Lance Bass

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person James Lance Bass<ref name="Autobio2"/> (Template:IPAc-en; born May 4, 1979)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> is an American singer, actor, and producer. He grew up in Mississippi and rose to fame as the bass singer for the boy band NSYNC. The band has sold over 70 million records, becoming one of the best-selling boy bands of all time.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> NSYNC's success led Bass to work in film and television.

He starred in the 2001 film On the Line, which his company, Bacon & Eggs, also produced. Bass later formed a second production company, Lance Bass Productions,<ref name="Cosmonaut 1">Template:Cite web</ref> as well as a now-defunct music management company, Free Lance Entertainment, a joint venture with Mercury Records.<ref name="FreeLance">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

After completion of NSYNC's PopOdyssey Tour, Bass moved to Star City, Russia, in a much publicized pursuit of a space tourism seat on a Soyuz space capsule.<ref name="Cosmonaut 1" /> Bass was certified by both NASA and the Russian Space Program after several months of cosmonaut training<ref name="Cosmonaut 1" /> and planned to join the TMA-1 mission to the International Space Station.<ref name="Cosmonaut 2">Template:Cite web</ref> However, after his financial sponsors backed out, Bass was denied a seat on the mission.<ref name="Yuri">Template:Cite web</ref>

In July 2006, Bass came out as gay in a cover story for People magazine.<ref name="Gay">Template:Cite magazine</ref> He was awarded the Human Rights Campaign Visibility Award in October 2006<ref name="Southern Voice">Template:Cite web</ref> and released an autobiography, Out of Sync, in October 2007, which debuted on the New York Times Best Seller list.<ref name=BestSeller>Template:Cite web</ref>

Early life and education

James Lance Bass was born in Laurel, Mississippi, to James Irvin Bass Jr., a medical technologist, and Diane (née Pulliam), a middle school mathematics, English, and career discovery teacher.<ref name=Autobio2>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Rootsweb">Template:Cite web</ref> Along with his older sister, Stacy, Bass grew up in adjacent Ellisville, Mississippi, and was raised as a Southern Baptist.<ref name="Sports Hollywood">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="FishelRelationship">Template:Cite web</ref> Bass has described his family as devoutly Christian and conservative,<ref name="DelawareOnline">Template:Cite web</ref> and has said that his childhood was "extremely happy".<ref name="Autobio2" />

As a young boy, Bass developed an interest in space, and at age 9 traveled to Cape Canaveral, Florida, with his father to watch his first live Space Shuttle launch. Of this experience, Bass said, "I was certain from then on that my future was to be involved with space."<ref name="Space Review">Template:Cite web</ref> Shortly after, Bass attended space camp in Titusville, Florida,<ref name="space">Template:Cite web</ref> and aspired to attend college and study engineering, with the hope that he would one day work for NASA.<ref name="Larry King">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="NSS">Template:Cite web</ref>

When Bass was 11 years old, his father was transferred to a different hospital, and the family moved to Clinton, Mississippi.<ref name="Autobio2" /> Bass began singing in his Baptist church choir and was encouraged to audition for local performance groups by his childhood best friend, Darren Dale,<ref name=Autobio10-19>Template:Cite book</ref> the youngest child of former longtime Mississippi Insurance Commissioner George Dale. Bass joined the Mississippi Show Stoppers, a statewide music group sponsored by the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum, and the Attaché Show Choir, a national-award-winning competitive show choir group at Clinton High School. He was also a member of a seven-man vocal group named Seven Card Stud, which competed at state fairs and performed at several social and political events for Senator Trent Lott.<ref name="Autobio10-19" />

At Clinton High School, Bass was elected vice president of his junior class<ref name="Autobio10-19" /> and has said that he performed well in math and science.<ref name="Sports Hollywood" /><ref name="EDGE">Template:Cite web</ref> However, Bass later said that his primary focus during high school was singing, and when reflecting on it, he remembers "hardly anything" about academia.<ref name="Autobio10-19" />

