Lee River is a British actor, born in London, England in 1964. River is of Russian-English ancestry on his father's side and Lithuanian and Polish on his mother's side. River grew up in Elstree, his family's house backing on to the Elstree film studios. He later lived in other parts of London, and as of 2020, resides in the inner city neighbourhood of Tottenham in North London..In one of Lee River's acting roles - that of a drunken psychopath - Lee spread butter on his tee shirt to give the appearance of stale sweat.