30 Unknown Facts Every Fan Should Know About Lee Pace

30 March 2019, 11:28 am EDT By Ruby Karnick

Lee Pace, famous for his portrayal of Thranduil the Elvenking in "The Hobbit trilogy," and as Ronan the Accuser in the Marvel Cinematic Universer, has two Golden Globe Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award nominations to his name. Known for his towering height, rice and smooth voice, shy and nervous yet a very charming demeanor, he was ranked as one among the "100 Sexiest Movie Stars" by the Empire Magazine. Here are some facts about the American actor:

He was born Lee Grinner Pace on March 25, 1979, in Chickasha, Oklahoma, United States, to Charlotte, a school teacher and James Roy Pace, an engineer. His family is of German, as well as English, Scottish and Welsh descent.
Pace spent his early years living in Middle East and moved back to States where he graduated from Klein High School in Spring, Texas, Houston and later joined Juilliard School’s Drama Division, as a member of Group 30 in 1997. He temporarily quit school to act at the oldest professional theatre company, Alley Theatre, in Houston.
While at Juilliard School of drama, dance, and music, he acted in several plays, including Romeo and Juliet as Romeo, Richard II in the title role, and Julius Caesar as Cassius.
Shortly before his Juilliard graduation, he was on two month backpacking trip to Indiaand he faced a challenge that would establish his fearlessness. While at Hambi, as he was getting of a bus, a man swiped his backpack containing all his possessions. He jumped off the bus hit him in the back, tackled him and pulled his bag.
After his graduation with a BFA from Juilliard, Pace starred in the critically acclaimed off-Broadway plays, ‘The Credeaux Canvas’ as well as being part of the Vineyard production of ‘The Fourth Sister.’ He also starred in the Craig Lucas’s ‘Small Tragedy,’ for which he was nominated for ‘Lucille Lortel Award,’ for outstanding acting.
Pace made his Broadway debut with ‘The Normal Heart’ on April 19, 2011, portraying the character Bruce Niles in the show. The play ran for a total of 96 performances at the Golden Theatre, when it concluded on July 10, 2011.
He was cast as composer Vincenzo Bellini in ‘Golden Age,’ by Terrence McNally, which premiered on November 15, 2012 and began its official run at the Manhattan Theatre Club from December 04, 2012.
When in February 2018, the play ‘Angel in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes,’ was transferred to Neil Simon Theatre, Pace replaced Tovey as Joe Pitt. The play opened on March 25 and the production won for ‘Best Revival of a Play’ at that year’s Tony Award.
Pace first gained recognition when he starred in the 2003Sundance hit, ‘Soldier’s Girl,’ an extraordinary telefilm created for Showtime. The film is based on the true story of a transgender nightclub performer in love with a soldier. He played the central role of Calpernia Addams.
For his portrayal of transsexual night-club character, Pace saw documentary of transsexuals, lost about twenty five pounds, and put on prosthetic boobs and hips to get into the character.

