James grew up watching movies in a theater owned by his father in his native Beaumont, California. He moved to NYC where he worked as a cook/butler for celebrated acting teacher Stella Adler. James also appeared in Off-Broadway productions and performed standup comedy. He returned to LA in 1973 and embarked on a full-time acting career. Within two years, James was landing regular assignments in TV and features. This busy and prolific character actor had appeared in over 100 TV shows and 70 features by 1994; his policy was to never turn down a job.
James points to his role as studio executive Joel Levison in Robert Altman's "The Player" (1992) as a career turning point that resulted in his getting cast in a much wider variety of roles. Be that as it may, five of his next six credits (all 1992-93) were direct-to-video thrillers. James' other feature credits include "Striking Distance" (1993), as a detective associate of Bruce Willis, and "Cabin Boy" (1994), as a tough and smelly fisherman.