J. Lee (sometimes credited as J Lee) is an American actor, writer, and musician known for playing Lt. Commander John LaMarr on the

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

science fiction comedy drama television series ''

The Orville ''The Orville'' is an American science fiction comedy drama television series created by Seth MacFarlane, who also stars as the protagonist Ed Mercer, an officer in the Planetary Union's line of exploratory space vessels in the 25th century. It ...

''.

Early life and career

Lee was born and grew up in

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

. He grew up playing piano and plays professionally. "I started playing classical piano when I was 3. I did that all throughout my youth and in high school. I played at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

when I was 12 or 13." He obtained a bachelor's degree from

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

's Jacob's School of Music. He worked at

Fuzzy Door Productions Fuzzy Door Productions, Inc. is an American film and television production company founded by Seth MacFarlane on July 31, 1998. The company's productions include the animated sitcoms ''Family Guy'' and ''American Dad!'', the ''Family Guy'' spin- ...

as a receptionist where he befriended

Seth MacFarlane Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (; born October 26, 1973) is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, director, comedian, and singer. He is best known as the creator and star of the television series ''Family Guy'' (since 1999) and ''The Orvill ...

. "People would come up and just have a conversation with me. And Seth and I became cool because when he would come out of his office or the writers room just to get a break, we would just talk about regular life and laugh." He soon began working for MacFarlane on many of his projects, furthering his acting career.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* African-American male actors African-American musicians African-American writers American male film actors American male television actors American male voice actors Jacobs School of Music alumni Living people Male actors from St. Louis Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century African-American people {{US-screen-actor-stub