program and the Queensland Ballet Academy Associate Program, and performed with The Royal Ballet on their Australian tour in Woolf Works (Wayne McGregor) in 2017. He was a finalist at the Youth America Grand Prix Finals in New York in 2018 and a finalist at the Prix de Lausanne in 2020. In 2021, he joined The Royal Ballet School in London, where he performed with The Royal Ballet in productions of Manon (Kenneth MacMillan) and Don Quixote (Carlos Acosta) at the Royal Opera House. Upon graduating in 2024, he joined the Junior Ballet of the Opéra National de Paris, performing in Allegro Brillante (George Balanchine) and Cantate 51 (Maurice Béjart) on tour, and appearing alongside the Paris Opera Ballet in The Sleeping Beauty (Rudolf Nureyev), Giselle (Jean Coralli / Julés Perrot) and La Bayadère (Rudolf Nureyev). Starting with the 2026/27 season, he will be a member of the Corps de Ballet of the Bayerisches Staatsballett.

(Information as of June 2026)