Jolyon James is an Australian-born actor, writer and visual artist who creates work predominantly for young people. In 2018 he wrote directed and designed the

Helpmann Award The Helpmann Awards are accolades for live entertainment and performing arts in Australia, presented by industry group Live Live Performance Australia (LPA) since 2001. The annual awards recognise achievements in the disciplines of musical th ...

winning 'Robot Song' for Arena Theatre Company, the premiere work produced by the company after its relocation to regional Victoria. Other recent works by Jolyon include Trapper and A Cautionary Tales for Children starring

Virginia Gay Virginia Gay (born 16 September 1981) is an Australian actress, writer and director, mostly known for her work on the Australian TV dramas ''Winners & Losers'' (as Frances James (Winners & Losers), Frances James), and ''All Saints (TV series), A ...

. As a visual artist Jolyon has exhibited regularly in Victoria and was a finalist in the National Photographic Portrait Prize in 2012. He performed the role of the Moonshadow in

Cat Stevens Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; ), commonly known by his stage names Cat Stevens, Yusuf, and Yusuf / Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His musical style consists of folk, pop, rock, and, later in ...

's musical of the same name which is played in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

’s Princess Theatre for 12 weeks from 31 May 2012.

Early life

James was born in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

in a remote country town. He studied at the

Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) at Edith Cowan University (ECU) was established in 1980 to provide performing arts tuition. WAAPA (commonly pronounced "whopp-a") operates as a part of ECU, located at the ECU campus in ...

(WAAPA), graduating in 1997. He performed the role of Jean Prouvaire, and understudied and performed the role of

Enjolras Enjolras () is a fictional character who acts as the charismatic leader of the Friends of the ABC in the 1862 novel ''Les Misérables'' by Victor Hugo. In both the novel and the musical that it inspired, Enjolras is a revolutionary who fights fo ...

in the 1999 Australian tour of ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original ...

'' and appeared on numerous Australian TV shows before moving to the UK in 2002 to broaden his horizons.

Acting career

After graduating from WAAPA, James guest starred in Australian television shows '' Water Rats'', ''

Blue Heelers ''Blue Heelers'' is an Australian Police procedural, police drama series that was produced by Endemol Australia, Southern Star Group and ran for 12 years on the Seven Network, from 1994 to 2006. Although based around the policing of the town, ...

'' and ''

The Secret Life of Us ''The Secret Life of Us'' is an Australian television drama series set in the beachside neighbourhood of St Kilda, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is primarily a drama with some comedic moments. The series was produced by Southe ...

'', as well as a role in the TV movie ''Never Tell Me Never''. James secured the major role of Police Officer Con Stavros in the 2000 TV series '' Above the Law''. In 2001 James starred as Sky in the Melbourne run of Mamma Mia! James directed the play ''This is Our Youth'' in

in 2002 and

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

in January 2003. After moving to London, James played a supporting role in the UK TV series ''

Mad About Alice ''Mad About Alice'' is a British sitcom that ran during 2004 for six episodes. It centres on the lives of a divorced couple and their young son. Despite no longer living together, Doug (Jamie Theakston) and Alice (Amanda Holden) remain in close c ...

'', and in 2005 appeared briefly in the Hollywood film ''

The Wedding Date ''The Wedding Date'' is a 2005 American romantic comedy film directed by Clare Kilner and starring Debra Messing, Dermot Mulroney, and Amy Adams. Based on the 2002 novel ''Asking for Trouble'' by Elizabeth Young, the film is about a single wom ...

'', playing

Debra Messing Debra Lynn Messing (born August 15, 1968) is an American actress. After graduating from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Messing received short-lived roles on television series such as '' Ned and Stacey'' on Fox (1995–1997) and ...

's character's ex-boyfriend "Woody". Back in Australia, James appeared on TV screens again in shows such as ''Headland'', ''

City Homicide ''City Homicide'' is an Australian television drama series that aired on the Seven Network between 27 August 2007 and 30 March 2011. The series was set on the Homicide floor of a metropolitan police headquarters in Melbourne. The main characte ...

'', '' Rush'' and ''

Offspring In biology, offspring are the young creation of living organisms, produced either by a single organism or, in the case of sexual reproduction, two organisms. Collective offspring may be known as a brood or progeny in a more general way. This ca ...

'', as well as playing Schuurman in the 2008 TV movie ''Krakatoa''. He is a Director and member of the creative team behind ''Doorstep Ensemble'', a theatre company which seeks to give up and coming community theatre performers a foot in the door to the professional industry, and he has both appeared in and directed a number of their productions. In 2011 James was both a tutor and mentor with ''Showfit'', a 12-month course focused on developing performers’ skills and confidence and eventually showcasing them to industry professionals. In 2012 James appeared in the title role of ''Moonshadow'', a musical by Cat Stevens which premiered in Melbourne at the Princess Theatre, and performed the role of Indian John in Eddie Perfect's '' Shane Warne the Musical'' the following year. James has been in two Stephen Sondheim musicals. He first appeared in the 1998 Melbourne cast of ''

Into the Woods ''Into the Woods'' is a 1987 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story ...

'' as Rapunzel's Prince, and then in the 2014 Melbourne cast of '' Passion'' as Major Rizzolli.

Photography

James is also a photographic artist and is involved in a long term collaboration with Raphael Ruz entitled ''BILLIEJEANISNOTMYLOVER''. They are based in

. James also creates animation and video content for theatre productions and music video clips including the single "Magnet" by Kate Cebrano. He is a writer, director and producer and is currently the Artistic Associate for the Arena Theatre Company.

References

^ Jump up to: a b c "Keynote Speaker: Jolyon W. James". wcspeakers.com. Retrieved 2016-07-01. 2.Jump up ^ http://www.stagewhispers.com.au/reviews/moonshadow 3.^ Jump up to: a b "Doorstep Ensemble – About". Doorstep Ensemble. Retrieved 2012-06-03. 4.Jump up ^ "This is Our Youth". Theatre Australia. Retrieved 2012-06-03. 5.Jump up ^ "Black Swan Production History 1991 – 2011" (PDF). Black Swan Theatre. Retrieved 2012-06-03. 6.Jump up ^ "Showfit". Showfit. Retrieved 2012-06-03. 7.Jump up ^ "BillieJeanIsNotMyLover". BillieJeanIsNotMyLover. Retrieved 2012-06-03.

External links

* *http://www.noise11.com/vinterviews/moonshadow-part-2 {{DEFAULTSORT:James, Jolyon Australian male stage actors Australian male television actors Living people Year of birth missing (living people)