Born and raised in Margate, Kent, Lee was born to working class parents in a deprived area of the town. He followed his passions and studied film tech in Leicester while also training with an actor mentoring programme. His upbringing led to a real focus on ensuring that people from disadvantaged backgrounds have the opportunity to explore their creativity and purpose. As such he later got his teaching degree and continues to lecture in film production, editing and post-production and drama across various universities and colleges in London and Kent. His current post is in film and TV at Ravensbourne University.

He started his own production company as the digital revolution took off and ended up making brand films and commercials as well as mini docs and music videos. His work has been shown on ITV, the Disney Channel and he has worked with brands such as Budweiser, McDonalds and Paddy Power. This started with just him as a self shooter doing all client meetings, production and post production duties but built into teams of upwards of twenty.

Most recently in production he has been fortunate enough to work with a lot of film-makers from disadvantaged and minority backgrounds. Helping them to find a voice has inspired Lee to tell stories with confidence knowing that they are well researched and represented both in front of and behind the camera and that stories are told with empathy and an eye for different lenses of interpretation. He firmly believes that systemic change begins from the grassroots and every project is an opportunity to embed values of inclusivity and sustainability.

As an actor he has starred in a number of high profile Films and TV productions most noticeably the DC series Pennyworth where he played villain Vic Dobson over a number of episodes. The experience of acting is always about being extremely well prepared but then on a shoot day being able to go with the energy of a scene where appropriate, another attribute Lee is not afraid to take into his directing and teaching work.

“It’s always such a privilege to me to have experienced high profile sets as both an actor and a director and it really informs my approach and philosophy whether I am teaching or doing”