Michael Jace

Michael Jace
Born	Michael Brent Jace 7/13/1962
Birthplace	Paterson, New Jersey, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Actor (former)
Known for	The Shield
Spouse(s)	April Jace (2003–2014; her death)
Children	2

Michael Brent Jace (born July 13, 1962) is an American former actor and convicted murderer. Over a screen career spanning roughly two decades, Jace appeared in supporting roles in feature films including Boogie Nights (1997) and The Fan (1996), but he became most familiar to television audiences as Officer Julien Lowe, a closeted rookie patrolman, in the FX police drama The Shield, on which he was a regular cast member from 2002 to 2008. In May 2014, Jace fatally shot his wife, track and field athlete April Jace, inside the couple's Los Angeles home while their two young sons were present. He was arrested the same night, charged with murder, and held in custody without bail. After a trial in 2016, a Los Angeles jury convicted him of second-degree murder and a related firearm enhancement, and a judge sentenced him to 40 years to life in state prison. A 2025 appellate ruling rejected his bid for re-sentencing, leaving the original term in place.

Early life

Jace was born on July 13, 1962, in Paterson, New Jersey. Limited reliable detail about his upbringing has been documented in mainstream press coverage. Public biographical records list his full name as Michael Brent Jace and identify Paterson as both his place of birth and the city in which he spent his early years. He later relocated to the Los Angeles area to pursue acting, where he spent the remainder of his professional life prior to his arrest in 2014.

Career

Film roles

Jace built a working actor's résumé through the 1990s, taking supporting and minor roles in a series of studio features. Among his earliest screen credits was a part in the Tony Scott–directed thriller The Fan (1996), starring Robert De Niro and Wesley Snipes. The following year he appeared in Paul Thomas Anderson's ensemble drama Boogie Nights (1997), a film centered on the adult-entertainment industry in the San Fernando Valley during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Additional film appearances during this period included roles in Planet of the Apes (2001) and other studio productions, generally in supporting capacities.

The Shield

Jace's most prominent role came on the FX cable drama The Shield, created by Shawn Ryan, which premiered in 2002 and ran for seven seasons through 2008. He played Julien Lowe, a Los Angeles Police Department patrol officer assigned to the fictional Farmington division and a member of the show's ensemble of uniformed cops. The character, a devout Christian who quietly grappled with his sexuality, was among the series' recurring storylines on identity and the ethical strain of police work. Jace appeared in the role across all seven seasons of the program. Press coverage of his later criminal case routinely identified him primarily by the role, with outlets describing him as "The Shield actor Michael Jace."

Other television work

Outside of The Shield, Jace took guest and recurring roles on a range of television series. His credits include appearances on the USA Network drama Burn Notice and other prime-time programs. He also appeared in the 2010 independent film Brotherly Love. His acting career effectively ended with his arrest in May 2014; he has not appeared in new productions since that date.

Personal life

Jace was married twice. His first marriage, to Jennifer Bitterman, lasted from 1996 to 2002 and ended in divorce. In 2003 he married April Jace (née April Laune), a former Pepperdine University track and field athlete who worked as a financial aid counselor. The couple had two sons together; Michael Jace also had an older son from his prior relationship.

Court testimony and contemporaneous press coverage during the 2016 trial described the family as having faced significant financial pressure in the period leading up to April Jace's death, including a bankruptcy filing and concerns about foreclosure on their home. Prosecutors argued that these stresses, together with marital problems, formed the backdrop to the killing.

Murder of April Jace

Shooting and arrest

On the night of May 19, 2014, Michael Jace shot and killed his 40-year-old wife April Jace at the family's home in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. According to police and later trial testimony, the shooting took place in front of the couple's two young sons, then aged 8 and 5. Jace called 911 himself and reported that he had shot his wife; officers responding to the call found April Jace dead at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken into custody that night and initially booked on suspicion of homicide.

Los Angeles County prosecutors formally charged Jace with one count of murder, along with a special allegation of personal use of a firearm. He was held in lieu of $2 million bail. He subsequently pleaded not guilty.

Trial

The case went to trial in the spring of 2016 in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Prosecutors presented evidence that Jace had shot his wife once in the back as she attempted to flee, and then twice more in the legs as she lay on the floor, with their older son witnessing the attack. Testimony from the couple's elder son was read into the record from prior statements he had given investigators.

Investigators testified about the digital evidence in the case, including efforts by the Los Angeles Police Department to access a locked iPhone belonging to April Jace in order to recover communications and other data from the period before her death. The defense argued that the killing was not premeditated and asked jurors to consider a lesser offense, contending that Jace had acted in a sudden rage rather than with the deliberation required for first-degree murder.

On May 31, 2016, the jury returned a verdict of guilty on a charge of second-degree murder, and also found true the firearm-use enhancement.

Sentencing

On June 10, 2016, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge sentenced Jace to 40 years to life in state prison: 15 years to life for the second-degree murder conviction and an additional 25 years to life for the firearm enhancement under California's sentencing laws. At the hearing, members of April Jace's family delivered victim-impact statements describing the loss to her children and to her parents and siblings.

Jace was remanded to the custody of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to serve his sentence, and is listed in the department's inmate locator system.

Appeals

Jace later pursued post-conviction relief, including a bid for re-sentencing. In August 2025, a panel of the California Court of Appeal rejected his appeal, leaving the 40-years-to-life sentence intact.

Recognition

Jace did not receive major individual industry awards during his acting career. The principal source of his public recognition was his long-running role as Julien Lowe on The Shield, a series that itself drew significant critical attention during its FX run and that featured Jace as part of its core ensemble across all seven seasons. Following the 2014 killing of April Jace and the subsequent prosecution, mainstream press coverage in entertainment and general-interest outlets identified him primarily by reference to The Shield, a framing that has continued in reporting on his criminal appeals.