Lee Pace

Biography

Lee Pace, born Lee Grinner Pace in Chickasha, Oklahoma, in 1979, is an American actor known for stage, television and large-scale film work. He is best recognized for playing Ned the pie-maker in Pushing Daisies, the elven king Thranduil in The Hobbit trilogy, and the villain Ronan the Accuser in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. His career has moved steadily between theatre, the small screen and big productions.

His father worked in the oil business, and Pace spent several years of his childhood in Saudi Arabia before the family settled in Houston, Texas. He attended Klein High School in Spring, Texas, alongside Matt Bomer, and later trained at the Juilliard School as a member of Group 30, with Anthony Mackie and Tracie Thoms. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, having appeared in Shakespearean productions such as Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar during his studies.

Before his screen breakthroughs, Pace built his reputation off Broadway, earning two nominations for the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Actor. He made his Broadway debut in 2011 in Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart, and later played the composer Vincenzo Bellini in Terrence McNally's Golden Age. On television he appeared in Wonderfalls before taking the lead in Pushing Daisies, which earned him a Primetime Emmy nomination in 2008. From 2014 to 2017 he played Joe MacMillan in the AMC drama Halt and Catch Fire.

His film breakthrough came with a 2003 drama based on real events, in which he played a transgender woman, a role that brought him a Gotham Award for Breakthrough Actor. He then alternated leading parts, such as in Tarsem Singh's The Fall, with supporting roles in The Good Shepherd and When in Rome. He played the vampire Garrett in The Twilight Saga, and a Confederate-sympathizing politician in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln. Peter Jackson's adaptation of The Hobbit gave him a recurring place in Middle-earth, and his Ronan, first seen in Guardians of the Galaxia, returned in Captain Marvel.

Since 2021 he has played Brother Day in Apple's science fiction series Foundation, based on the novels of Isaac Asimov. His career reflects an actor who has favoured varied roles across different media rather than a single defining part. His legacy rests on a long run of leading and supporting work in several formats.

Key films

• Lincoln (2012): as Fernando Wood, a Confederate sympathizer, in Steven Spielberg's political drama.
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013): his Thranduil has a larger role than in the previous instalment.
• Guardians of the Galaxy (2014): Ronan the Accuser, the villain that introduced him to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
• The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (2012): Garrett, a nomadic vampire, in the final instalment of the saga.
• Captain Marvel (2019): he reprises the role of Ronan, a character first seen in Guardians of the Galaxy.