Lea was born in New Westminster, British Columbia. He attended Prince of Wales Secondary School (graduated 1980).
Lea's first major role was on the TV series The Commish where he played Officer Enrico Caruso from 1991 to 1994. It was during this time that he had a minor guest role in a first-season episode of The X-Files called "Gender Bender". The producers were impressed by his performance and when, in the second season, he auditioned for the role of turncoat FBI agent Alex Krycek, he was successful.
Lea guest starred in eleven episodes from 1994 to 1996 and became a popular character amongst the fans. Because of his character's willingness to switch sides, he was known as the 'ratboy'. In the season three episode "Apocrypha," Krycek was left to die in an abandoned missile silo with an alien ship. This allowed Lea to take a starring role in the series Once a Thief—which followed on from the 1996 John Woo film—alongside Ivan Sergei. The series was cancelled after one season. Lea continued to play Krycek, who became a nemesis not just of Mulder and Scully but particularly of A.D. Skinner (Mitch Pileggi).

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