Lee was born and grew up in St. Louis. He grew up playing piano and plays professionally. "I started playing classical piano when I was 3. I did that all throughout my youth and in high school. I played at Carnegie Hall when I was 12 or 13." He obtained a bachelor's degree from Indiana University's Jacob's School of Music. He worked at Fuzzy Door Productions as a receptionist where he befriended Seth MacFarlane. "People would come up and just have a conversation with me. And Seth and I became cool because when he would come out of his office or the writers room just to get a break, we would just talk aboutregular life and laugh." He soon began working for MacFarlane on many of his projects, furthering his acting career.