The film Soldier’s Girl fetched him Gotham Award for Outstanding Breakthrough performance apart from nomination for several other awards including Golden Globe and the Independent Spirit Award.
He faced rough challenge when he played a transsexual woman in his breakout role in the 2003 TV film, Soldiers’ Girl. Even for a guy whose hobbies include vacationing around the globe, this role gave him a worrying thought what his dad would think, but I’ll always be proud of this film.
His sexual orientation became topic of public discussion when in 2012 he was identified as gay by Ian McKellen, who worked with him in ‘The Hobbit’ movies. McKellen’s ‘outing’ was described in the press as a blunder and an accident on his part as Pace had not come out by then.
He was cast as Michael Pardue in the 2008romantic comedy film ‘Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day’ along with Frances McDormand and Amy Adams. The director had to ask Pace to leave the set because Amy Adams admittedly was too distracted by his look. He and Amy Adams both did their own singing in the film.
In making of the 2006 adventure fantasy film ‘The Fall,’ in which Pace plays the character Roy Walker, the paralyzed stuntman, was made to spent all his time on the set in a wheelchair or in bed by the director, Tarsem Singh convincing everyone that he was actually paralyzed. A makeup artist walked into the room to find Pace standing and almost passed out from shock. The film was well received amongst critics and viewers.
Pace also plays support roles in ‘The White Countess’ as Crane, ‘Infamous’ as Dick Hickock, ‘When in Rome’ as Brady Sacks and in short film ‘Polarbearman.’ He also appeared as Phil Winslow in the comedy film ‘Marmaduke’ of comic strip fame.
He also plays support cast in the 2006 spy film ‘The Good Shepherd,’ produced and directed by Robert De Niro. He is portrayed as Deputy Director Richard Hayes, for which he won the Silver Bear at the 57th annual Berlin International Film Festival for Outstanding Artistic Contribution, shared with cast.
In 2012, Pace performance as vampire Garrett in ‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn-Part 2, was appreciated by the Stephenie Meyer, the author of the book. She said ‘he stood out as someone who was just so much fun and really looked the part.’
In the biographic drama film of 2012 ‘Lincoln,’ Pace had been cast as the one time New York City mayor Fernando Wood. Pace portrayed character Wood, who was 20 years his senior and said of experience that ‘it was a real pinnacle of what I’ve done as an actor.’ He was offered the role after Steven Spielberg saw his performance in the film Ceremony.
Pace was cast as the king of the Mirkwood Elves, Thranduil in the adventure, family, fantasy film ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and in its sequel ‘The Desolation of Smaug. Peter Jackson was convinced after he saw his performance in the film ‘The Fall.’ Pace made three trips to New Zealand, and called it a fantastic experience.

During the shooting of the film The Hobbit, Pace’s parents visited him on-set, and subsequently Peter Jackson offered them to be extra in the movie. They were given roles as Lake Town villagers. However, according to Pace, they were cut out of the movie, because his father was ‘hamming it up’ during his scene.
Pace played the villain, Ronan the Accuser, in the 2014 Marvel Studio film, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy.’ Several actors including Pace were mentioned as being considered to play hero Peter Quill, aka Star Lord. Though Pratt won the role Marvel was impressed with Pace’s audition and kept him in mind when it was time to cast the villain.
In 2004, Pace was cast as Aaron Tyler in the American comedy-drama television series ‘Wonderfalls’ created by Bryan Fuller and Todd Holland.Adam Scott was originally cast in the role of Aaron Tyler, hence the re-filming of one scene in the plot. He enacted in 13 of the 14 episodes.
In the fantasy mystery comedy drama television series ‘Pushing Daisies,’ that aired on ABC, Pace stars as Ned, a pie-maker with the ability to bring dead things back to life. Though the script was originally written for Pace, he initially rejected before accepting the role.
For his role as Ned, Pace was nominated for several awards including: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Series, Musical or Comedy, Also for a Satellite Award and a Saturn Award for Best Actor on Television.
In 2010, Pace was cast in the unsold HBO pilot ‘The Miraculous Year’ directed by Kathryn Bigelow. The HBO chose not to pursue for it felt the appeal for the show was considered ‘too narrow.’
In the television drama series ‘Halt and Catch Fire,’ Pace is portrayed as entrepreneur Joe MacMillan, helming a project to build an IBM PC clones with the help of Computer engineer. It was aired on the cable network AMC in the United States spanning four seasons and 40 episodes. In an interview for The Guardian, Pace references Steve Jobs, Patrick Bateman and Don Draper as influences for his portrayal of the character.
Pace was cast as Bill Stapleton in the biographical drama film ‘The Program,’ in 2013 and went on to appear in number of other films, such as ‘The Keeping Hours,’ ‘The Book of Henry,’ and in ‘Revolt’ as Boin 2017.
Pace reprises his role as Ronan the Accuser in the 2019 film ‘Captain Marvel.’ However he does not wear his iconic face paint of Xandarian blood because Captain Marvel precedes 2014 film ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ wherein he first applies it.
In an interview in February 2018, Pace admitted that he had dated both men and women. Nevertheless, as it stands, Pace has never had a wife and he is not married. However has been said to have dated James Calleri for three years before he got into another relationship with Jason Moore in 2005. Then it was rumored that he later dated Anna Friel, Carter Smith, Richard Armitage, and Laura Donnelly.