Born in London and trained at the Royal Ballet School, where he received a scholarship to study at the Paris Opera, James has been a member of the Royal Ballet, London, the National Ballet of Portugal, Lisbon and the National Ballet of Canada, Toronto. He has worked on new productions with many world-renowned choreographers including Sir Frederick Ashton, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Rudolf Nureyev, Jiri Kilian, William Forsythe, Glen Tetley, David Parsons and Graeme Murphy. He has also performed with many international ballet stars including, Rudolf Nureyev, Sir Anthony Dowell, Silvie Guillem, Mikhail Barishnikov, Fernando Bahones, Karen Kain, Alessandra Ferri, John Meehan, Margaret Illman, Rex Harrington, Leanne Benjamin and Viviana Durante. James joined Sydney Dance Company in 1993 and after three years left to form his own business, Smeg Productions, producing dance based entertainment for corporate and private clients, including DKNY, BMW, Porsche, ABN Amro, MTV and the Attorney General. In 2001 James was a founding member of the Bondi Ballet and has created five works as Resident Choreographer and later became the Assistant Artistic Director. James has created two works with Sydney Dance Company and two works for the West Australian Ballet. James is also a recognised freelance teacher and choreographer and has adjudicated twice for the MacDonald Challenge Ballet Final at the Opera House