Nicholas Lea
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nicholas Lea (born June 22, 1962 as Nicholas Christopher Schroeder. After his parent's divorce, he was raised as Nicholas Christopher Herbert) is a well-known Canadian actor best known for his work on The X-Files playing Alex Krycek.
[edit] Biography
Lea was born in New Westminster, British Columbia and his first major role was on the TV series The Commish where he played Officer Enrico Caruso from 1991 to 1994. It was during this time that he had a minor guest role in a first-season episode of The X-Files called Genderbender.
The producers were impressed by his performance and when, in the second season, he auditioned for the role of turncoat FBI agent Alex Krycek, he was successful. Lea guest starred in eleven episodes from 1994 to 1996 and became a popular character amongst the fans. Because of his character's willingness to switch sides, he was known as the 'ratboy'. In the season three episode Apocrypha, Krycek was left to die in an abandoned silo with an alien ship.
This allowed Lea to take a starring role in the series Once a Thief — which followed on from the 1996 John Woo film — alongside Ivan Sergei. The series was cancelled after one season, but Lea only had to come knocking and the producers welcomed him back to The X-Files, as did the fans. Lea continued to play Krycek, who quickly became a nemesis not just of Mulder and Scully but particularly of A.D. Skinner (Mitch Pileggi). In various capacities, Lea continued appearing on the show until its end in 2002.
As of 2006, Lea has a recurring role on Kyle XY and was one of the lead actors on the Canadian TV series Whistler. Lea has since announced, via his official website, that he will not be returning to Whistler for its second season in 2007.
He has guest starred in shows such as NYPD Blue, Andromeda, Sliders, Highlander, Judging Amy and CSI (as Catherine Willows' boyfriend). He is also a member of the Board of Directors for the Lyric School of Acting in Vancouver.
[edit] Trivia
- Among his former dates include Lucy Liu and Melinda McGraw, whose character on The X-Files was shot dead by his partner as he watched. Currently, he is dating Suleka (Sue) Mathew (DaVinci's Inquest), and both are currently appearing on ABC's Men In Trees.
- For five years, he was the lead singer in an alternative band entitled Beau Monde.
- Nicholas Lea, the actor, has no children. There may be some confusion as there are several men with that name in Canada. The most well known is Nicholas Lea of Ottawa, a poet, who is published in several publications, poems can be seen at www.redfez.com and www.byword.ca
- In addition to his starring role as Ethan McKaye in season one of the Canadian CTV series Whistler, Lea was also one of that series' associate producers.