Career

Music

NSYNC

Template:Main In 1995, during his junior year of high school, Bass received a call from Justin Timberlake and his mother, Lynn Harless, who asked Bass if he would be interested in auditioning for the pop group NSYNC after the group's original bass singer, Jason Galasso, had quit.<ref name="Bolz">Template:Cite web</ref> Timberlake's vocal coach (who had worked with Bass during his time as a Mississippi Show Stopper) recommended Bass as a replacement.<ref name="Sports Hollywood"/><ref name="Larry King"/><ref name="Westbrook">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Bass was accepted into the group after auditioning in front of the other bandmembers, and soon left school to move to Orlando, Florida and rehearse full-time.<ref name=Autobio28-43>Template:Cite book</ref> Bass has said that he did not know how to dance before he joined NSYNC, and therefore found much of the group's choreography difficult to learn.<ref name="Larry King" />

According to an episode of VH1's Driven, Jan Bolz, president of BMG's German division, offered NSYNC a recording contract under the condition that they replace Bass, whose dancing, he felt, "wasn't at the same level as all the others."<ref name="Bolz" /> However, Chris Kirkpatrick (who formed the band) refused to accept the contract without Bass. The group's manager, Johnny Wright, convinced Bolz that Bass's dancing would quickly improve.<ref name="Bolz" />Template:Additional citation needed Bolz conceded, and the group soon moved to Munich, Germany to record their first album with BMG.<ref name="Autobio28-43" /> NSYNC began extensive touring in Europe, and Bass's mother quit her job to tour with the group as a chaperone, as Bass was still a minor.<ref name="Autobio28-43" />

File:Lancebass2001.jpg

Bass in 2001

After gaining significant notability in Europe, NSYNC was signed to the American record label RCA in 1997.<ref name="Autobio28-43" /> The group's first single, "I Want You Back" began receiving major radio play in the United States, and NSYNC soon found themselves becoming an "overnight sensation", a period which Bass describes in his autobiography as "the death of my own innocence".<ref name="Autobio28-43" /> Along with increasing fame and recognition in the United States, the band also experienced a highly publicized legal battle with Lou Pearlman, who originally put the band together, due to what the group believed were illicit business practices on his part.<ref name="Pearlman1">Template:Cite web</ref>

NSYNC sued Pearlman and his record company, Trans Continental, for defrauding the group of more than 50% of their earnings, rather than his original promise of receiving only one-sixth of the profits.<ref name="Pearlman1" /> The group threatened to leave and sign with Jive Records, which prompted Pearlman and RCA to countersue NSYNC for $150 million US, citing breach of contract.<ref name="Countersuit">Template:Cite magazine</ref> The injunction was thrown out of court<ref name="Pearlman1" /> and, after winning back their earnings, NSYNC signed with Jive.<ref name="Jive">Template:Cite web</ref>

In March 2000, NSYNC released No Strings Attached, which became the fastest-selling record of all time,<ref name="BBC">Template:Cite web</ref> selling 1.1 million copies in its first day of release.<ref name="Westbrook" /> In 2001, the group followed up with their Celebrity album,<ref name="recordsales">Template:Cite magazine</ref> which scored the second highest first-week album sales ever, trumped only by the group's previous album.<ref name="Celebrity Sales Record">Template:Cite web</ref> NSYNC went on to sell over 56 million records worldwide.<ref name="Record Sales">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2002, the group announced that they would be taking a "hiatus", during which Timberlake began to record solo material.<ref name="Hiatus Feelings">Template:Cite web</ref> NSYNC has not recorded new material since, and Bass has stated that he feels the group has officially disbanded.<ref name="BrokenUp">Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2007, Bass said he had faith Timberlake would return after six months off to record another album with NSYNC, and that he felt betrayed by Timberlake's 2004 decision to pursue his solo career instead.<ref name="Hiatus Feelings" /> Bass has also said he has little hope for a reunion since Timberlake has "made it clear that he wouldn't be interested in discussing another album any time soon."<ref name="BrokenUp" /> Despite these statements, Bass has denied that he harbors any ill feelings towards Timberlake, saying: "At that timeTemplate:Nbsp... it did feel like betrayal. I felt heartbroken. All these emotions went through me. Today, I'm really happy, and Justin and I are really great friends. I don't hate him at all. And I understand what he was going through, and it was as hard for him as it was for any of us."<ref name="FishelRelationship" />

In September 2023, a new NSYNC song, "Better Place" was announced following a reunion of the band at the MTV Video Music Awards. The song, part of the soundtrack to the film Trolls Band Together, was released September 29.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Free Lance Entertainment

