Born in Houston, Texas, (in the same suburb where "Urban Cowboy" was filmed) Lee developed a love for making movies at a young age. After his parents moved to Shelby, N.C. when Lee was a young boy, his father, an entertainer, got Lee involved in music and making movies.

Lee's father was involved in music since the late 1950's. He performed with the likes of Carl Perkins, Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs, Alabama, and many more. Dr. Hardin was the guitar player on the number one hit "Stay" by Maurice Williams.

He also performed with the group Alabama for several summers. The members of Alabama were also the studio musicians on several of Dr. Hardin's own recordings. Dr. Stan Hardin also co-wrote the well-known "Slinky" jingle. In the late 1980's, Dr. Hardin and Lee co-wrote and recorded a jingle for Bojangle's of Virginia. The jingle won second place overall out of all other submissions for the State of Virginia.

His first experiences in movies included roles in three films at Earl Owens by Studios including Day of Judgment, Carnival Magic, and Rottweiler 3-D. These experiences instilled a passion in Lee for movie making that is evident still today. Although Lee has enjoyed acting in movies and theater, he has always had a desire and vision for storytelling and creating his own movies. As a boy he would write movie scripts and filmed them on his fathers eight-millimeter camera utilizing the neighborhood kids as actors.