Leslie Winston

Leslie Winston is an American actress best known for playing Cindy, wife of Ben Walton, on the television series The Waltons from 1979 to 1981.

Early years Winston is the daughter of Hal and Carol Winston. Her interest in performing began with her involvement in a summer theater program between her fifth-grade and sixth-grade years. She acted in plays in junior high school and at Mason City High School, from which she graduated in 1974. She majored in drama for two years at the University of Iowa. She left there to transfer to UCLA, from which she left to take a role in a film one quarter before she would have graduated. McDonough, who was a bridesmaid at Winston's wedding, stresses the strong bonds that were created among the series cast and states in her autobiography that they are not just like a family but "really are a family." She also describes Winston and Norton as "real sisters." Her husband worked as director on some episodes of the latter.