In 2000, Bass formed a music management company named Free Lance Entertainment, which was a joint venture with Mercury Nashville, a division of Mercury Records.<ref name="FreeLance" /> Vowing to keep the company "a strictly family-run operation", Bass employed his parents and sister as talent scouts, and he recruited childhood friend and aspiring country singer Meredith Edwards for the company's first release.<ref name="Meredith Edwards">Template:Cite web</ref> Edwards began touring with NSYNC as an opening act in the fall of 2000,<ref name="Meredith Edwards" /> and Bass teamed up with MTV to hold a nationwide talent search for more artists later that year.<ref name="Timbaland">Template:Cite magazine</ref> However, Free Lance soon folded after disappointing sales of Edwards's debut album, Reach.<ref name="Timbaland" /><ref name="Defunct">Template:Cite web</ref>

Acting

Film and television

Bass guest-starred on The WB drama series 7th Heaven, playing Rick Palmer, a love interest for Beverley Mitchell's character, Lucy.<ref name="7th Heaven">Template:Cite magazine</ref> The following year, while NSYNC was in the midst of recording Celebrity, Bass received his first starring role in the 2001 motion picture On the Line.<ref name="On The Line">Template:Cite web</ref> Bass played Kevin, a man who falls in love with a woman on a Chicago train and begins a search to find her again.

The film was produced by Bass's production company, A Happy Place (later renamed Bacon & Eggs), and it featured appearances by Jerry Stiller, Al Green, Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora, former WWE wrestler Chyna, and Bass's bandmates Timberlake, Kirkpatrick and Fatone, the latter in a major role.<ref name="On The Line" /> The film also featured a soundtrack which included previously unreleased songs by NSYNC and Britney Spears. Bass collaborated with Joey Fatone, Mandy Moore, Christian Burns and True Vibe (as the "On the Line Allstars") for the film's theme song, "On the Line".<ref name="OTL Collab">Template:Cite web</ref>

Despite heavy marketing towards NSYNC teen fans, the film was a commercial failure, grossing only US$4.2 million domestically despite its $10-million budget.<ref name="OTLBudget">Template:Cite web</ref> The film, along with Bass's acting, was poorly received by critics.<ref name="OTLBudget" /> Bass later said he felt the film's success was greatly hindered by its release date, which came one week after the World Trade Center attacks of September 11, 2001. In his 2007 autobiography, Bass wrote, "That was itTemplate:Snd our film was finishedTemplate:Nbsp... once the country went to war, there was no way our film was going to be on anyone's top-priority list."<ref name="Autobio146">Template:Cite book</ref>

After On the Line, Bass appeared in Zoolander and Wes Craven's Cursed as himself, and he played a wedding singer in I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Bass has also lent his voice to several animated television programs, such as Robot Chicken and Disney's Kim Possible, Handy Manny and Higglytown Heroes.<ref name="Voice Acting">Template:Cite web</ref> Bass made an appearance in the 2008 film Tropic Thunder. As a guest star in the 2013 Gravity Falls episode "Boyz Crazy", Bass plays in the boy band, Sev'ral Timez (which is a parody of NSYNC). In 2014, Bass guest starred on an episode of the Comedy Central series Review, in which he visited space along with the show's lead character.

Video games

Bass voiced the Final Fantasy VII character Sephiroth in Kingdom Hearts.<ref name="Voice Acting" />

Broadway

On August 14, 2007, Bass began a six-month stint playing Corny Collins in the Broadway musical Hairspray, coinciding with the play's five-year stage anniversary.<ref name="Broadway">Template:Cite web</ref> He ended his run in Hairspray on January 6, 2008.<ref name="Broadway" />

Media Personality/Game, Reality, and Talk Shows

In 2015, Bass joined season two of The Meredith Vieira Show as a full-time contributing panelist.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Bass and his mother competed in 2017 with other duos in the FOX reality cooking series My Kitchen Rules, and were the runners-up.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2020, Lance appeared with friend Joey Fatone on Meredith Vieira's syndicated program, 25 Words or Less (season 1, episodes 121–123).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In April 2021, Bass became a panelist for the new TV series Unicorn Hunters, a business investment show where he and other judges determine whether or not to invest in start-ups and other companies with high valuation potential.<ref>MarketWatch – The new TV show 'Unicorn Hunters' will feature Steve Wozniak and allow viewers to invest in pre-IPO companies</ref><ref>Realscreen – "The Masked Singer" producer Smart Dog Media preps "Unicorn Hunters"</ref>

Radio

Bass hosted Dirty Pop with Lance Bass, a daily evening drive time radio show focusing on pop culture and entertainment news on OutQ, an LGBT-geared station on Sirius XM.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> Bass was also the host of the weekly "Pop2Kountdown" on Pop2K, which counts down the 30 biggest hits from that week from a different year in the 2000s.

