Jump to content

Jason Lee

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 69.242.149.126 (talk) at 05:32, 12 July 2007. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Jason Lee
File:Jason lee2.jpg
Born
Jason Michael Lee

Jason Michael Lee (born April 25, 1970) is a Golden Globe Award-nominated American actor and professional skateboarder. Lee was born in Orange, California and raised in nearby Huntington Beach. He attended Ocean View High School, although he did not graduate.[citation needed]

Career

Skateboarding

Lee was a prominent professional skateboarder in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Notable tricks performed by Lee included: 360 flips, kickflip backside tailslides, and curb cut launched Japan airs. He was co-founder of Stereo Skateboards with Chris Pastras in 1992; the pair revived the company in 2003 after it had been defunct for several years. Chris Pastras' first Stereo Skateboard was famously thrown into a sulfur pit as part of the company's edgy advertisement campaign.[1]

Lee and Tony Hawk were the first two skateboarders to receive a pro model shoe with Airwalk.[2][3] He had a part in the 1991 Blind skateboards video Video Days, shot by Spike Jonze. Recently, he lent his voice and likeness to the game Tony Hawk's Project 8.

Acting

After taking some minor acting roles, including the Jonze-directed Sonic Youth music video for "100%" in 1992 and a small part in Allison Anders' 1993 film Mi Vida Loca, Lee left professional skating for a full-time acting career. 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 Bob Strike Back, Jersey Girl and Clerks II. Lee won an Independent Spirit Award for his role in Chasing Amy as a homophobic comic book artist.

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 had supporting roles in Vanilla Sky, Almost Famous as an egotistical rock star, Dreamcatcher, Big Trouble, The Ballad of Jack and Rose and Mumford, as well as a minor role in Enemy of the State. He also voiced the 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. He is also the voice of Underdog from the movie that carries the same name.

Television success

Screen shot of Jason on the hit NBC sitcom, My Name Is Earl.

Lee was offered the lead role in the 2005 NBC sitcom, My Name Is Earl. According to interviews on the first season DVD, he passed on the series twice before finally agreeing to read the pilot.

In the series, Lee stars as Earl Hickey, a petty thief who finds karma and sets out to put right all his past wrongs. The series received critical acclaim and strong ratings on its debut (September 20, 2005). A hit for NBC, the show was quickly ordered for a full season — the first sitcom of the season to do so. Several months later, it was renewed for a second season. Lee received 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. Earl's brother Randy is played by Ethan Suplee, with whom Lee previously appeared in the movies Mallrats and Clerks II.

Personal life

Lee was married to actress and photographer Carmen Llywellyn from 1995 to 2001.

He and his fiancée Beth Riesgraf (who appeared on an episode on My Name Is Earl called "Faked His Own Death") have a son named Pilot Inspektor Riesgraf Lee (b. September 28, 2003).[citation needed]

Lee is a member of the Church of Scientology.[4][5]


Credits

Filmography

Trivia

  • Jason is 6'3" tall.

References

  1. ^ History
  2. ^ Powerful Pro Shoes- What are some of the top-selling skate shoes of all time?
  3. ^ My First Paycheck - Jason Lee
  4. ^ "Dianetics and Scientology Center Opens on Melrose in Los Angeles". Church of Scientology International. Retrieved 2007-02-06.
  5. ^ "ABC News: Celebrity Scientologists". ABC News. Retrieved 2007-02-06.
  6. ^ "Biography for Jason Lee (I)". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2007-02-06.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Jason_Lee&oldid=144123724"