Leonard Cruz was born in Pampanga, the Philippines and grew up in San Antonio, Texas. He started dancing at the age of four learning Filipino and Hawaiian Folk Dances, as well as Ballet. In 1983 he was a Finalist in the Arts Recognition Talent Search Competition in Miami, Florida and was later named Presidential Scholar in the Arts where he performed at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C.. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree at U.C.L.A. in Dance in 1987 and in 2006 received his Master's of Arts Degree in Dance at U.C.L.A.

He has danced and performed with Robert Wilson, Kei Takei's Moving Earth, Shapiro and Smith Dance, Sally Silvers, and for five years with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane and Co. In 1993 he was given a guest contract to dance with Pina Bausch in Wuppertal and was a member of the Folkwang Tanz Studio in Essen-Werden, Germany. From 1994-2001 he danced in the Bremer Stadttheater under the Directorship of Susanne Linke and Urs Dietrich. It was also there where he started choreographing solo dance work as well as chamber work. He recieved the DanceWeb Prize in 1997 and 1998. Since 2001 Cruz has been freelancing in Essen, Germany receiving financial support from the Stiftung Kunst und Kultur des Landes NRW in Düsseldorf as well as the Kulturbüro Essen. In 2004 Leonard was selected as Choreographer for the SIWIC Program in Zurich, Switzerland where he had the opportunity to work with 20 professional dancers and was guided by Carolyn Carlson. He was a guest teacher/choreographer at the University of Cologne. He also is guest teacher and choreographer at the Essen-Werden Gymnasium (The only High School were students can concentrate with dance in the diploma). He was also selected as a Bessie-Schoenberg Choreographer in Residence at the Yard in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts for 2005. In Germany he was named remarkable young choreographer from the critics in Ballett International/Tanz Aktuell 2005. He was also mentioned from 2004-2006 as one of 50 Important Choreographers in the German Tanz Platform. Summer 2006 Cruz was an APPEX Fellow at UCLA and brought Jazz Guitarist Rob Levit to Germany to collaborate on a Solo dance evening titled "JaJa/NeinNein". In Winter 2007 Cruz choreographed a duet for himself and Gabrio Gabrielli for the Folwang Museum. Later that year, he choreographed a new duett with Damian Veens for the Katacomben Theater in Essen.

In summer 2008 Cruz will be performing parts of his solo "JaJa/NeinNein"for the Program "DanceMakers"at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee . He will also start working with Urban 15 in San Antonio, Texas during the first week of August with a Premiere on Jan. 9 and 10, 2009 at Jumpstart Performance Company. On November 26,  2008 Leonard will premiere a new trio for the Kunst Verein Ruhr, Essen Germany with support from the Kulturbüro in Essen.

Leonard is happy to announce that he is an M.F.A. Candidate at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee's Low Residency Program starting this summer of 2008.

Last but not least, Cruz was just appointed as Guest Assistant Professor in Dance at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina starting August 2008.