James Edward Costa (born May 12, 1990) is an American actor, voice actor, writer and director.
He gained international attention
for his impersonation of
Robin Williams.
He made his film debut in the
crime-thriller film, ''
Bring Him to Me''.
Early life
Jamie Costa was born on May 12, 1990, and grew up in
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...
. He attended private Christian schools up until high school when he was sent to a military boarding school in Virginia where he ended up graduating highest-ranking cadet. He briefly attended college at
The Citadel and eventually ended up studying theater at
North Greenville University in South Carolina. He took a semester to study film in Los Angeles, and then finally graduated in December 2013. He also has a brother named Caleb.
Career
Starting in 2015, Costa began posting impersonations on
YouTube, including Robin Williams,
Ian McKellen
Sir Ian Murray McKellen (born 25 May 1939) is an English actor. His career spans seven decades, having performed in genres ranging from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. Regarded as a British cultural i ...
,
,
Matthew McConaughey, and
Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. His films have grossed more than $5.4billion in North America and more than $9.3billion worldwide, making him the seventh-highest-grossing actor in North America. He is the recipient o ...
.
In July 2015, Costa moved to LA to continue his career in acting and filmmaking and has since appeared in various film and television projects both on screen and as a
voice over artist. He has produced and acted in
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
fan films hosted on his YouTube channel.
In 2017, Costa played supporting roles in the feature film ''Heaven Bound''
and on the TV show ''
My Crazy Ex
''My Crazy Ex'' is an American reality storytelling
Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own stories or narratives, which are sh ...
''. In 2018, he played a supporting role in the movie ''
Funny Story
''Funny Story'' is a 2018 tragicomedy film, directed by Michael J. Gallagher and co-written by Gallagher and Steve Greene. It stars Matthew Glave, Emily Bett Rickards and Jana Winternitz. The film premiered as an official selection at the 2018 Sla ...
'' and the ''Price of Fame'' TV series.
Costa played a soldier in the 2020 B-rated film, ''Robot Riot''.
In 2021, Costa posted a five minute piece titled "ROBIN Test Footage Scene" to YouTube.
The video shows Williams, played by Costa, in his trailer preparing for an episode of ''
Mork & Mindy''. His co-star
Pam Dawber (portrayed by Sarah Murphree) brings news of
John Belushi's death, prompting an emotional reaction from Williams.
The video received several million views.
''
USA Today'' and ''
The Independent'' both called his imitation of Williams "uncanny".
In 2022, in an interview with ''
Silver Screen'' magazine, Costa announced that he will have a guest role as young
Kurt Russell
Kurt Vogel Russell (born March 17, 1951) is an American actor. He began acting on television at the age of 12 in the Westerns on television, western series ''The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (TV series), The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters'' (19 ...
on one of the episodes for the
Netflix adult animated series: ''
Agent Elvis
''Agent Elvis'' is an American adult animated sitcom created by Priscilla Presley, John Eddie and Mike Arnold for Netflix which premiered on March 17, 2023. The show follows the exploits of a fictionalized version of American rock n' roll le ...
'' starring Matthew McConaughey as
Elvis. He also starred in a short film titled ''The Cowboy & the Samurai'' with director and writer, Jake Lewis.
Costa made his theatrical debut in the 2023 feature Australian film ''
Bring Him to Me'', a crime thriller alongside actors
Barry Pepper
Barry Robert Pepper (born April 4, 1970) is a Canadian actor. He played Private Daniel Jackson in ''Saving Private Ryan'' (1998), Corrections Officer Dean Stanton in '' The Green Mile'' (1999), Roger Maris in '' 61*'' (2001), Joseph L. Galloway ...
and
Sam Neill.
Upcoming projects
Currently in post-production, Costa will also be portraying
Herman Schultz / Shocker ll in the upcoming 2024
web series ''Spider Man and the Monsters of Manhattan'' after it was previously announced to be released in 2021.
He also has other voice roles in upcoming projects such as the third season of ''
What If...?''
in one episode and as Agent Richard Beckett in the independent web-series, ''Zack In Time''.
Costa announced on his YouTube community tab page that he will star in the 2024 horror film titled, ''Scurry'' alongside newcomer Australian RnB artist, Emalia. Scurry will be Costa's first one-shot film.
Costa will also star in the action-supernatural film, ''Fight For Your Life'' with Luke Sparke alongside ''Entourage'' star,
Jeremy Piven.
Filmography
Film
Short Film
Television
Web series
Video games
Stage
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Costa, Jamie
1990 births
21st-century American male actors
Living people
Male actors from Charleston, South Carolina
North Greenville University alumni
American male film actors
American male television actors
American people of Italian descent