Jason Lee (actor)

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Image:Jason Lee (Actor).jpg Jason Lee (born April 25, 1970) is an American actor and professional skateboarder.

Jason Lee was born in the city of Orange, California and raised in nearby Huntington Beach, where he attended Ocean View High School, but did not graduate. Lee's first career was as a professional skateboarder in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Notable tricks performed by Lee (and there were many) were 360 kickflips, kickflip backside tailslides, and curb cut launched Japan airs. He was co-founder of Stereo skateboards (along with Chris Pastras) in 1992, a company which has been revived by the pair as of 2004 after having been defunct for several years. He was one of the first skateboarders to receive a pro model shoe, produced by Airwalk, and his part in the 1991 Blind skateboards promotional video Video Days, shot by Spike Jonze, remains very influential to this day. Today, he is remembered as one of the most influential and innovative street skaters of the early 90s.

Intrigued by a few minor acting roles, including the Spike Jonze-directed music video for Sonic Youth's 1992 music video for 100% and a small part in Allison Anders' 1993 film Mi Vida Loca, Lee decided to leave professional skating for a full-time acting career, taking the skateboarding world by surprise. 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, and Jersey Girl. Most consider Lee's acting career to have truly launched with his Independent Spirit Award-winning role in Chasing Amy as Banky Edwards, the homophobic comic book artist and best friend for life to Ben Affleck's character. Lee soon graduated to leading man roles in Stealing Harvard (alongside Tom Green) as well as A Guy Thing (alongside Julia Stiles). He has also appeared as a secondary character in Enemy of the State, Almost Famous, Vanilla Sky, Dreamcatcher, Big Trouble, and The Ballad of Jack and Rose. He also voiced the evil Syndrome in the animated movie The Incredibles and the DVD Bonus Video Jack-Jack Attack, and a "robot copy" of Syndrome the Disney on Ice play Disney Presents Pixar's The Incredibles in a Magic Kingdom Adventure.

Lee's new 2005 NBC sitcom, My Name Is Earl, in which he finds Karma as his life guide and 'rights' all his wrongs from the past using a compiled list of things he must make up, debuted to critical acclaim and impressive ratings on September 20, 2005, on NBC, and was quickly picked up for a full season order, 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.

Lee is a follower of Scientology [1]. He has a son, Pilot Inspektor Riesgraf Lee; this name, strange even by Hollywood standards, was reportedly inspired by the song He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot, by the band Grandaddy.

Lee is a fan of actor Burt Reynolds and he often tries to incorporate a reference to Reynolds in his works. In the films Mallrats and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back he uses the phrase "Reynold's style", in the film Dogma he goes to "Mrs. Reynolds" door, in the film Jersey Girl he refers to Matt Damon's character as "Reynolds", in My Name is Earl an entire episode was devoted to Earl's brother wanting to go to the County Fair to see the car from the Reynolds film Smokey and the Bandit.

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Filmography

Clerks II (2006) - Lance
Monster House (2006) (post-production) - Bones
Waiting... (2005) - Monty
My Name Is Earl (2005) TV Series - Earl
Jack-Jack Attack (2005) (V) (voice) - Syndrome
Drop Dead Sexy (2005) - Frank
The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005) - Gray
The Incredibles (2004) (VG) (voice) - Syndrome/Buddy Pine
The Incredibles (2004) (voice) - Buddy Pine/Syndrome
Sonic Youth Video Dose (2004) (TV)
Jersey Girl (2004) - PR Exec #1
I Love Your Work (2003) - Dishevelled Man
Dreamcatcher (2003) - Joe 'Beaver' Clarenden
A Guy Thing (2003) - Paul Coleman
Stealing Harvard (2002) - John Plummer
Big Trouble (2002) - Puggy
Vanilla Sky (2001) - Brian Shelby
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) - Brodie Bruce/Banky Edwards
Heartbreakers (2001) - Jack Withrowe
Almost Famous (2000) - Jeff Bebe
Mumford (1999) - Skip Skipperton
Dogma (1999) - Azrael
Enemy of the State (1998) - Daniel Leon Zavitz
American Cuisine (1998) - Loren Collins
Kissing a Fool (1998) - Jay Murphy
A Better Place (1997) (as Dennis Pepper and Linus Peacock) - Dennis Pepper/Steve
Weapons of Mass Distraction (1997) (TV) - Phillip Messenger
Chasing Amy (1997) - Banky Edwards
Drawing Flies (1996) - Donner
Mallrats (1995) - Brodie Bruce
Mi Vida Loca (1993) - Teenage Drug Customer
Video Days (1991) (V)