James is an award winning director, writer, and actor of film and theatre. He was awarded Best Director at Short+Sweet Sydney 2013, the largest short play festival in the world. His short films have been screened in over a dozen countries and almost one hundred cities winning Vimeo’s Short of the Week, Best Mobile Film at both Broken Knuckle and Finow Film Festivals, and the Audience Prize at the Festival International des Très Courts. His one act play Little Deaths was shortlisted for the Max Afford Playwright Award and eventually became This Modern Coil which he directed in 2016. Suzy Wrong wrote that “there is a depth to This Modern Coil that is very admirably courageous and balanced with a confident sense of comedy and storytelling” and The Buzz From Sydney wrote that it was “a genuinely clever, thought provoking and well-performed play”. He has also directed for Shakespeare By Night as well as the world premiere of Fragments by Maura Pierlot and The Mona Lisa Five which was based on the improvised film he created with Atlas Adams. In 2019 he performed in Affliction directed by Steve LeMarquand where Suzy Wrong wrote “a grotesque nurse Doreen, is played by James Hartley whose comedic chops prove to be highly amusing. It is a small part that leaves us wanting much more.” He is the producer and resident host of the Upper Crass Players Improv Troupe who have been performing together since 2016 and whose members won Impro Australia’s Scriptless Cup in 2018.