Lee made his Taiwanese debut with The Scoundrels (2018), for which he received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor in the 21st Taipei Film Awards, marking the beginning of his multi-national career.
[4] They grew up in a kampung,[5] and Lee described their family's financial situation as poor, often having to move homes due to an inability to pay rent and he had to begin working part-time painting advertisement signs at the age of 13.
[10][11] In 2000, five years after graduating from university, Lee was invited to join Star Search, the Malaysian version of a reality show that originated in Singapore and helped launch his brother's career.
[7][12] He officially began his acting career in 2006,[5] starring in non-prime time Malaysian television series for five years, a period he described as "unknown to others" and during which he did not achieve any breakthroughs.
[19] He portrayed Cheng You-wei, a police detective captain, in the crime series Turning Point,[20] for which he was nominated for Best Actor in the 21st Asian Television Awards.
[23] In 2016,[24] at the age of 40, he began his career in Taiwanese cinema, landing his debut role as Freddie, a gangster boss, in the crime film The Scoundrels [zh], which premiered in 2018.
[25] He received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor in the 21st Taipei Film Awards for this role,[26] although Lee stated that he was suffering from gingivitis during the shoot and he felt that he did not deliver his performance in the best condition.
[42] He also shared a lead role with Jake Hsu in the Hong Kong-Taiwanese series Trinity of Shadow [zh], playing the older version of Wu Da-tung, a serial murderer on the run.
[46] In 2023, he starred as the titular character Boy in the Taiwanese drama film A Boy and A Girl,[47] followed by a lead role as Chao Tzu-jie, a man who exchanged his body with Hank Wang [zh] and Lavinia Chen [zh] 's characters in the Taiwanese drama film Fish Memories, released the following year.
[50] Tsai Ya-wen, writing for Storm Media [zh], particularly appreciated his chemistry with co-star Wang Po-chieh, praising the blend of comedy and seriousness in their interactions.
[55][56] In 2024, Lee played a supporting role as the cheating husband of Dee Hsu's character in the seventh segment of the Netflix romance anthology series At the Moment [zh].