Many actors are known for playing heroes, villains, cowboys, cads or gangsters. But Lee Pace seems nearly immune to such pigeonholing. After just over 10 years on screen, the Julliard-trained Pace has a diverse portfolio of roles from the buttoned-down, somewhat hapless father in the children's' film "Marmaduke," to the Elven king Thranduil in the "Hobbit" movies and Calpernia Addams, a transgender nightclub performer in "Soldier's Girl."

Recently audiences got to know Pace as "Joe MacMillan, a hard-charging marketer in "Halt and Catch Fire," an AMC series set in the early 1980s during the dawn of the personal-computer market. While Joe at first seems fairly conventional, with suits, swagger, sports car and hairstyle typical of the era, viewers soon find that pinning him down isn't so easy.

Pace talked with Speakeasy about who Joe really is and what drives him. He also discussed how previous experience on stage and screen helped him take on this mysterious, complicated character.

WSJ -- Before we talk about Joe MacMillan, I think we have to begin with Calpernia Addams. While Joe is an intense, complicated character, could he possibly be as challenging as Calpernia in "Soldier's Girl?"

Lee Pace – "Soldier's Girl" was my first time on a film set. I was 24 years old and had no idea what to expect. But working on that film wound up teaching me how to do my job. Let's face it – it's tough to walk on set as a woman. But the people working on the film, like the director Frank Pierson ("Dog Day Afternoon," "Cool Hand Luke"), who is no longer with us, helped me realize that you just have to do it -- you know, grow up and do your job. When you are playing a character who is falling in love, you have to find something inside yourself that is real. You have to really fall apart because that's how it happens. You have to remember Calpernia is a real person and these things really happened.