is a character in Resident Evil (Biohazard in Japan), a survival horror video game series created by Japanese company Capcom. He debuted as one of the two player characters of the video game Resident Evil 2 (1998), alongside Claire Redfield. During the events of Resident Evil 2, Leon is a rookie police officer who arrives in the doomed Raccoon City late for his first day on the job, only to confront a zombie outbreak first-hand. During the course of the game, he teams up with civilian survivor Claire Redfield, rescues the young Sherry Birkin, and is aided by the mysterious Ada Wong. Six years later, in Resident Evil 4 (2005), Leon returns as a Division of Security Operations (D.S.O) agent for the U.S. federal government, part of a special anti-Umbrella Corporation task force, assigned to rescue the president's daughter, Ashley Graham, from a sinister cult. In Resident Evil 6 (2012), he continues to work for the U.S. government and reunites with Ada and an adult Sherry. Leon is the protagonist of several Resident Evil games and novelizations. Leon also appears in the CG animated films and in the animated miniseries Infinite Darkness (2021). In later games, such as the Resident Evil 2 remake (2019) and the Resident Evil 4 remake (2023), his features were based on Romanian model Eduard Badaluta. In the live-action films, Leon has been portrayed by actors Johann Urb and Avan Jogia. Video game publications list Leon among the most popular and iconic video game characters, and he ranks consistently as a fan favorite character of the franchise. Concept and design Leon was created by Hideki Kamiya as a contrast to Chris Redfield from the original Resident Evil, who he felt was the "blunt, tough-guy type". Though Kamiya admitted that while he was a fan of characters like Chris, as it had already been done, he opted to take Leon's development in a different direction. Leon was created for Resident Evil 2 as the staff wanted to use a character who had no experience with terrifying situations in contrast to using returning protagonists. While he was originally designed as a veteran police officer, he was changed to a rookie after the original version of Resident Evil 2 (popularly known as "Resident Evil 1.5") had been scrapped. Leon's design was inspired by Capcom artist Isao Ohishi. While Kamiya created Leon alongside Claire, he was aided by novelist Noboru