See Why Fans Went Wild When Lee Pace Shared Poolside 45th Birthday Pic

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Lee Pace turned 45 on March 25 and gave his fans a present with a very hot pic on Twitter and Instagram. Four photos on IG show Pace, the star of Apple TV's hit sci-fi series "Foundation," relaxing poolside in what appears to be a Southern European villa.

In the Tweet and four pics in an Instagram post, Pace wrote, "45 and alive." The past few years he has posted shirtless pics on his birthday.

In the first IG, he is seen walking in a town square looking every inch a sexy tourist dressed in a white T-shirt, dark shorts, and hat. The full-bearded, 6'5" star is smiling as he's caught mid-step. In the second he's stripped down and checking a smart phone while standing in a swimming pool with shoulder length hair pulled back in a bun. Behind him is an ancient wall and tall Cypress trees. The third pic has Pace in the pool again, this time closer up and in profile that display his lean frame and man bun.

But it is the final one that has his fans' hearts pacing. In it, the hat has returned along with sunglasses as Pace stands shirtless holding towels with his neatly groomed, toned chest in full view and his hair - released from the bun - falling on his shoulders. The pic prompted one user to write, "And he is still so fucking beautiful it's crazy 🫶🏻," and another to write, "Sitting here and hoping to be as hot as this man when I'll turn 45 🙏🏼🙏🏼 🔥". Actress Anna Friel wrote, "Happy birthday. Aging suits you. Like the finest of wines. Getting better and better. ❤"

Pace is best-known for his role of elven king Thranduil in the "Hobbit" franchise and Ronan the Accuser in "Guardians of the Galaxy," though he's not a stranger to queer roles, including a career-making turn as transgender showgirl Calpernia Addams the television film "A Soldier's Girl" some 21 years ago. The film followed Addams' tragic relationship with U.S. Army soldier Barry Winchell (played by Tony Garity). In Variety critic David Rooney wrote: "Both Garity and newcomer Pace give complex, controlled performances, full-bodied and richly empathetic, making the union between this unlikely couple seem entirely plausible and natural." Pace won a Gotham Award for Breakthrough Actor for the performance. Five years later he had a featured role in Tom Ford's "A Single Man" just prior to his work in the three "Hobbit" films. For his starring role on ABC's short-lived fantasy series "Pushing Daisies," Pace was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 2008. In addition to "Foundation," which has been renewed for a third season, Pace starred as tech innovator Joe MacMillan in "Halt and Catch Fire," which played on AMC for three seasons beginning in 2014. In this fictionalized account, MacMillan was a businessman and entrepreneur who helped usher in the computer revolution and the internet in the 1980s.