James was born in Providence, Rhode Island and grew up in Spring Hill, Florida. The son of a professional jazz guitarist, James played percussion and served as drum major in his high school marching band. Although his first goal was to become a band director, he had a longing for musical theater. James, inspired by actor Nathan Lane, majored in musical theatre at Ithaca College and later moved to New York City.
Career
Zachary James created the role of Lurch in the Broadway musical production of The Addams Family. James appeared in the Original Broadway Cast of Coram Boy and also in the original cast of the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of South Pacific. New York credits include the role of Oberon in the world premiere of Kristin Hevner's Il Sogno. As an operatic singer, he created the role of Abraham Lincoln in Philip Glass' opera The Perfect American at the Teatro Real in Madrid which was broadcast on Medici TV and created the role of Terry in the world premiere of Breaking the Waves by Missy Mazzoli for Opera Philadelphia. He created the speaking role of The Scribe/Amenhotep III in Phelim McDermott's Laurence Olivier Award winning 2016 production of Philip Glass’s Akhnaten at English National Opera. He reprised the role in the production’s revivals at the Los Angeles Opera, English National Opera in 2019 and the Metropolitan Opera in November and December 2019. James played the role of John Claggart in Billy Budd at Des Moines Metro Opera in 2017. The production was broadcast on Iowa Public Television and won an Emmy Award. He also performed with English National Opera, Los Angeles Opera, The Philadelphia Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, The New York Philharmonic, Des Moines Metro Opera, Arizona Opera, Virginia Opera, Nashville Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Ash Lawn Opera, Knoxville Opera, Central City Opera, Anchorage Opera, Opera Roanoke, Union Avenue Opera, Opera Ithaca, Shreveport Opera, American Lyric Theater, New York City Ballet and Australia's Opera Queensland. Regional theatre credits include Miles Gloriosus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Sweeney Todd in . James also appeared in his own one man opera, Imbecile d' Amour, that played in New York in 2008, in Chicago in late 2009, and again in New York in 2010 and 2011. In 2010 through the end of 2011 he starred as Lurch in the original cast of the Broadway musical The Addams Family. In 2008, James made a cameo appearance as the character "Carl" in the 30 Rock episode "Gavin Volure". In 2018 he appeared on CBS as the Secret Serviceman to Mike Pence on the series finale of Murphy Brown. His solo show, Zachary James on Broadway, about his time working on Broadway and living in New York has been seen in Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Florida, New York and Pennsylvania.
