James trained at Rose Bruford College.

Lighting designer credits include: Unkown Realms (ACE Dance and Music); Fatherhood (Altered Skin); Little Bits of Ruined Beauty (Pentabus); Hungry Nation (Coventry City of Culture) Idyll (Pentabus); Everything But The Girl (2Faced Dance); Hansel and Gretel (Uchenna Dance/The Place); This is an Island (Gary Clarke/Dancexchange); Hansel (Salisbury Playhouse); Run (2Faced Dance); Dark Wood, Deep Snow (Northern Stage); Ten (Tavaziva Dance); Jason and the Argonauts (Courtyard Theatre); Close Distance (Parlor Dance); Finding Joy (Vamos Theatre); Rock and Suitcase Story (Dance East); The Legend of Captain Crow’s Teeth (Unicorn Theatre); DNA (Hull Truck); Macbeth (Courtyard Theatre); Herding Cats (Bath Theatre Royal / Hampstead); See (Company Decalage); Shattered (Feral Productions); Steam (Royal Festival Hall); Cut it Out (Young Vic); Speaking on Tongues (Birmingham School of Acting).

James is also the Director of the award winning ZOO at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.