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 (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...

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 series protagonist Ed Mercer, an officer in the Planetary Union's line of exploratory space vessels in the 25th century ...

''.

Early life and career

Lee was born and grew up in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. 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 in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

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

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

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

Fuzzy Door Productions Fuzzy Door Productions is an American film and television production company founded by Seth MacFarlane in 1998. The company's productions include animated series ''Family Guy'', ''American Dad!'', the ''Family Guy'' spinoff ''The Cleveland Show' ...

as a receptionist where he befriended

Seth MacFarlane Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (; born October 26, 1973) is an American actor, animator, filmmaker, comedian, and singer. He is the creator and star of the television series ''Family Guy'' (since 1999) and ''The Orville'' (since 2017), and co-creator ...

. "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-actor-stub