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James was born in Yokohama and grew up in rural Yamagata, Japan. After high school, he relocated to the U.S., where he earned a BA in literature from Wheaton College and an MFA in acting and directing from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Now based in NYC, James works as an actor, director, translator, and writer. He is widely recognized by fans for his role as Robert Minoru in Marvel's Runaways. He has originated numerous roles on and off Broadway, including in Sarah Ruhl's The Oldest Boy, Richard Greenberg's Take Me Out (winner of the 2003 Tony Award for Best Play), A Naked Girl on the Appian Way, John Guare's A Few Stout Individuals, and Julia Cho's Durango. His repertoire also includes characters in world-premiere stage adaptations of literary classics, such as Yunioshi in Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's on Broadway, and Toru in Haruki Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle at the Edinburgh International Festival and Singapore Arts Festival.
As a director, James has helmed My Friend Has Come for the Asian American Writers Workshop, Dancing with the Bird at New York's Japan Society, "Clippy and Ms. U" for Ma-Yi Studios, and Ready or Not and It's a Jungle Out There for the 52nd Street Project Playmaking series. He made his filmmaking debut in 2011 with Lefty Loosey Righty Tighty, which won Best Feature in the DIY film competition at Northside Festival, a leading art festival in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
James conceived the theater benefit "SHINSAI: Theaters for Japan," held on March 11, 2012, marking the one-year anniversary of the disasters in Japan, with nearly 100 theaters participating worldwide. He frequently collaborates with Japanese artists, translating acclaimed contemporary Japanese plays and providing subtitles for major Japanese studio films.
Additionally, James is a martial artist holding black belts in both judo and aikido.
