Lee Arenberg

I feel like I know this character well so I don’t feel like I have to force it. He is me and that to me is really exciting.

—Lee Arenberg ^src

Lee Arenberg is the American actor who portrays Grumpy, Leroy and Grumpy (Wish Realm) on ABC's Once Upon a Time and Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.

Biography

Lee Arenberg was born on July 18^[2] in Palo Alto, California^[1] and grew up in Santa Monica.^[3] Bitten by the acting bug at age eight when he portrayed David in his Hebrew school play, Killing Goliath, he notes the parable “could be the title of any actor’s chances in this game". Lee attended Santa Monica High School with “brat packers” Sean Penn, Robert Downey, Jr. and Emilio Estevez. Later, he co-wrote a play with Emilio Estevez, which was directed by Sean Penn.^[4]

Most frequently referred to as a character actor, Lee maintains a flourishing acting career—almost twenty years spanning television, stage and film. He has appeared in more than thirty movies, including Cradle Will Rock, Robocop 3, Waterworld, Bob Roberts, The Apocalypse, Cross My Heart and others including fantasy adventure feature Dungeons & Dragons. Lee received many accolades for his part of Pintel in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which was the highest grossing live-action movie of 2003.^[4]

On his career, he remarks, “The best part of this journey is realizing that you are on one. One must stop and check the road traveled as well as the destination. I’ve been very lucky over fifteen years to do film, television and stage on many continents, in many countries with many different types of people.” He adds, “It’s connecting with people, whether on set or off that I enjoy the most about this ride.” Lee considers himself a “soul communicator,” explaining that “the craft of acting is the process of establishing connections between all sorts of souls.”^[5]

In his leisure time, he enjoys golf, cooking, blues harmonica, video games and playing poker with a group of fellow actors. He is involved with Jay Nolan Community Services which helps autistic children and their families and animal rights organizations, participating regularly in fund raising efforts on behalf of those charitable causes. Lee resides in Los Angeles with his two dogs and cats.^[5]

Trivia

Lee appears in more Once Upon a Time episodes than any other guest star.
- He is also the only cast member to appear in all seven seasons of Once Upon a Time and its spin-off.
Has his own user page on the Once Upon a Time Wiki.
- On March 28, 2020, Lee hosted an AMA in the Once Upon a Time Wiki.^[6]^[7]

Appearances

Once Upon a Time: Season One
"Pilot":	"The Thing You Love Most":	"Snow Falls":	"The Price of Gold":	"That Still Small Voice":	"The Shepherd":	"The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter":	"Desperate Souls":	"True North":	"7:15 A.M.":	"Fruit of the Poisonous Tree":
Appears	Archive	Appears	Appears	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Archive	Appears	Absent
"Skin Deep":	"What Happened to Frederick":	"Dreamy":	"Red-Handed":	"Heart of Darkness":	"Hat Trick":	"The Stable Boy":	"The Return":	"The Stranger":	"An Apple Red as Blood":	"A Land Without Magic":
Absent	Absent	Appears	Absent	Appears	Absent	Absent	Absent	Archive	Appears	Archive

Once Upon a Time: Season Two
"Broken":	"We Are Both":	"Lady of the Lake":	"The Crocodile":	"The Doctor":	"Tallahassee":	"Child of the Moon":	"Into the Deep":	"Queen of Hearts":	"The Cricket Game":	"The Outsider":
Appears	Appears	Absent	Appears	Absent	Absent	Appears	Absent	Appears	Appears	Appears
"In the Name of the Brother":	"Tiny":	"Manhattan":	"The Queen Is Dead":	"The Miller's Daughter":	"Welcome to Storybrooke":	"Selfless, Brave and True":	"Lacey":	"The Evil Queen":	"Second Star to the Right":	"And Straight On 'Til Morning":
Appears	Appears	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Appears	Appears	Absent	Appears

Once Upon a Time: Season Three
"The Heart of the Truest Believer":	"Lost Girl":	"Quite a Common Fairy":	"Nasty Habits":	"Good Form":	"Ariel":	"Dark Hollow":	"Think Lovely Thoughts":	"Save Henry":	"The New Neverland":	"Going Home":
Absent	Appears	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Appears	Absent	Archive	Appears	Appears
"New York City Serenade":	"Witch Hunt":	"The Tower":	"Quiet Minds":	"It's Not Easy Being Green":	"The Jolly Roger":	"Bleeding Through":	"A Curious Thing":	"Kansas":	"Snow Drifts":	"There's No Place Like Home":
Appears	Appears	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Appears	Appears	Appears	Appears