Podcast

On January 3, 2023, Bass released the trailer for his podcast, Frosted Tips with Lance Bass.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The first episode aired on January 9, 2023, in which he interviewed former bandmate JC Chasez of NSYNC.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In February, he began releasing episodes for another podcast, The Last Soviet, describing the story of Sergei Krikalev's time on the Mir space station during the collapse of the Soviet Union as well as Bass's own experience training at Star City.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Dancing with the Stars

Template:Main Bass was a contestant on season 7 of Dancing with the Stars and was paired with swing dance champ Lacey Schwimmer. Bass and Schwimmer reached the grand finale in competition and finished in third place.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Week #	Dance/Song	Judges' score			Result
		Inaba	Goodman	Tonioli
1, Night 1	Cha-Cha-Cha/"Jumpin' Jack Flash"	8	6	8	Safe
1, Night 2	Quickstep/"Close to Me"	7	6	8	Safe
2	Paso Doble/"I Kissed a Girl"	7	6	7	Safe
3	Viennese Waltz/"Let Me Leave"	8	7	7	Last to be Called Safe
4	Tango/"Disturbia"	9	8	9	Safe
5	West Coast Swing/"Breakin' Dishes"	7	7	7	Safe
6	Jive/"Tutti Frutti" Old School Hip Hop/"It Takes Two	9 No	9* Scores	9 Given	Safe
7	Rumba/"Your Body Is A Wonderland" Team Cha-Cha-Cha/"Mercy"	9 6	7 7	9 7	Safe
8	Foxtrot/"Sweet Pea" Samba/"1 Thing"	9 8	8 7	9 9	Safe
9 Semi-finals	Mambo/"Straight to Number One'" Jitterbug/"Jim Dandy"	10 10	9 9	9 10	Safe
10 Finals	Samba/"Blame It on the Boogie" Freestyle/"It's Tricky" Jitterbug/"Jim Dandy"	9 9 9	8 9 9	9 9 10	Third place

Production company

In January 2001, Bass formed his first film production company, A Happy Place, with film producers Rich Hull, Wendy Thorlakson and Joe Anderson.<ref name="A Happy Place">Gunn, Elston. Elston Gunn's Weekly Recap Template:Webarchive. Ain't It Cool News. Retrieved December 7, 2007.</ref> The company was geared towards family-friendly films,<ref name="7th Heaven" /> and received the Movieguide award for "Excellence in Family-Oriented Programming" for its first feature film, On the Line.<ref name=Movieguide>Template:Cite web</ref> After On the Line, A Happy Place changed its name to Bacon & Eggs<ref name="A Happy Place" /> and produced its second feature film, Lovewrecked, in 2005. The film debuted on ABC Family in January 2007, starring Amanda Bynes, Chris Carmack, and Jamie-Lynn Sigler, with Bass in a minor role. This too received mostly negative reviews.

Bass later formed a separate production company named Lance Bass Productions.<ref name="Cosmonaut 1" /> On May 14, 2007, Brian Graden announced that Lance Bass Productions would be working with the Logo network in executive producing a reality television show about the music business.<ref name="LOGO">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="NYTimesBook">Template:Cite news</ref> It was reported that the show will focus on the creation and development of an all-gay boy band.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> To date no such project has been developed or aired.

