March 25 is a very important date to fans of Middle-earth: the anniversary of the destruction of the One Ring, the downfall of Sauron and Barad-dûr, Tolkien Reading Day^[1]… and the birthday of Lee Pace, the actor who brought Elven-king Thranduil to life. Lee celebrates his 36^th birthday today!

Lee was born in Chickasha, Oklahoma. While Lee was growing up, his family lived in Saudi Arabia for a time, settling first in New Orleans and then in Houston after returning to the USA. Lee started acting in high school, and left school for a while to work with the well-known Alley Theatre^[2] in Houston. After completing high school, Lee was accepted to the Julliard School^[3] Drama Division in 1997.

After earning the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Julliard, Lee had a number of stage roles, including The Credeaux Canvas and The Fourth Sister. His performances in the off-Broadway shows Small Tragedy and Guardians brought him recognition with nominations for Lucille Lortell Awards^[4]. Lee made his first Broadway appearance in 2011 as Bruce Niles in a revival of The Normal Heartby Larry Kramer.

In 2003, Lee had his breakthrough film performance in Soldier’s Girl, a role that earned him several award nominations, including a Golden Globe, and won the Gotham Award for Breakthrough Actor. Other well-known film roles for Lee include The Fall (2006), Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008), The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2(2012), Lincoln(2012), and Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). Fans of Peter Jackson’s film trilogy of The Hobbit know Lee well as the icy King Thranduil, ruler of the Elves of Mirkwood and father of Legolas Greenleaf.

Lee has also done roles for television. He played Aaron Tyler in Wonderfalls(2004), created by Bryan Fuller and Todd Holland. The actor went on to star as Ned in Fuller’s Pushing Daisies (2007-2009). The role garnered Lee nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe, and remains one of Lee’s most popular characters. Earlier this week, Pushing Daisies won Esquire’s TV Reboot Tournament^[5], defeating Firefly, a show with a deeply devoted fan base. In 2014, Lee starred in a Halt and Catch Fire on AMC, which will return for a second season in summer 2015.

From all of us at Middle-earth News – Happy birthday, Lee! We hope you have a wonderful celebration, complete with a bottle or two of Dorwinion wine. And maybe some pie.

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Author: Valdis^[6] Valdís is a classic nerd, with many geeky interests, but her life-long love of Tolkien rules them all. She was completely hooked the first time that she read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings at age 8. Since then, she has read the books at least once a year, and delves into Middle-earth at every opportunity with a fervor that would make any dwarf proud. She also deeply loves Peter Jackson’s films, and defends them staunchly when need arises. When reality forces her out of Middle-earth, Valdís is a university professor, a wife, mother of two daughters, and servant to two cats.

References

1. ^{^} Tolkien Reading Day, The Tolkien Society (www.tolkiensociety.org)
2. ^{^} Alley Theatre (www.alleytheatre.org)
3. ^{^} Julliard (www.juilliard.edu)
4. ^{^} Lucille Lortel Awards (www.lortelaward.com)
5. ^{^} TV Reboot Tournament, Esquire.com (www.esquire.com)
6. ^{^} Posts by Valdis (middleearthnews.com)