He gives 'Entourage' an assist

Insulting comments about your ethnicity and sexual orientation aren't tolerated in a workplace, unless you're Lloyd, the harried assistant to Hollywood agent Ari Gold on HBO's comedy series "Entourage," which returns for the second half of its third season tonight at 10 .

Lloyd, a gay Chinese-American man, is routinely yelled at, told to "grab your best dress," and even given the finger by his boss. He soaks it all in because he has a vague promise he'll be promoted to agent status -- in 24 months.

For actor Rex Lee, who portrays the put-upon Lloyd, the abuse and humiliation is surprisingly easy to take, considering Lee is a Korean-American gay man.

"When we're in the middle of a take, it's usually not enjoyable," says Lee. "Then they call 'Cut!' and it's all over. I am not actually Lloyd and it's not actually happening to me.

"The truth is," he adds, "I am so happy to be a working actor."

The character Lloyd was a late addition to the comedy series, which debuted in 2004. Jeremy Piven plays the narcissistic Gold, the on-again, off-again agent for the hot young Hollywood actor Vince Chase . Mark Wahlberg is an executive producer of the show, which is loosely based on his experiences.

Originally written as an African-American, Lloyd was introduced in the second season after Lee bested 200 other men for the part. The actor remembers executive producer and creator Doug Ellin was sprawled on a couch, giggling through his entire audition.

"This guy could be a show on his own," Ellin recalls thinking. "He and Jeremy have a chemistry that feeds off each other. They are a bizarre combination. Just looking at them together is funny."

As an actor, Lee is uniquely qualified to play Lloyd. At the time of his audition, he was working in Los Angeles as an assistant for a group of casting directors for television commercials. "Some of the people, in their own way, were like Ari," he says. "They took themselves really seriously. During the course of the day, they would get very tense. It wasn't always a pleasure from start to finish."

Certainly, none of his former co-workers were as rude as Gold. In fact, they allowed him to keep his job while he filmed his first season on the show.

"People are shocked that I didn't stop that job until January 2006," Lee says with a laugh. "I would be at my casting job and actors would come in and say, 'What are you doing here?'

"The reality of my situation was that my first year on the show, I got paid the minimum an actor is allowed to get paid," he says. Now that he's a series regular, Lee says he gets "nice big checks" and he no longer works the casting gig (although he never officially quit).

Lee, who spent his early childhood in Somerville, Woburn, and Newton before moving to Los Angeles, has wanted to be an actor since he was a young child. His father, a doctor, and mother, a homemaker, discouraged him and he eventually pursued a career as a concert pianist at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music before switching his career focus back to acting.

After appearing in various television commercials, he landed his first TV show speaking part on CBS's "Dave's World" in 1994.

Since then, Lee says he's been cast only in subservient roles. He wonders if racism is why, but selects not to dwell on the matter. "I have the right to be upset but I'm choosing not to be," he says.

"I want to be a working actor," Lee explains. "I have this strange knowledge that when 'Entourage' is over and they are casting the next sassy receptionist at the next office sitcom, I know I can go after that role and have a good chance of getting it. I would love it if at the end of my career, I can say 'Wow, what a lovely varied career I had.' All actors aspire to that. On the other hand, if I arrive at the end and say, 'I played an interesting array of assistants,' it won't be the end of the world either."

For now, Lee is focused only on "Entourage," which is filming its fourth season. Will Lloyd get a spinoff? "The show is called 'Entourage' -- it's about those boys," Lee says. "I would love if it became 'The Lloyd Show.' That's not going to happen."

Suzanne Ryan can be reached at sryan@globe.com.