Apr 25, 1970

Orange, California

Intrigued by a few minor acting roles, including the Spike Jonze-directed Sonic Youth music video for "100%" in 1992 and a small part in Allison Anders' 1993 film Mi Vida Loca, Lee decided to leave professional skating for a full-time acting career, surprising the skateboarding world. His first major movie role was in Kevin Smith's Mallrats which became a cult hit. He remained a close friend of Smith and has appeared in most of the director's works, including Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent B... ... (read more...) ob Strike Back, Jersey Girl and Clerks II. Most consider Lee's acting career to have truly launched with his Independent Spirit Award-winning role in Chasing Amy as Banky Edwards, the pseudohomophobic comic book artist and best friend of Ben Affleck's character.<br/><br/>

Lee graduated to leading man roles in Heartbreakers (alongside Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Stealing Harvard (alongside Tom Green) as well as A Guy Thing (alongside Julia Stiles). He has also appeared in minor roles in Enemy of the State, and Vanilla Sky, and has supporting roles in Almost Famous, Dreamcatcher, Big Trouble, The Ballad of Jack and Rose and Mumford. He also voiced the schizophrenic (according to the DVD Directors' Commentary) supervillain Syndrome in the animated movie The Incredibles and its DVD bonus video Jack-Jack Attack. Lee reprised the role as a "robot copy" of Syndrome in the Disney on Ice play Disney Presents Pixar's The Incredibles in a Magic Kingdom Adventure.<br/><br/>

Lee's 2005 NBC sitcom, My Name Is Earl, in which he stars as Earl Hickey, a petty thief who finds karma and sets out to put right all his wrongs from the past using a list he has compiled of all the bad things he has ever done, debuted to critical acclaim and impressive ratings on September 20, 2005. It was quickly ordered for a full season—the first sitcom of the season to do so. Several months later, it was also quickly renewed for a second season. His performance on the show has resulted in a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy as well as a nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series.