Adam James

Adam James is an English actor born in London on 9 September 1972. He trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, graduating in 1996, where his contemporaries included Dominic West and Daniel Evans. His godfather was the actor Jon Pertwee.

James built an extensive screen career in British television, with credits spanning Band of Brothers, Bonekickers, Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire, Henry VIII: The Mind of a Tyrant, and a long-running storyline in Casualty. He also appeared in Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Extras, Miranda, and Ashes to Ashes, in which he played Edward Markham in the first episode. In 2009, he appeared in the Doctor Who episode "Planet of the Dead" alongside David Tennant, a pairing that had its origins in a 1999 production of King Lear at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre.

His theatre work includes Blood and Gifts in 2010 and a 2011 production of Much Ado About Nothing alongside David Tennant and Catherine Tate. He has also participated in rehearsed readings at the Royal Court and Finborough Theatre. In 2016, he portrayed Hovstad in An Enemy of the People at Chichester Festival Theatre, and in 2025 he made his Royal Shakespeare Company debut at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, playing Duke Vincentio in Measure for Measure.

On Broadway, James appeared in Don't Dress for Dinner and received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play in 2010. In November 2015, he reprised the role of Prime Minister Mr Evans in King Charles III on Broadway, having been part of the production's run between 2012 and 2015.

His film work includes the role of Monsieur de Barra in A Little Chaos and Galinda's father in the two-part film adaptation of the musical Wicked, released in 2024. On television, he portrayed Jeremy Heywood in Coalition, a Channel 4 drama centered on the 2010 election, and appeared as Jeremy Whitelock in the Peacock series The Day of the Jackal. James married former actress and psychotherapist Victoria Shalet in September 2015. Their first child was born in September 2016, and he also has a daughter from a previous relationship.