On Rex Lee’'s first day on the Entourage set, he arrived with a mission: to scheme his way into a regular gig.

It was no easy feat for the actor, whose previous credits were mostly limited to one-time guest appearances on shows like Son of the Beach and Andy Richter Controls the Universe. Sure, Entourage had signed him to four episodes as Lloyd, the kindhearted, openly gay assistant to turbulent, abusive Hollywood agent Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven), but at first, Lee was given so little to do that he barely even classified as a recurring character.

"One of the episodes, I literally had one line and the line was, 'Jon Crier on line three,'" Lee remembers. "So I wasn't necessarily, like, an important part of the show at that point. But did have a hope and a dream that if I went to work and I did a good job, maybe they'd keep me around."

Sure enough, Lee's plan worked and the writers kept finding ways to use him, even though his character had to endure Ari's neverending barrage of homophobic abuse. Still, producers delayed giving Lee a contract, something he says drove him crazy.

"For the two or three months after my initial four episodes, I'd live my life and then I'd get a call late one night: 'You know, we wrote you into the next episode. Are you free?' And I'd be like, 'Yeah, I'm free,'" Lee says. "So Season 2, it wasn't quite day-to-day but situation-by-situation."

But Lee knew he had finally found his place within the Entourage universe near the end of the season, when Lloyd delivered an impassioned speech to his boss, who grudgingly admitted that he appreciated Lloyd's presence.

"When they wrote that episode and I went to the first table read for it, I was very honoured. I was like, 'Wow, they're really trusting me with a much larger role in this episode than I've ever had,'" says Lee. "And to a certain extent, it probably was a test; they wanted to see how I did. I felt that this was my chance to prove myself, and if I do prove myself, only good things can come of that. And they were happy!"

By the time the season ended, Lee had his contract and now, in Season 5, not only is the 39-year-old actor in the opening credits but his character has evolved: Lloyd's relationship with Ari remains just as dysfunctional but now has an underlying tone of respect and affection. Lee loves dissecting the relationship and, as an openly gay man in real life, he also enjoys the challenge of figuring out why Lloyd would ever put up with Ari's abuse in the first place.

"What I've decided is that Lloyd is incredibly ambitious and he's decided that Ari is the master and he has to kneel before the master in order to become the master later on in his own way," Lee says. "And I think Ari has fun insulting Lloyd; it's satisfying in the sense that Lloyd's not leaving anytime soon no matter what he says, so in a way, it's free abuse for Ari. He gets to be abusive and not be fearful that Lloyd's leaving anytime soon. I think there's a lot of love there, underneath all the unpleasantness."

One of the reasons Lee became so popular with the Entourage fans is that it's rare to find an actor who can hold his own in a scene against Piven, who has won three consecutive Emmy awards for playing Ari Gold. For his part, Lee insists that Piven is far more enjoyable to work with than Ari would be.

"Jeremy knows that acting is incredibly collaborative and he understands that if all that's going on on the screen is Ari steamrolling all over Lloyd, that's not interesting," Lee says. "But Jeremy's a very smart actor and he understands – he wants you to see a scene and think that he's the best actor in the scene, but he wants you to think that I'm a close second. Which is incredibly smart and generous of him."

Even four years into his Entourage role, Lee remains endearingly thankful and gracious for the opportunity to play Lloyd – and, he admits, he's still a little surprised that his secret plan was successful.

"It wasn't preordained that the character would last; I just went to work with an agenda, namely that I defied them not to keep me around," Lee says, laughing. "And, incredibly, it all worked out."


Entourage airs Sundays at 8:30 p.m. ET on TMN and HBO Canada. The season finale airs Nov. 23.

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