Lee Pace

Lee Pace (born 1978 or 1979) is an American actor. He is known for starring as Thranduil the Elvenking in The Hobbit trilogy and as Joe MacMillan in the AMC period drama television series Halt and Catch Fire. He has also appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Ronan the Accuser, a role he first played in Guardians of the Galaxy and reprised in Captain Marvel. He received an Emmy Award nomination for his portrayal of Ned in the ABC comedy-drama Pushing Daisies. From 2021, he stars as the galactic emperor Brother Day in the TV series adaptation of Isaac Asimov's science fiction stories Foundation.

Pace's sexual orientation became a topic of public discussion after he was accidentally outed as gay by Ian McKellen, who worked with him in The Hobbit films, in 2012. McKellen's "outing" was described in the press as a blunder and an accident on his part, as Pace had never addressed the subject. In June 2018, he spoke about being a queer actor in an interview with The New York Times.

Pace was born in Chickasha, Oklahoma, to Charlotte, a schoolteacher, and James, an engineer. He has a sister. As a child, Pace spent several years in Saudi Arabia, where his father worked in the oil business; the family later moved to Houston, Texas. Pace attended Klein High School in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston, with actor Matt Bomer. Pace briefly stopped attending high school to act at Houston's Alley Theatre before returning to graduate. At the Alley, he appeared in productions of The Spider's Web and The Greeks. In 1997, he was accepted by the Juilliard School's Drama Division as a member of Group 30 (1997–2001), which also included actors Anthony Mackie and Tracie Thoms. While there, he was in several plays, including Romeo and Juliet as Romeo, Richard II in the title role, and Julius Caesar as Cassius. He graduated from Juilliard with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.