In 2008, Bass co-produced The Grand,<ref name=Variety>Template:Cite news</ref> and Bass' company is reported to be developing a music docudrama about the life of rock bands on tour.<ref name="Christina Martin">Template:Cite web</ref>

In October 2011, Bass debuted his own boy band called Heart2Heart.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In August 2013, Bass became an executive producer of the documentary film Kidnapped for Christ along with Mike C. Manning. The film sheds light on controversial behavior modification methods used on children, sent there by their parents, at an Evangelical Christian reform school in the Dominican Republic.<ref name="Kidnapped for Christ, The Wrap">Template:Cite news</ref> The film was sold to Showtime, to be released on television July 10, 2014.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Personal life

Bass dated actress Danielle Fishel of TV's Boy Meets World throughout 1999 and 2000.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Fishel said she was heavily invested in the relationship, commenting that she was "so in love" with Bass.<ref name="Tyra">Template:Cite web</ref> Bass ended the relationship after one year<ref name="FishelRelationship"/> and continued to exclusively date women until he was 22.<ref name="Professions" />

In his autobiography, Bass documents two gay relationships that predated media speculation; one with someone from Miami, Florida, named Jesse, with whom Bass lived for two years, and another with an Idaho native named Joe.<ref name=Autobio103-104>Template:Cite book</ref> Bass began dating Amazing Race winner Reichen Lehmkuhl in early 2006, a courtship that garnered tabloid coverage and led to Bass's decision to come out.<ref name="Gay" /> Bass described his relationship with Lehmkuhl as "very stable";<ref name="Gay" /> however, the couple split up several months later.<ref name="Lehmkuhl Split">Template:Cite web</ref> Shortly after his split with Lehmkuhl, Bass briefly dated Brazilian model and LXTV host Pedro Andrade.<ref name=BassGQ>Template:Cite news</ref> From August 2007 to March 2008, Bass dated New York-based hairdresser Ben Thigpen.<ref name="Russian" /><ref name="Thigpen 1">Template:Cite web</ref> After a year and a half of dating, Bass became engaged to Michael Turchin in September 2013.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Bass and Turchin married on December 20, 2014, in Los Angeles.<ref name=wedding>Template:Cite news</ref>

In a 2006 interview, Bass said he has Attention-Deficit Disorder.<ref name="ADD">Template:Cite web</ref> In August 2024, he made it known that he has type 1.5 diabetes, which had been misdiagnosed a few years earlier as type 2.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Bass's favorite music bands are Aerosmith, the Goo Goo Dolls, and Journey,<ref name="NYTimesBook" /> and his favorite actress is Lucille Ball, whom he grew up watching on I Love Lucy re-runs.<ref name="MSMagazine">Template:Cite news</ref> He is a self-described "huge Dr. Seuss fan", devoting an entire room in his Jackson, Mississippi, estate to Seuss memorabilia.<ref name="MSMagazine" /><ref name="Seuss 1">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Bass has said he is a Christian and that he regularly attends church,<ref name="Christian responses">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Church">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Church 2">Template:Cite web</ref> though he considers himself to be non-denominational.<ref name="FishelRelationship" /> He is the godfather of former bandmate and best friend Joey Fatone's daughters, Briahna and Kloey.<ref name="Briahna">Template:Cite book</ref>

Sexual orientation

File:Lance Bass Outwrite.jpg

Bass in Atlanta, Georgia, October 2007

Bass came out as gay in a cover story for People magazine on July 26, 2006.<ref name="Gay" /> There had been considerable media speculation about his orientation due to numerous paparazzi snapshots of him at gay bars and nightclubs, most notably during the preceding Independence Day weekend in Provincetown, Massachusetts.<ref name="Privacy">Template:Cite web</ref> Celebrity gossip blogger Perez Hilton had also been posting items on his website about Bass's orientation since September 2005,<ref name="Perez">Template:Cite web</ref> and New York gossip column Page Six ran a blurb on July 12, 2006, that reported a sighting of Bass at a gay bar with his then-boyfriend, Lehmkuhl.<ref name="Privacy"/> Bass's publicist, Ken Sunshine, chose to release the story exclusively to People magazine, who bumped actor Johnny Depp off that week's cover in favor of Bass.<ref name="Advocate Interview">Template:Cite web</ref> In his coming out interview, Bass stated,

Bass's announcement received a large amount of media attention. The American public's reaction was generally positive, with Bass receiving "overwhelming support" from many teenagers and young adults who grew up listening to 'N Sync.<ref name="Reactions">Template:Cite web</ref> However, Bass received criticism from the LGBT community when he referred to himself and his friends as "straight-acting" in his People interview, stating, "I call them the SAGsTemplate:Snd the straight-acting gays. We're just normal, typical guys. I love to watch football and drink beer."<ref name="Professions">Template:Cite web</ref> This comment angered some members of the LGBT community, who believed that Bass not only implied that effeminate gay men were not 'normal', but further enforced unneeded stereotypes.<ref name="Reactions" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In a 2007 interview with The Advocate, Bass called his comment a "mistake" and noted that he was unaware of the negative implications surrounding the term.<ref name="Advocate Interview" /> Bass stated, "Every community is hard to please. Our community is very fickle. It's a touchy community because it's the last civil rights movement we have left here in America. So when someone new like myself comes along and says off-the-mark things, yeah, I can see how people would get pissed."<ref name="Advocate Interview" />

