1960 - James is born @ approx. 8:02 a.m. on Sunday, February 7th, 1960, in Boston, Massachusetts.

1977 - James drops out of high school to pursue acting in New York.

 

1978 - James stars in his first, unpaid movie role entitled "Team-Mates".

 

1979 - James meets his future wife Victoria Kheel.

 

1981 - James stars in "Endless Love" as Brooke Shields brother.

 

1983 - James stars in the movies "A killer in the family" (a movie which is based on a true story) and "Cocaine: One man’s seduction", and in first episodes of TV series "Family Tree" and "Diner" which had been cancelled.

 

1984 - James stars in the movie "Family Secrets".

 

1985 - James stars in the movies "New Kids", "Starcrossed" and "Tuff Turf".

 

1986 - James stars in the hit movie "Pretty in Pink".

 

1987 - James gets married to Victoria. He also stars in 4 movies this year: "Less Than Zero", "Wall Street", "Baby Boom" and "Mannequin".

1988 - James stars in both "Greasy Lake" on TV, and in the movie "Jack's Back" where he plays identical twins.

 

1989 - son Sebastian is born; the hit movie "Sex, Lies and Videotape" comes out. James wins the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival. He also stars in the movie "The Rachel Papers" which was shot in London/England.

 

1990 - James stars in both "White Palace" and "Bad Influence".

1991 - James stars in the movie "True Colors".

1992 - son Elijah is born; James stars in the movie "Storyville" and makes a cameo appearance (along with other celebs) in the movie "Bob Roberts".

 

1993 - James stars in the movie "The Music of Chance".

1994 - James has a huge hit with the movie "Stargate". In this same year, he stars in the movies "Wolf", "Dream Lover" and is the voice of the caller "Steven" on the TV show "Frasier". He phoned this while lying on his bed. His son had to be taken out of the room because he was making too much noise.

 

1995 - James lends his voice to "Strange Highways", an audio book by Dean R. Koontz.

1996 - James stars in the controversial movie "Crash" which was shot in Toronto/Canada. He also stars in "2 Days in the Valley".

 

1997 - James' father passes away. It is difficult for him to work on the set of his movie "Critical Care" (filming location: Toronto/Canada) this year because it is set in a hospital. James appears in a "Seinfeld" episode called "The Apology" by invitation of his friend Jerry Seinfeld. Two other James' movies came out this year: "Keys To Tulsa" and "Driftwood" (shot in Ireland).

 

1999 - James stars in "Curtain Call".

 

2000 - James stars in "Slow Burn" and "Supernova".

 

2001 - James stars in "The Stickup" (James' real life girlfriend Leslie Stefanson plays his movie girlfriend; filming location: Hope/Canada), "The Watcher" and "Speaking of Sex" (filming location: Calgary/Canada).

 

2002 - James stars in the Indie hit "Secretary".

 

2003 - Impressed with his work in "Secretary", screenwriter and television producer, David E. Kelly, hires James to star in his law series "The Practice".

In this same year, James stars in the HBO movie "The Pentagon Papers" (shot in Toronto/Canada), and the movies "Alien Hunter" (girlfriend Leslie Stefanson costars; filming location: inter alia Sofia/Bulgaria) and "I Witness" (filming location in Puerto Rico).

 

2004 - The ratings boost that James gave "The Practice" landed his character a spin-off series called "Boston Legal"; James wins his first Emmy in this year for "The Practice".

In this same year, James stars in the movie "Shadow of Fear".

 

2005 - James wins his second Emmy, this time for "Boston Legal".

 

2005 - 2006 (?) - James begins doing some of the voiceovers for the Acura car commercials.

 

2006 - James narrates "Discovery Atlas: China Revealed"

 

2007 - James wins his third Emmy. This time it is also for "Boston Legal"

In October his mother passes away.

 

2008 - James' third son (name unknown) is born to James and his girlfriend Leslie; "Boston Legal" has its 5th and last season.

2009 - James appears in his first Broadway play entitled "RACE". He also appears in his first children's movie, "Shorts".