James Morrison

Born in Bountiful, Utah and raised in Alaska, James has lived in Los Angeles since 1982. In 1995, he wrote and directed his first film, Parking (1996), which was produced by his wife, actress/director Riad Galayini. Parking screened at Slamdance (Audience Choice Award for Best Short Film); the Palm Springs International Film Festival; the Portland, Cleveland, Sedona, and Albany film festivals; the Taos Talking Picture Festival, Austin's South By Southwest Festival; New York's New Directors/New Films Festival presented by Lincoln Center at the Museum of Modern Art; the South Beach Film Festival in Miami; the Central Florida Film Festival (third place narrative film award); the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival; the Montreal World Festival; The Festival of US Shorts in Brisbane, Australia; Ireland's Cork International Film Festival; the St. Louis Film Festival; and The Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema. It has also aired on the Sundance Channel. In December 1997 James co-wrote and executive produced Ms. Galayini's first film, Nude Descending (1997), which won the George Melies Award at the 1998 Taos Talking Picture Festival. In 2000 it was selected for special recognition by the New Short Film Directors Showcase and Universal Studios at the Hitchcock International Director's Series presented by the American Cinematheque. Both films can be seen at Hypnotic.com. James began his acting career in the mid-seventies as a clown and wire walker for the Carson and Barnes Wild Animal Circus and served his theatrical apprenticeship with the Alaska Repertory Theatre in 1977-79. Since then, he has appeared in several American and World Premiere stage productions at the McCarter Theatre, the La Jolla Playhouse, the Mark Taper Forum, the LA Stage Company, The Jupiter Theatre, The Old Globe, and The Pasadena Playhouse with such renowned directors as Emily Mann, Des McAnuff, Jack O'Brien, Charles Nelson Reilly, and Jose Quintero. He is a recipient of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Performance and three Drama-Logue Awards. He appeared in the U.K. premiere of Emily Mann's Still Life at the West End's Donmar Warehouse and the Riverside Studios after a stint in The Edinburgh Festival at the Traverse Theatre, where the production received a Fringe First Award. He is also a Lecture Fellow at Bournemouth University in England. On television, James appeared as McQueen on twenty-two episodes of the Fox TV series, "Space: Above and Beyond" (1995), in addition to numerous episodic assignments in other popular TV series. James can be heard in the BBC radio production of Julius Caesar and seen in the American Playhouse production of Ibsen's An Enemy of the People. He also appears in Ruby McCollum and Rainmaker, radio dramas for National Public Radio. His film credits include Desert Cross (1994), Falling Down (1993), Shadow Of Doubt (1998), Abilene (1999) and One, The (2001/I). A member of the Dramatists Guild and the Ensemble Studio Theatre, his plays have been seen at The Sundance Institute, The Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Playwrights' Center of Minneapolis, LA Theatre Works, The MET Theatre, The Philadelphia Fringe Festival, City Theatre in Miami, The Two Parts Theatre Company in Princeton, The Classical Theatre Lab, The Road Theatre, The Mojo Ensemble, The Wooden O, and the Salt Lake Acting Company where James has directed several plays including those by Sam Shepard, John Robinson, Larry Shue, and Beth Henley. His first volume of poetry, FOG SLOW TO CLEAR, is now available and can be purchased through Amazon.com.