Bass found himself in the midst of further controversy later that year when he, along with then-boyfriend Reichen Lehmkuhl, was awarded 2006 Human Rights Campaign Visibility Award on October 7, 2006.<ref name="Southern Voice" /> The Washington Blade printed a guest editorial from a longtime HRC supporter who claimed that neither recipient had done enough to deserve the award and that The Human Rights Campaign was simply capitalizing on Bass's fame to sell tickets.<ref name="Award 2">Template:Cite web</ref> The Human Rights Campaign stood by Bass and defended his award, responding to critics by saying, "Bass is the biggest music star since Melissa Etheridge to come out, and maybe some people think HRC should just ignore these moments of cultural significance, but his declaration did initiate a positive, national conversation that continues today."<ref name="HRC Defense">Template:Cite web</ref>

Marriage and family

File:Lance Bass Michael Turchin 2016 (cropped).jpg

Bass and husband Michael Turchin in 2016

Bass began dating painter and actor Michael Turchin in January 2011 and they became engaged in September 2013. They married on December 20, 2014, at the Park Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. Former NSYNC bandmates Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick and JC Chasez were in attendance; Justin Timberlake, who was then headlining his The 20/20 Experience World Tour, was not present.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The ceremonial event was filmed and televised in a special E! presentation: Lance Loves Michael: The Lance Bass Wedding that aired on February 5, 2015.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Bass and Turchin were the first same-sex couple to exchange vows on cable television.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> After four years of marriage, the couple decided to extend their family and have a child with the help of a surrogate.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> In March 2020, Bass announced the couple had lost a baby via the surrogate having a miscarriage at eight weeks. It had been the couple's ninth surrogacy attempt.<ref name="miscarriage">Template:Cite news</ref> In June 2021, Bass announced they were expecting twins by early November.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Their son and daughter were born in mid-October.<ref name="twins" />

Space tourism plans

In February 2002, Lena Banks, a space advocate and founder/producer of Think Tank Ink Productions, contacted Bass to propose his involvement in her Youngest Person in Space project. Banks took her longtime associate David Krieff of Destiny Productions on board and through a series of events in August 2002, Bass entered cosmonaut training in Star City, Russia.<ref name="Space Review"/> Bass was considered as the host of a U.S. version of a space competition show, The Big Mission, that had been successful in Denmark; contestants would go through rigorous training and vie for a seat on a Russian Soyuz space capsule. Instead of a game show, the producers decided to shoot a documentary of a celebrity training and going into space, intending to air it on a major network.

A colleague mentioned Banks' space project to a friend, whose daughter shouted out, "Lance Bass wants to go into space!" The girl, who was an NSYNC fan, learned of Bass' lifelong dream of space travel when she read of it online via an MTV forum.<ref name="Space Review" /> Banks spoke to Bass's management who went to him with the proposal. "At first he thought we were joking," Banks remarks. "I assured him it was for real; he accepted and we moved forward with the project."

To be admitted into training, Bass had to go through strenuous physicals that may have saved his life. It was discovered he had cardiac arrhythmia, and he agreed to undergo heart surgery to correct it. In 1999, he had gone to the hospital while on tour for what he thought was a stomach virus, and while there, the doctors detected his heart problem.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

After several months of training, Bass received cosmonaut certification and went on to Houston's Johnson Space Center (JSC) to take part in astronaut training. He was scheduled to fly into space on the Soyuz TMA-1 mission that was to be launched on October 30, 2002. The capsule was to fly to the International Space Station and land in a desert in Kazakhstan.<ref name="Cosmonaut 2" />

But the original deal to air the documentary about Bass fell through in mid-2002. Bass's camp turned to MTV, who agreed to sponsor the trip but then backed out over "payment, insurance, and indemnification issues."<ref name="Space Review" /> Shortly after, all of Bass's other sponsorships fell through, including one sponsor who pulled out because they worried about their brand being tarnished if Bass were to die on the mission.<ref name="Space Review" /> Bass was eventually rejected from the program, and was replaced on the flight by Russian cosmonauts Yury Lonchakov and Sergei Zalyotin and Belgium's Frank De Winne.<ref name="Yuri" />

