Luis Leal (Linares, Nuevo León, September 17, 1907 – Santa Barbara, California, January 25, 2010) was a Mexican-American writer and literary critic.

After serving in the Philippines during the Second World War, he resumed his literary studies at the University of Chicago, where in 1950 he acquired a doctorate in Spanish and Italian literature.

He published articles in Cuadernos Americanos and Historia Mexicana, and edited Ventana Abierta: Revista Latina de Literatura, Arte y Cultura.

Leal was one of the first professors to incorporate the writers of the Latin American Boom (i.e. Gabriel García Márquez, Carlos Fuentes, and Julio Cortázar) into his curriculum.

With respect to Chicano literature, he promoted the study of Tomás Rivera, Rolando Hinojosa, Sandra Cisneros, Alurista, and Rudolfo Anaya.