Quantum Leap's Raymond Lee Reflects on his Journey to TV Leading Man

Raymond Lee, a familiar face in the world of film and television, has recently been making waves with his portrayal of Dr. Ben Song in the NBC drama Quantum Leap. With a career spanning over two dozen feature films and television series, including notable works like Mozart in the Jungle, Here and Now, Kevin Can F** Himself*, and the blockbuster hit Top Gun: Maverick in 2022, Lee has established himself as a versatile and talented actor. However, it's his role as Dr. Ben Song in Quantum Leap that marks his first leading role in television, signaling a significant milestone in his career trajectory.
Lee reflected on his journey with the series over the past two years, shedding light on the lessons learned and the growth experienced amidst the demanding hours, sometimes up 14-hour shoots, of a network television drama. One of the key takeaways, according to Lee, is the importance of managing energy effectively-both physical and emotional. He emphasizes the necessity of recognizing one's limited energy supply each day and utilizing it judiciously to maintain effectiveness. “Not to name drop but watching Tom Cruise operate on Maverick, I was seeing how strategically he was choosing to eat and what he was choosing,” he explained. “I saw the amount of energy it took for him to be at the center of that. Learning how to keep yourself in that sort of shape is probably the biggest thing I’ve learned. It’s something that has carried over into my daily regimen.”
When asked what advice he would offer his younger self, Lee advocates for making thoughtful choices rather than simply chasing opportunities for the sake of staying busy. “If you really care about it, it will be a long career. I look at Ernie [Hudson] and he’s about to turn 80, I’ve only lived half of his life and I still have another half to go to get to where he’s at. I know very early on I was like ‘I just wanna work, I just need credits, it doesn't matter what I do’ and I’m really grateful for that, I don’t take any of it back because it’s all experience but I wish I wasn’t so worried about feeling busy, and it’s okay to travel and absorb culture and take time to read and learn about history. It’s okay to do all of that because it will feed back into this art form.”
Lee also recalls a poignant piece of advice he received from veteran actress Tsai Chin during their time working together on the independent film A Leading Man. Chin's simple yet profound question during a photo op with the cast-"What do you care about?"-prompted Lee to reflect on his priorities beyond his career aspirations.
“Do you read?” she asks him.
“Not enough,” he admits.
“Do you travel?”
“Not really.”
“Read. Travel. Okay? It will make you interesting.”
During a fan-submitted Q&A portion of our interview, a fan asked about Raymond’s character Ben and his love interest Hannah, and how invested they were in that relationship dynamic, to which Raymond expressed that seeing that level of fan response tells him “that we’re doing our job. We’re investing so much into this, I’m there with Eliza and we care so much about these scenes, everybody is making sure that this is the most important scene of the day and nobody’s taking any moments off. When it’s reciprocated by a fan to know that they’re absorbing it the way we intended them to, to know that the fruits of our labor is not for nothing, it’s very affirming and warming.”
Don’t miss the season finale of Quantum Leap tonight at 9pm EST on NBC!
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[@danlaw1991]

Love how he didn’t want to tease anything and how he spoke about the back end of the season being some of his best work.
Hope NBC renews the show because they’ve got something really special with this cast in this world.

[@ActorsWithIssuespodcast]

Thanks so much for watching, Dan!

[@RyogAkari]

Amazing episode!

[@ActorsWithIssuespodcast]

Glad you enjoyed it! And thanks for the great question :D

[@Emsi-D]

Where's my question?
Dislike.

[@ActorsWithIssuespodcast]

Sorry we couldn't include your question, but we only had 10 minutes with Raymond and couldn't include them all.