Space advocacy

In 2003, Bass began serving as World Space Week's Youth Spokesman.<ref name="Space Review" /> Bass has said that he believes young people becoming more interested in space exploration "will help the future of our planet".<ref name="Space Chat">Template:Cite web</ref> From 2003 to 2005, Bass spent World Space Week traveling to American high schools speaking with students about space exploration and encouraging them to explore careers in science and mathematics.<ref name="NSS"/> Bass is a member of the National Space Society, a non-profit educational space advocacy organization founded by Wernher von Braun.<ref name="NSS" /> Bass has served on the National Space Society's board of governors since October 2004, alongside other space advocates such as actor Tom Hanks and author and futurist Sir Arthur C. Clarke.<ref name="NSS" /> In a 2007 interview with GQ magazine, Bass said he "absolutely" still intends on going to space, and that he hopes to work on a space documentary.<ref name="BassGQ" /> Bass has also retained fluency in Russian, which he was required to learn during his training.<ref name="Russian">Template:Cite web</ref>

Autobiography

Template:Main Following public response surrounding his coming out, Bass announced that he was releasing an autobiography. The book, entitled Out of Sync, was published on October 23, 2007.<ref name="Book">Template:Cite news</ref> It was co-written by The New York Times best-selling biographer Marc Eliot, who also wrote the book's introduction, and was published by Simon Spotlight Entertainment, a division of Simon & Schuster.<ref name="NYTimesBook" /><ref name="Simon & Schuster">Template:Cite web</ref> The 208-page book covers what Bass describes as "the first chapter" in his life, from his childhood growing up in rural Mississippi, to his efforts to obtain a seat on a Russian space capsule and the proceeding financial issues he had with his sponsors, and culminating with Bass's decision to go public with his sexuality.<ref name="Book" /> The book includes details about boyfriends that he kept from family and friends. He recounts NSYNC's 2002 decision to go on an "extended hiatus". Bass said Justin Timberlake was the sole reason NSYNC did not get back together.<ref name="NYTimesBook" /><ref name="Simon & Schuster" /> Out of Sync debuted on the New York Times Best Seller list for the week of November 11, 2007.<ref name="BestSeller" />

Philanthropy and causes

Bass has been involved with a number of charities. In 2001, he founded The Lance Bass Foundation, a non-profit organization that was designed to meet the health needs of low-income children.<ref name="Cosmonaut 1" /> In 2003, Bass donated $30,000 US to establish the Amber Pulliam Special Education Endowment at the University of Southern Mississippi.<ref name="Amber Pulliam">Template:Cite web</ref> Named for his younger cousin, Amber Pulliam, who has Down syndrome, it serves financial aid students from Mississippi's Pine Belt who plan a career in special education.<ref name="Amber Pulliam"/>

After 2005's Hurricane Katrina, Bass launched "uBid For Hurricane Relief", a celebrity auction to benefit victims of the hurricane, with uBid.com.<ref name="Katrina">Template:Cite web</ref> Proceeds from the auction were split between the Child Welfare League of America, The Brett Favre Fourward Foundation, and Ashton Kutcher's RockWorks Foundation.<ref name="Katrina" /> Many of Bass's family members in Mississippi were directly affected by the hurricane.<ref name="Katrina Family">Template:Cite news</ref> That same year, Bass appeared on an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition with a donation to a Russian woman to save a camp for disabled children in Russia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Bass is a member of the Environmental Media Association's board of directors.<ref name="EMA">Template:Cite web</ref> He has also been involved with Animal Avengers, Shannon Elizabeth's animal rescue organization.<ref name="Animal Avengers">Template:Cite web</ref> He has two dogs which he adopted from a rescue shelter, both of whom he posed with in a PETA ad urging people to adopt rather than buy animals.<ref>Zach Dionne, "Lance Bass Poses with His Dogs for PETA Template:Webarchive," PopEater December 7, 2010.</ref> In August 2007, Bass wrote a guest commentary for LOGO's "Visible Vote '08" blog, in which he expressed support for gay marriage.<ref name="Visible Vote">Template:Cite web</ref> In September 2007, Bass participated in a series of GLAAD television advertisements promoting tolerance for the LGBT community.<ref name="GLAAD ad">Template:Cite news</ref> Bass has also been involved in fundraising for the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.<ref name="GLSEN">Template:Cite web</ref>

