Jason Lee
Jason Lee
Jason Michael Leeis an American actor, comedian, television producer and skateboarder. He is best known for his role as Earl Hickey in the television comedy series My Name Is Earl, David Seville in the Alvin and the Chipmunks film franchise, the voice of Syndrome in The Incredibles, and for starring in films directed by Kevin Smith, including Mallrats...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionTV Actor
Date of Birth25 April 1970
CityHuntington Beach, CA
CountryUnited States of America
When you reach a certain status in Hollywood, you have to play a lot of games to stay in the limelight. It becomes more about being famous than being an actor.
Celebrities say they date other celebrities because they have the same job. But I think they just like dating famous people. Celebrities attract each other, like cattle.
I wasn't a kid who moved out from Iowa with aspirations of becoming a famous star - I was intrigued by the idea of filmmaking and by the idea of what it would be like to play a character in a movie.
It's difficult to get away from the shadow of a TV character.
Growing up in Huntington Beach, you were either a traditional sports athlete, a skateboarder, or a surfer. I got my first skateboard when I was five and skated off and on over the years, did a little BMX racing as a kid, and then in my freshman or sophomore year I started getting a little bit more into skateboarding.
I wanted to be looked at for the skateboarder that I was. I didn't want to be the 36-year-old skateboarder who's still holding on while owning a company at the same time. I wanted to make my mark and travel and accomplish a few things here and there and then get out.
I think kids like chaos, in an interesting way. I think kids like to push buttons in adults. They like to antagonize and cause trouble. I think it's the kid-like spirit that kids respond to.
Being a dad, I certainly know what it feels like to give lots of love and understanding, and I also know what it feels like to be antagonized or to have my buttons pushed, at midnight when one of my kids just will not go to sleep. You've gotta just let them be what they are, ultimately.
I always set out to just work, as an actor, and try to do as many different things as I possibly could, and not be too selective or too careful. I think just working is fun.
Pilots get made, and they don't go to series. Stuff gets written and never gets made. I've tried to develop stuff that never went. It comes and it goes. It's a part of the process.
I really liked Tom & Jerry. That was huge for me. I watched it every morning, before I walked to school. Even as a kid, I thought there was something really smart about it. I thought it was very clever.
I can do movies maybe that have already been written, but I can't do anything for months at a time.
I grew up skateboarding; it was fun. I didn't think about money, I didn't know how much professional skateboarders made. I just knew that if I became a professional skateboarder, I would achieve a lot and get to travel and do these great things.
Those were always the guys that I admired. I think I've maintained a relatively sort of low-key profile. I try to do good work and make it about that.