Lee was born in Santa Ana, California, on April 25, 1970. His father, Greg, was a car dealership manager and his mother, Carol, a homemaker. Lee was raised in Huntington Beach and attended Ocean View High School.

Lee was a professional skateboarder in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1992, he founded Stereo Sound Agency, known as Stereo Skateboards, with fellow skater Chris “Dune” Pastras. In 2003, after it had been defunct for a few years, the pair successfully revived the company. As of October 2013, Lee and Pastras remain on the professional “Classics” team roster.

Lee married actress and photographer Carmen Llywelyn in 1995; they divorced in 2001. Llywelyn later cited Lee’s commitment to Scientology as the principal cause for their separation. Llywelyn wrote that their relationship collapsed when she revealed to her talent manager and fellow Scientologist, Gay Ribisi (mother of actor Giovanni Ribisi), that she had read A Piece of Blue Sky, an anti-Scientology book. Two days after her conversation with Ribisi, Llywelyn received a one-paragraph “disconnection letter” from Lee and was labeled a Suppressive Person.

Lee was featured in the skateboarding promotional video, Video Days, filmed for the skateboarding company Blind Skateboards. In 2004, Lee’s skateboarding was featured in Way Out East!, a film produced by Stereo Skateboards.

In 2005, Lee was offered the lead role in My Name Is Earl. According to interviews on the first-season DVD, he passed on the series twice before finally agreeing to read for the pilot. In the series, he stars as Earl Hickey. Lee received two Golden Globe nominations for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy in 2006 and 2007, as well as a nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series in 2006. NBC cancelled My Name is Earl after four seasons.

Lee married Ceren Alkaç, a native of Turkey, in California in July 2008; a month later, Alkaç gave birth to a daughter named Casper. The couple had their second child, a son named Sonny, in 2012. In 2017, the couple welcomed their third child, a daughter named Alberta ‘Birdy’ Lee. As of 2016, Lee no longer practices Scientology. Lee currently resides in Denton, Texas with his family. He also enjoys photography, and is a co-owner of the restaurant Barley and Board.

On June 22, 2010, Memphis Beat premiered. In the series, Lee starred with Alfre Woodard and portrayed Dwight Hendricks. In October 2011, it was announced the series was not renewed for a third season. He guest-starred in 2010 and 2013 episodes of Raising Hope, created by My Name is Earl creator and producer Greg Garcia.

In August 2012, Lee is also featured in a brief video on the skateboard website The Berrics entitled “Jason Lee decided to come to the park.”

In August 2012, Lee participated in the ninth annual Stand-Up for Skateparks Event, which he chaired with Tony Hawk. The event is held annually by the Tony Hawk Charitable Foundation and seeks to “help create free, quality public skateparks for youth in low-income communities.”

As of December 2011, Lee appeared in Up All Night, but after its second season, it was officially cancelled on May 9, 2013. In June 2013, The Road Chip, a fourth installment of the Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise, was announced by 20th Century Fox; its release date was December 18, 2015.

Lee is in the Amazon Studios pilot of Cocked, where he plays the character of Grady Paxson, one of three men who run a gun manufacturing company. The show premiered on January 15, 2015 and also stars Brian Dennehy, Diora Baird, Dreama Walker, and Sam Trammell. On January 25, 2015, The Hallmark Channel premiered Away & Back, a Hallmark Hall of Fame film starring Lee, Maggie Elizabeth Jones and Minka Kelly.