Discography

As a solo artist

• "Walking on Air" (2014, single)
• "Perfect This Way" (2023, single with Station Little)

NSYNC

• 'N Sync (1998)
• No Strings Attached (2000)
• Celebrity (2001)

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Zoolander	Himself	Cameo appearance
	On the Line	Kevin Gibbons
	Longshot	Flight Engineer
2005	Cursed	Himself	Cameo appearance
	Love Wrecked	Dan
2007	I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry	Himself
2008	Tropic Thunder	Himself	Cameo appearance
2012	Mississippi I Am	Himself	Cameo appearance<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2014	Such Good People	Stuart Hedron
	White Dwarf	Lance
2015	Hell and Back	Boy Band Demon (voice)	<ref name="btva">Template:Cite web A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.</ref>
2019	The Boy Band Con: The Lou Pearlman Story	Himself	Documentary
2023	Trolls Band Together	Boom (voice)	<ref name="btva" />
	Baby Shark's Big Movie!	Himself (voice)	<ref name="btva" />

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Sabrina the Teenage Witch	Himself	Episode: "Sabrina and the Pirates"
	Clueless	Himself	Episode: "None for the Road"
	Touched by an Angel	Street Performer	Episode: "Voice of an Angel"
2000	7th Heaven	Rick Palmer	Episode: "Who Do You Trust?"
	Saturday Night Live	Himself	Episode: "Joshua Jackson/NSYNC"
	Sesame Street	Himself	Episode: "Elmo in Numberland"
2001	The Simpsons	Himself (voice)	Episode: "New Kids on the Blecch"
	Mad TV	Himself	Episode: "7.4"
2004	Kim Possible	Robby (voice)	Episode: "Oh Boyz"
	Higglytown Heroes	Electrician Hero (voice)	2 episodes
2005	Robot Chicken	Himself/Chris Kirkpatrick/Tom Root (voice)	Episode: "S&M Present"
2006–2012	Handy Manny	Elliot (voice)	8 episodes
2008	Rick and Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World	Himself (voice)	Episode: "Death of a Lesbian Bed"
2011	Drop Dead Diva	Jamie	Episode: "Prom"
2013	Gravity Falls	Sev'ral Timez (voice)	Episode: "Boyz Crazy"<ref name="btva" />
2014	Review	Himself	Episode: "Best Friend; Space"
	Real Husbands of Hollywood	Himself	Episode: "Don't Vote for Nick"
2015	BoJack Horseman	Himself (voice)	Episode: "Out to Sea"
	Hand of God	Jerry	Episode: "Your Inside Voice"
2015–2016	The Meredith Vieira Show	Himself	Season 2 panelist
2016	Finding Prince Charming	Host	9 episodes<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	The Real O'Neals	Himself	Episode: "The Real Thang"
2017	Hollywood Darlings	Himself	Episode: "The Luke Perry Incident"
	My Kitchen Rules	Himself	8 episodes
2018	Whose Line is it Anyway?	Himself	Episode: "Lance Bass"
	Adam Ruins Everything	Himself	Episode: "Adam Ruins Sleep"
2019	Single Parents	Himself	2 episodes
	Insatiable	Brazen Moorehead	Episode: "The Most You Can Be"
2021	The Circle	Himself	Episode: "Bye, Bye, Bye!"
	RuPaul's Drag Race	Himself	Episode: "RPDR Reunited"
	Bachelor in Paradise	Host	3 episodes
2023	Bossy Bear	Tyler (voice)	5 episodes
	The Rookie	Himself	Episode: "Double Trouble"
	How I Met Your Father	Himself	Episode: "Out of Sync"
2024	The Tiny Chef Show	Himself	Episode: "Peanut Butter & Jelly"
	RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars	Himself	Episode: "Grand Finale Variety Extravaganza: Part 2"

Video games

Year	Title	Voice role	Notes
2002	Kingdom Hearts	Sephiroth	English dub<ref name="btva" />

External links

Template:Commons Official

• Official website

Biographical or discographical

• Template:People.com
• Template:IMDb name