Jason Lee a karma comedian

This is the first time Jason Lee has had steady work and a steady income.

Why has quirky comedy My Name is Earl struck such a chord with young audiences? Well, aside from its originality - it's a rare sitcom with a point and a story to tell each half hour - it wouldn't be the same without Jason Lee in the role as the white-trash, blue-collar title character.

Lee, 36, has displayed an edgy appeal in his supporting roles in Dogma, Almost Famous and Vanilla Sky, and as the voice of the evil Syndrome in the animated hit The Incredibles.

That has translated to a perfect fit as the morally ambiguous, low-rent criminal on a mission to redeem himself.

It all starts when, seconds after finding he has won $100,000 on a scratch ticket, Earl is hit by a car, has an epiphany while lying in his hospital bed on a morphine drip and discovers karma. So he makes a "to do" list to right every wrong he's done since childhood.

It's quite a list and so far has included "faked death to break up with a girl", "fixed a high-school football game" and "harmed and possibly killed innocent people with second-hand smoke".

Underneath Earl's redneck antics as a beer-guzzling, petty criminal is a decent enough guy. He is also a loving brother to his simple-minded gentle sidekick Randy and a forgiving ex-husband to his shrill and scheming trailer-park-resident former wife Joy.

Lee, a born-and-bred southern Californian, is as dishevelled, unshaven and laid-back in person as he is in character.

"I'm a little bit like Earl. I try to do the right thing. I've got a good heart and I am a good guy at the end of the day. I care about things like everybody else. I'm on my own little journey, as most people are, to enjoy life and do the right thing."

Creator, Greg Garcia (Family Guy), says of the evolution of Earl and his decision to cast Lee, "I've always believed in karma. And I like the arena of the trailer park and that world. I had Nicolas Cage in mind when I was writing the pilot. I thought of his character in the movie Raising Arizona. A likeable criminal. That's what I felt about Jason."

Despite Lee's newfound status as leading man on a hit TV show, as opposed to character actor playing obscure roles, he says, "I think I've earned this opportunity. I think I've made good choices in my career and for the most part I've stayed true to my original dream of being an actor."

Enjoying the security that comes with a weekly TV show, he says, "Sometimes it's a 14-hour day, and that can be hard because I'm in almost every scene.

"But this is the first time I've had steady work and a steady income. I'm very comfortable."

Lee hasn't let success change his life. "I'm not the next 'It guy'. I certainly don't have women throwing themselves at me.

"I'm not your typical Hollywood actor who is very aware of what you can get being semi-well-known," he says.

"Even if I were single, I wouldn't be hanging out in the VIP lounge at the Viper Room dating various random models every week. That's just not my style."

The former professional skateboarder lives in Los Angeles and divorced actress Carmen Llewellyn Lee after six years of marriage.

He is now engaged to artist/photographer Beth Riesgraf and they have a 2-year-old son.

In spite of Lee's down-to-earth manner, he has topped the list of celebrities who give their offspring the kind of special names sure to cement their childhood in ridicule and undoubted resentment towards their parents.

Forget Apple, Tallulah Belle, or Kyd. Lee's son is infamous for having the most unusual name in Hollywood: Pilot Inspektor Riesgraf-Lee.

"His mom came up with the name, Pilot. She just came up with it one day and I said, 'I love it. Yeah!' " As for Inspektor, he says, "A friend of ours suggested it. I said, 'God, I love that name! If my name were Inspektor as a kid, I would have been the coolest kid at school.' So, we made that his middle name."

Good intentions aside, perhaps Lee will one day add that to his list of things to rectify.

Lee subscribes to that particularly Hollywood religion of Scientology. "I know that Scientology gets a bad rap, but it has got me through some rough times with friends, family and even my ex-wife.

"Carmen used to be a pretty heavy druggie and Scientology worked wonders for her."

How does Lee feel about karma?

"For me, it's probably more the idea of if I keep kicking a telephone pole, eventually my foot is going to start hurting.

"If I do enough of something there's going to be an inevitable reaction to it."

He smiles. "I don't know if that's karma, but that's life."

And what might be on his own karmic list?

"In my own life, If I had a list, I would add things like when I was a teenager I let my friend drink and drive.

"He got pulled over and was taken to jail. Those kinds of things you do in life that you look back on when you are older and ask yourself, 'What the hell was I thinking?' "