Lee Pace's Real Name: Lee Grinner Pace

Quick answer: Lee Pace's full name is Lee Grinner Pace. He was born on March 25, 1979, in Chickasha, Oklahoma. He acts under his first name and surname, and Grinner is his middle name. He trained at Juilliard and starred as Ned in Pushing Daisies and in AMC's Halt and Catch Fire. He also played Thranduil in The Hobbit films, Ronan in Guardians of the Galaxy, and Brother Day in Foundation (Library of Congress; EBSCO Research Starters).

Real name and early life

The Library of Congress name authority files him as "Pace, Lee, 1979-." Its citation reads "b. Lee Grinner Pace, March 25, 1979 in Chickasha, Oklahoma." EBSCO's biography gives the same full name, date, and birthplace.

According to EBSCO, his family spent several years in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, where his father worked for an oil company, before settling in Texas. At Klein High School, chronic earaches ended his competitive swimming, and he turned to theater, performing at Houston's Alley Theatre as a teenager. He entered Juilliard's acting program in 1997 as a member of Group 30. He appeared there in Romeo and Juliet, Richard II, and Julius Caesar, and graduated with a BFA in 2001.

Career highlights

Pace's screen breakthrough was the Showtime film Soldier's Girl (2003), in which he played Calpernia Addams. The role earned him a Golden Globe nomination. On stage he received Lucille Lortel nominations for Small Tragedy and Guardians. He then starred in the short-lived Fox series Wonderfalls (2004), and his films included The Fall (2006) and The Good Shepherd (2006).

He played Ned, a baker who can bring the dead back to life, on ABC's Pushing Daisies (2007–09). The role brought him 2008 Emmy and Golden Globe nominations, according to EBSCO and Broadway.com. He made his Broadway debut in the 2011 Tony-winning revival of The Normal Heart, Larry Kramer's play, and played Fernando Wood in Spielberg's Lincoln (2012).

Pace played the Elvenking Thranduil in Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy (2012–14) and the villain Ronan the Accuser in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), a role he reprised in Captain Marvel (2019). From 2014 to 2017 he starred on AMC's Halt and Catch Fire. He played Joe Pitt in Angels in America and, from 2021, Brother Day in the science fiction series Foundation. EBSCO lists 2025 roles in After This Death and Edgar Wright's The Running Man, and a 2026 voice role as Thragg in Invincible.

Name notes for searchers

Lee is his first name and Grinner his middle name, which he does not use in credits. Pace is his family surname, and he has always been credited simply as Lee Pace.