Paul Christopher James Terry (born 7 November 1985) is an English former
child actor
The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage or in movies or television. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associated t ...
. He is best known internationally for starring as James in the 1996
film adaptation of
Roald Dahl's ''
James and the Giant Peach
''James and the Giant Peach'' is a popular children's novel written in 1961 by British author Roald Dahl. The first edition, published by Alfred Knopf, featured illustrations by Nancy Ekholm Burkert. There have been re-illustrated versions of ...
''. He also starred in the four seasons of the children's sitcom ''
Microsoap'' (1998–2000).
Early life
Terry was born in and grew up in
Watford
Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne.
Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...
,
Hertfordshire, north of
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, and persuaded his parents to let him attend acting classes when he was five years old.
He made his stage debut the following year in a regional production of Turgenev's ''
A Month in the Country''.
In 1994, his father heard about the auditions for a screen adaptation of
Roald Dahl's popular children's novel ''
James and the Giant Peach
''James and the Giant Peach'' is a popular children's novel written in 1961 by British author Roald Dahl. The first edition, published by Alfred Knopf, featured illustrations by Nancy Ekholm Burkert. There have been re-illustrated versions of ...
'', and thought his son would be perfect: "Like James", he said, "Paul can act like a little boy lost."
[ "Life's a Peach: As Disney's Orphaned James, Paul Terry Finds Life's a Peach"]
''People
A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...
''. 20 May 1996; Vol. 45 No. 20.
Performing career
Director
Henry Selick
Charles Henry Selick Jr. (; born November 30, 1952) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, production designer, and animator who is best known for directing the stop-motion animation films ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993), ...
(''
The Nightmare Before Christmas
''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (also known as ''Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas'') is a 1993 American stop-motion
Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increme ...
'') chose Terry out of hundreds of child actors to play the part of James in ''
James and the Giant Peach
''James and the Giant Peach'' is a popular children's novel written in 1961 by British author Roald Dahl. The first edition, published by Alfred Knopf, featured illustrations by Nancy Ekholm Burkert. There have been re-illustrated versions of ...
''.
The role required live acting as well as animation voice-work and singing. The live-action sequences were filmed in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
, and the shoot took six weeks.
For his role in the film, which included singing one solo song and two ensembles on the soundtrack, Terry was nominated for a
Young Artist Award
The Young Artist Award (originally known as the Youth in Film Award) is an accolade presented by the Young Artist Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 1978 to honor excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young ...
for
Best Performance in a Voiceover.
Terry later starred in the 26 episodes of the children's sitcom ''
Microsoap'', co-produced by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, from September 1998 through February 2000. The program aired in the UK, the U.S., and other countries. Terry gave up acting after the series ended.
player for the indie band Glassapple. The group gigged in the London area, toured in the U.S., and in 2005 released a 3-track EP.