NICE BOY OF THE WEEK: Lee Thompson Young

Actor Lee Thompson Young is our Nice Boy of the Week.

Born in Columbia, South Carolina, Lee portrayed Dr. Martin Luther King at the age of ten in a play called “A Night of Stars and Dreams”; it was then that he decided to be an actor. He did community theatre for a while and graduated with honors from the USC School of Cinematic Arts. He then traveled to New York, finding himself an agent in 1996. It was in the following year that he auditioned for the role of Jett Jackson in The Famous Jett Jackson, his first leading role in a TV series, which ran on Disney for several seasons and culminated in a 2001 made-for-TV movie.

From there Lee appeared in episodes of shows like Philly, The Guardian, Jake 2.0, Kevin Hill and South Beach. It was around this time that he landed roles in the box office films Friday Night Lights, Akeelah and the Bee and The Hills Have Eyes II.

He returned to TV roles in series such as Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Scrubs and Lincoln Heights. He then landed a series regular role in the short-lived FlashForward and portrayed Victor Stone (aka Cyborg) [a member of the Justice League] on the long-running Smallville.

Over the last couple of years, he has made guest starring roles in The Good Guys, The Event and CSI: NY; and since the summer of 2010 he has been one of the leads in the TNT series Rizzoli & Isles based on the novels by Tess Gerritsen.

Lee is an avid photographer and enjoys traveling. He has also studied many different styles of martial arts and is passionate about education and children, being a strong supporter of the Children’s Defense Fund.