About
James Swanton is an actor and writer, currently based in York and London. He has been described as 'remarkable' by Simon Callow and as 'extraordinary' by Miriam Margolyes. James continues to drive the critics to raid their thesauruses: in recent years, they have dismissed him as 'a tattily dressed raven', 'a young Boris Karloff', 'positively stunning in his grotesqueness' and 'lanky'.
James was born and raised in the ghost-drenched city of York. Always interested in the theatre, he decided to become an actor after playing Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. This production encouraged his passion for Charles Dickens, an author he has returned to many times since (most often in his acclaimed one-man play Sikes & Nancy). James also developed a love of the macabre, which has served him well in his many horror assignments (including Frankenstein's Creature, for which he was shortlisted for Best Actor by Total Film, and Double Date, in which he played a BIFA-nominated zombie).
In September 2009, James went to read English at Selwyn College, Cambridge. Whilst there, he appeared in twenty-four productions: everything from Aristophanes and Shakespeare to musicals and opera, by way of one-man plays and pantomime. In February 2013, James made his professional stage debut, appearing in Sikes & Nancy at the Mercury Theatre, Colchester. Since then, he has been reliably in work and occasionally a parrot.
James continues to perform his adaptations of Dickens: in 2013, Scrooge & Marley received critical acclaim at the Waterloo East Theatre; in 2014, Sikes & Nancy opened at Trafalgar Studios, thus making him the youngest ever actor to play the title role(s) in his own West End show. James also holds the unique record of having performed all five of Dickens's Christmas Books in a single day (at the Charles Dickens Museum in 2017). James's Frankenstein's Creature debuted at Theatre503 in 2015, and became a feature film in 2018 for the novel's bicentenary. It had its world premiere at Cineworld Leicester Square, appearing as part of FrightFest.
In his spare time, James thinks a lot about Sir Henry Irving (he has written a play about the actor, which will have its first showings this October). Among his other acting heroes, he numbers Lon Chaney, Boris Karloff, Charles Laughton, Vincent Price, Freddie Jones, Tony Jay, Antony Sher, Simon Callow, David Leonard and Julian Bleach. His favourite novel is Nicholas Nickleby; his favourite play might be A Man for All Seasons. He is curator to an ever-growing collection of crumbling horror films, and is currently writing a book on the subject.
James was born and raised in the ghost-drenched city of York. Always interested in the theatre, he decided to become an actor after playing Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. This production encouraged his passion for Charles Dickens, an author he has returned to many times since (most often in his acclaimed one-man play Sikes & Nancy). James also developed a love of the macabre, which has served him well in his many horror assignments (including Frankenstein's Creature, for which he was shortlisted for Best Actor by Total Film, and Double Date, in which he played a BIFA-nominated zombie).
In September 2009, James went to read English at Selwyn College, Cambridge. Whilst there, he appeared in twenty-four productions: everything from Aristophanes and Shakespeare to musicals and opera, by way of one-man plays and pantomime. In February 2013, James made his professional stage debut, appearing in Sikes & Nancy at the Mercury Theatre, Colchester. Since then, he has been reliably in work and occasionally a parrot.
James continues to perform his adaptations of Dickens: in 2013, Scrooge & Marley received critical acclaim at the Waterloo East Theatre; in 2014, Sikes & Nancy opened at Trafalgar Studios, thus making him the youngest ever actor to play the title role(s) in his own West End show. James also holds the unique record of having performed all five of Dickens's Christmas Books in a single day (at the Charles Dickens Museum in 2017). James's Frankenstein's Creature debuted at Theatre503 in 2015, and became a feature film in 2018 for the novel's bicentenary. It had its world premiere at Cineworld Leicester Square, appearing as part of FrightFest.
In his spare time, James thinks a lot about Sir Henry Irving (he has written a play about the actor, which will have its first showings this October). Among his other acting heroes, he numbers Lon Chaney, Boris Karloff, Charles Laughton, Vincent Price, Freddie Jones, Tony Jay, Antony Sher, Simon Callow, David Leonard and Julian Bleach. His favourite novel is Nicholas Nickleby; his favourite play might be A Man for All Seasons. He is curator to an ever-growing collection of crumbling horror films, and is currently writing a book on the subject.