Born in 1921 in St. Paul, Minnesota, LeRoy Neiman is famous for his expressionist illustrations of sporting events. Neiman served in WWII, and his talent in painting was used to paint sets for Red Cross shows. He then returned home to study briefly at the St. Paul School of Art, before graduating from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Neiman taught fine drawing and fashion illustration at the SAIC through the 1940s and 50s. In 1954, Neiman met Hugh Hefner and painted for him often. His most contribution to Playboy Magazine was the Femlin, a female character on the Party Jokes page.

In 1960, Neiman started to tour the world painting sporting competitions including the Olympics, the Kentucky Derby, the World Series, the PGA, and Wimbledon, among others. 

Neiman lived in New York City until death in 2012.

He has had several solo exhibitions and retrospectives in both California and New York.