Lionel Boyce

Boyce, who is of African American heritage, grew up in Inglewood, California.^[5][6] His father was an Arrowhead Water delivery driver, and his mother was an Los Angeles County sheriff.^[7] He worked at Hollister Co. and played football.^[2][5] He attended Westchester High School, where he befriended Tyler, the Creator in a theater class.^[8]

A former member of alternative hip hop collective Odd Future, he co-created the 2012 sketch comedy television series Loiter Squad.^[1][2] In 2014, he teamed up with Earl Sweatshirt for collaborative effort "DJ Billy Jole".^[9] Boyce and Tyler, the Creator formed Bald Fade Productions in 2015, co-creating the adult animated sitcom The Jellies!^{[10][11][10][6]}

Since 2022, Boyce has played Marcus Brooks, a sensitive, quiet and kind-hearted pastry chef,^[1][12] in the comedy-drama television series The Bear.^[11][13] He received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for the series. Before shooting The Bear, Boyce observed a day at Tartine bakery in Los Angeles, and spent two weeks staging at Hart Bageri in Copenhagen.^[5][6][14] Additionally, before shooting the episode "Honeydew", he did extensive training with Courtney Storer, the show's culinary producer.^[15]

Early 2024, Boyce helped Daiya launch its cheese dupe Fromage Forgery.^[16][17] Around that time, he also joined the cast of the thriller film Shell.^[18]

On 31 July 2025, Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free's multidisciplinary creative communications company PGLang announced Project 3, their newest branch and creative agency. The announcement was released along with a short film titled The Agency, starring Chase Sui Wonders and Boyce, directed by Jack Begert, who co-wrote it alongside Free.^[19][20]

Boyce enjoys playing chess.^[7]