See Why Fans Went Wild When Lee Pace Shared Poolside 45th Birthday Pic

Lee Pace Source: Instagram

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Lee Pace turned 45 on March 25 and gave his fans a present with a very hot pic on Twitter and Instagram. Four photos on IG show Pace, the star of Apple TV's hit sci-fi series "Foundation," relaxing poolside in what appears to be a Southern European villa.

In the Tweet and four pics in an Instagram post, Pace wrote, "45 and alive." The past few years he has posted shirtless pics on his birthday.

In the first IG, he is seen walking in a town square looking every inch a sexy tourist dressed in a white T-shirt, dark shorts, and hat. The full-bearded, 6'5" star is smiling as he's caught mid-step. In the second he's stripped down and checking a smart phone while standing in a swimming pool with shoulder length hair pulled back in a bun. Behind him is an ancient wall and tall Cypress trees. The third pic has Pace in the pool again, this time closer up and in profile that display his lean frame and man bun.

But it is the final one that has his fans' hearts pacing. In it, the hat has returned along with sunglasses as Pace stands shirtless holding towels with his neatly groomed, toned chest in full view and his hair - released from the bun - falling on his shoulders. The pic prompted one user to write, "And he is still so fucking beautiful it's crazy 🫶🏻," and another to write, "Sitting here and hoping to be as hot as this man when I'll turn 45 🙏🏼🙏🏼 🔥". Actress Anna Friel wrote, "Happy birthday. Aging suits you. Like the finest of wines. Getting better and better. ❤"

Pace is best-known for his role of elven king Thranduil in the "Hobbit" franchise and Ronan the Accuser in "Guardians of the Galaxy," though he's not a stranger to queer roles, including a career-making turn as transgender showgirl Calpernia Addams the television film "A Soldier's Girl" some 21 years ago. The film followed Addams' tragic relationship with U.S. Army soldier Barry Winchell (played by Tony Garity). In Variety critic David Rooney wrote: "Both Garity and newcomer Pace give complex, controlled performances, full-bodied and richly empathetic, making the union between this unlikely couple seem entirely plausible and natural." Pace won a Gotham Award for Breakthrough Actor for the performance. Five years later he had a featured role in Tom Ford's "A Single Man" just prior to his work in the three "Hobbit" films. For his starring role on ABC's short-lived fantasy series "Pushing Daisies," Pace was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 2008. In addition to "Foundation," which has been renewed for a third season, Pace starred as tech innovator Joe MacMillan in "Halt and Catch Fire," which played on AMC for three seasons beginning in 2014. In this fictionalized account, MacMillan was a businessman and entrepreneur who helped usher in the computer revolution and the internet in the 1980s.

It is on the stage where Pace has shaped his profile of queer roles. In 2009 he appeared in the first Broadway production of Larry Kramer's "The Normal Heart" as gay activist Bruce Niles; then, in 2018, he played the closeted Mormon lawyer Joe Pitt in the Royal National Theatre's remounting of "Angels in America" that featured Andrew Garfield as Prior Walter.

Throughout his career Pace created boundaries in speaking of his sexuality. "It was a real strategy to draw boundaries," Pace told the New York Times in 2018: "I believe very firmly that my work is the reason we're talking, and my personal life is something I want to protect."

Pace didn't come out – he was mistakenly outed by his "Hobbit" co-star Ian McKellan in 2014. Pace has never commented on this incident.

But, the Times reported, Pace became flustered when questioned by a W Magazine reporter who inquired about his sexuality a few months earlier. that he thought gay actors should play gay roles, but when that question was turned on him personally, "stopped short of labeling himself. He seemed a bit flustered and surprised by the question. 'I've dated men. I've dated women,' he explained. 'I don't know why anyone would care. I'm an actor and I play roles. To be honest, I don't know what to say – I find your question intrusive.'"

Pace clarified his remarks in a series of tweets, writing: "In a recent phone interview, I was asked questions that I wasn't expecting and found myself momentarily at a loss for the right words. My privacy is important to me, so I protect it. When interviewed by the media, I keep the focus on my work.

"As a member of the queer community, I understand the importance of living openly, being counted, and happily owning who I am. That's how I've always lived my life... just as it's been important to me to portray queer characters with dignity for my entire career: A Soldier's Girl (Showtime. 2003). The Normal Heart (Broadway. 2011). Halt and Catch Fire (AMC. 2014-2017). Angels in America. (Broadway. NOW.) Onward, with Pride."

"The positive response to his tweets – thousands of likes, many comments and now, regular references to them at the stage door after the show – has assured him that he made the right decision, though the old habit of reticence died hard," wrote the Times.

"The truth is," he said at his apartment, "when you grow up queer, you get tough. And perceptive. And you learn how to field it. When someone comes at you that you don't know, interested in that area of your life, it's not always a good thing. I certainly knew that when I was a kid."

Check out these pics from Pace's IG account: