THE JOURNEY
Dr. Hawthorne James was born in Chicago, IL. He attended Holy Angels grade school and then he attended Hales Franciscan High School for two years. He moved to Vandalia, Mi., where he completed his secondary education. He attended Holy Cross Jr. College and then received a scholarship and transferred to The University of Notre Dame where he received his B.A in Theatre. He continued his post-graduate studies at the University of Michigan and received his M.A. in Theater. At both Universities his degrees had an emphasis on acting and directing. Upon graduation, he taught for two years at Illinois State University in the theater Department. He was offered scholarships to work on his doctorate at Yale and Cornell.
He began his professional career in Minneapolis, Mn. doing regional theater. Since his move to Los Angeles, CA., he has continued to develop his professional career. He performed in many productions at the Inner City Cultural Center where he met many of his colleagues who have been influential in his career and have remained long-standing friends. While at the Inner City Cultural Center, he won the Ira Aldridge Acting Competition sponsored by actor Ted Lange and was award a scholarship to study at the London Shakespeare Academy in London, England.
Dr. James has worked at several film companies in various capacities where he honed his skills in the art of movie making. He was employed by I.T.C. Film Company and Tri-Star Pictures where he was head of post-production ancillary of markets for three years.
He has appeared in numerous feature films and is recognized worldwide. Some of his acting credits include, “The Five Heartbeats”, “The System Within”, “Hood of Horrors” “Speed”, “Se7en”, “The Color Purple”, “One Hell of a Day”, “The Art of Bullet”, “Auggie Rose”, “The Doors”, “Heaven’s Prisoners”, “Campfire Tales” “I’m Gonna Get You Sucka”, “Riot”, “Amistad”, “The Patty Hearst Story”, “Today You Die”, “Boss'n Up”, “Queen Pin” “Taking Charge” and the first feature film of William Shakespeare’s “Othello” starring and directed by an African-American, Mr. Ted Lange, in which Dr. James played the role of Iago, “Flint Tale”, “A Polished Soul”, “Dirty Dead Con Men”, “5th Ward”, “A Day of Trouble”, “Blues for Life”, “Lucky Girl”, and “The Night Stalker”. Dr. James is one of the only actors to appear in two feature films directed by Steven Spielberg.
Dr. James television credits include guest starring roles on “Stargate SG-1”, “Charmed”, HBO’s “Carnivale”, “The District”, “Roswell”, “City of Angeles”, “N.Y.P.D. Blue”, “Good News”, “Sparks”, “Frasier”, “Martin”, “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” “The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.”, “Cheers”, “Amazing Stories”, “Hill Street Blues”, “Franks Place”, several episodes of “Charmed” and “ER”, “What’s Happening Now!”, “Agent X”, “Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders”, “Workaholics”, and “Disjointed”,
He has performed in over three hundred plays in theaters around the world. Included among them are the title roles in “The Emperor Jones”, “Boesman and Lena”, “King Lear”, C. Bernard Jackson’s “Iago” and the lead role in such plays as “The Great White Hope”, “Our Country’s Good”, “Spunk”, “Oliver!” “The Duchess of Malfi”, “The Seagull” and William Shakespeare’s “Scottish Play”. He recently portrayed the legendary man, Frederick Douglas in the play “Necessary Sacrifices” at the North Coast Repertory Theatre in Costa Mesa, Ca. He received a nomination as the best actor for his performance in that production in San Diego.
Dr. James’ directing credits include the feature film “The Stick Up Kids” which was released in 2008, “The Mirror Man” at the University of Michigan and “Steam Bath” as a guest director at Illinois State University. He was also the director of the national tours of “Who Can You Trust”, “Iago”, and “You Got Me Bent and Twisted” which starred Jacke Harry, Don “D.C” Curry, Darnell Williams, Debbie Morgan and Krystal. He also directed and produced the short film “Lisa Trotter” which was written by Sam Greenlee, and produced and wrote the short film “Remember Me?”, both of which can be viewed on the YouTube platform.
He is an award-winning screenwriter and playwright. Adding to his accomplishments are several awards for his acting, which include two Drama-Logue Awards, Four N.A.A.C.P
Image Award nominations, and a L.A. Weekly Award. In 2002, Dr. James received the award for best supporting actor at the New York International Independent Film/Video Festival and in 2005 he received the best actor award at the Barcelona film festival. He received the Iconic Supporting Actor Legend Award from the ezWay festival in 2022.
On May 13th, 2023, Tuesday Connor produced an Intimate Evening with Hawthorne James at the Willie Agee Playhouse in Inglewood, Ca. which was hosted by Phyllis Bailey with an audience q&a after the interview with Hawthorne.
He has also received an Honorary Doctorate from the Sacramento Theological Seminary in July of 2023. Dr. James has also received several proclamations from various city councils around the U.S. for his community work.