Once Upon a Time: Season Four
"A Tale of Two Sisters":	"White Out":	"Rocky Road":	"The Apprentice":	"Breaking Glass":	"Family Business":	"The Snow Queen":	"Smash the Mirror":	"Fall":	"Shattered Sight":	"Heroes and Villains":
Appears	Appears	Appears	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Appears	Appears	Absent
"Darkness on the Edge of Town":	"Unforgiven":	"Enter the Dragon":	"Poor Unfortunate Soul":	"Best Laid Plans":	"Heart of Gold":	"Sympathy for the De Vil":	"Lily":	"Mother":	"Operation Mongoose Part 1":	"Operation Mongoose Part 2":
Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Appears	Appears

Once Upon a Time: Season Five
"The Dark Swan":	"The Price":	"Siege Perilous":	"The Broken Kingdom":	"Dreamcatcher":	"The Bear and the Bow":	"Nimue":	"Birth":	"The Bear King":	"Broken Heart":	"Swan Song":
Appears	Appears	Appears	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Archive	Appears	Appears
"Souls of the Departed":	"Labor of Love":	"Devil's Due":	"The Brothers Jones":	"Our Decay":	"Her Handsome Hero":	"Ruby Slippers":	"Sisters":	"Firebird":	"Last Rites":	"Only You":	"An Untold Story":
Appears	Absent	Appears	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Appears	Appears	Absent

Once Upon a Time: Season Six
"The Savior":	"A Bitter Draught":	"The Other Shoe":	"Strange Case":	"Street Rats":	"Dark Waters":	"Heartless":	"I'll Be Your Mirror":	"Changelings":	"Wish You Were Here":	"Tougher Than the Rest":
Absent	Appears	Appears	Appears	Absent	Absent	Archive	Absent	Absent	Appears	Absent
"Murder Most Foul":	"Ill-Boding Patterns":	"Page 23":	"A Wondrous Place":	"Mother's Little Helper":	"Awake":	"Where Bluebirds Fly":	"The Black Fairy":	"The Song in Your Heart":	"The Final Battle Part 1":	"The Final Battle Part 2":
Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Appears	Absent	Absent	Appears	Archive	Appears

Once Upon a Time: Season Seven
"Hyperion Heights":	"A Pirate's Life":	"The Garden of Forking Paths":	"Beauty":	"Greenbacks":	"Wake Up Call":	"Eloise Gardener":	"Pretty in Blue":	"One Little Tear":	"The Eighth Witch":	"Secret Garden":
Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent
"A Taste of the Heights":	"Knightfall":	"The Girl in the Tower":	"Sisterhood":	"Breadcrumbs":	"Chosen":	"The Guardian":	"Flower Child":	"Is This Henry Mills?":	"Homecoming":	"Leaving Storybrooke":
Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Appears

*Once Upon a Time in Wonderland*
"Down the Rabbit Hole":	"Trust Me":	"Forget Me Not":	"The Serpent":	"Heart of Stone":	"Who's Alice":	"Bad Blood":
Appears	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent
"Home":	"Nothing to Fear":	"Dirty Little Secrets":	"Heart of the Matter":	"To Catch a Thief":	"And They Lived...":
Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent	Absent

Once Upon a Time: Specials
"Magic is Coming":	"The Price of Magic":	"Journey to Neverland":	"Wicked is Coming":	"Storybrooke Has Frozen Over":
Archive	Archive	Archive	Archive	Archive
"Secrets of Storybrooke":	"Dark Swan Rises":	"Evil Reigns Once More":	"The Final Battle Begins":
Archive	Archive	Archive	Archive

Note: "Archive" denotes archive footage.

External links

Lee Arenberg on Internet Movie Database
Lee Arenberg on Wikipedia
@leearenberg (Lee Arenberg) on X, formerly Twitter

References

[birthplace-1] 1.0 ^1.1 http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/32638/celebrity-jews/

[birthdate-2] ttps://twitter.com/DavidPaulGrove/status/357875848558292994

[3] ttp://www.leearenberg.com/movie/dd2.html

[index-4] 4.0 ^4.1 http://www.leearenberg.com/about/index.html

[lee-5] 5.0 ^5.1 http://www.leearenberg.com/about/lee.html

[6] Thread:412738

[7] Thread:412738

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]