James was born in Nairobi, Kenya to British parents. His family emigrated to Canada in 1970 and became Canadian citizens nine years later. After attending high school in Perth Ontario, he spent three years in film school in Thunder Bay at Confederation College. A work placement after college led to his first full time job in the industry on CBC's 'Street Legal'. Over the next few years James spent his time in the trenches working his way up through the AD department. His first gig as a 1st AD was in 1994 on a low budget feature. For the last thirteen years James has AD'd over seventy hours of film and television as well as 2nd Unit DIrected over sixty hours. He currently lives in Toronto with his fiancée Darlene and two cats.
