Jon Lee (actor)

Jonathan Lee (born 26 April 1982) is an English singer and actor. Lee is the youngest member of pop group S Club, who disbanded in April 2003, before reuniting in March 2023. With a long career in musical theatre, he has taken on roles in more than 17 productions, including the West End shows Les Misérables and Jersey Boys.

Early life
Lee was born in Croydon, London, England. Lee grew up in south Devon and attended Decoy Primary in Newton Abbot, but the family moved to the village of Ipplepen when he was seven. Although he did not attend a theatre school, Lee was "always doing plays". He joined a drama club and later did amateur dramatics. He moved up to Coombeshead College, a comprehensive school in Newton Abbot, where arts and drama were encouraged. The school had a drama wing with a dance studio and also a recording studio.

At the age of 13, Lee won a scholarship to the Sylvia Young Theatre School in central London, a private school with about 150 pupils.

1994–1998: stage
While still 13, Lee played the leading role in the West End production of Oliver! at the London Palladium Theatre, alongside Jonathan Pryce, and later George Layton, as Fagin. In 1997, Lee played the role of Julian in the premiere of Famous Five Smuggler's Gold the musical.

1999–2003: S Club
Lee was a member of pop group S Club 7, who rose to fame by starring in their own BBC television series, Miami 7, in 1999. Over the five years they were together, they had four UK No.1 singles, one UK No.1 album, hits throughout Europe, and a top-ten single in the United States, Asia, Latin America and Africa. They recorded four studio albums, released eleven singles and sold over fourteen million albums worldwide. In 2001 the group earned the Record of the Year award. Group member Paul Cattermole departed the group in 2002, and the group changed its name from S Club 7 to simply S Club. On 21 April 2003, during a live onstage performance, S Club announced that they were to disband.

2004–present: acting
In 2004 Lee played the role of Marius in Les Misérables at the Palace Theatre in London, and continued the role following the show's move to the smaller Queen's Theatre. In 2005 Lee toured the UK with the new musical, Love Shack, featuring disco classics and hit dance songs from the charts, starring alongside Steps' Faye Tozer and Hear'Say's Noel Sullivan. In August 2006 Lee starred in The Heather Brothers' production of Teen Scream at the Assembly Rooms at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. He returned to the London stage in 2010 in the musical Tomorrow Morning. Lee worked on a number of other musical projects before returning to the stage, including BBC's "The Sound of Musicals". In 2008 he recorded a song for the CD Act One – Songs From The Musicals Of Alexander S. Bermange, an album of 20 new recordings by 26 West End stars. It was released in November 2008 on Dress Circle Records.

In 2008 Lee voiced the part of Max, in the British Disney Channel cartoon series Famous 5: On the Case. Over Christmas and New Year's 2008–09 he appeared at The White Rock Theatre, Hastings, performing the leading role in the pantomime Peter Pan. Both Lee and the show were well received. Later in 2009 Lee appeared as Billy Fury in Nick Moran's new film Telstar. On 22 May 2010 he appeared in BBC One's Casualty as Craig, who is diagnosed with motor neurone disease. He played John in the internationally acclaimed musical Tomorrow Morning by Laurence Mark Wythe at the Landor Theatre in London. Over the following Christmas and New Year's, Lee appeared at the New Victoria Theatre, Woking as Prince Charming in Cinderella.

In October 2012 Lee announced his debut solo album, Fallen Angel. The first track on the album, "My Father's Son", was premiered on 4 November by BBC Radio 2's Paul O'Grady. The album was released on 4 March 2013. Lee took on the part of Frankie Valli in Jersey Boys at the Prince Edward Theatre, London, from 15 March 2011 until 7 March 2014. At the end of 2012, while maintaining his Jersey Boys commitments, Lee took the lead role in Aladdin at The O2 in London and acted alongside O'Grady, who revived his alter-ego Lily Savage.

In August 2016, Lee appeared at the Lytham Festival's West End Proms. In March 2017, Lee appeared on Let's Sing and Dance for Comic Relief as part of Boys Allowed with Gareth Gates, Duncan James, Ritchie Neville and Ben Ofoedu. In March 2018, he appeared on ITV's Dinner Date.

Personal life
In August 2010, Lee revealed that he is gay in an interview with Gay Times magazine. He added that he had come out to family and friends at a young age, and that "it's never needed to be a huge change that I've had to tell everyone about."