James Morrison(II)
- Actor
- Producer
- Director
A filmmaker, playwright, poet, actor, singer/songwriter and yoga
teacher, James Morrison was born in Utah and is a product of Alaska. He served his theatrical apprenticeship with
the Alaska Repertory Theatre in the late '70s and spent a year studying in New York before settling on the West Coast in 1980. Since then, he has appeared at some of
America's foremost theatres including the McCarter Theatre, the La
Jolla Playhouse, the Mark Taper Forum, LA TheatreWorks and The
Old Globe with such renowned directors as Robert Egan, Emily Mann, Des McAnuff, Jack
O'Brien, Charles Nelson Reilly, Jose Quintero, Martin Jarvis, and Harry Mastrogeorge,
his acting teacher since 1982.
He is the recipient of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for
Outstanding Performance and three Drama-Logue Awards. In 1985 he
appeared in the London premiere of Emily Mann's Still Life at the West
End's Donmar Warehouse and the Riverside Studios after a stint in The
Edinburgh Festival at the Traverse Theatre where the production
received a Fringe First Award.
His radio credits include L.A.TheatreWorks productions of Pressure - as General
Eisenhower, The Rainmaker as Starbuck with the cast of the Broadway revival, Ruby McCollum
in which he stars as William Bradford Huie, Judgement at Nuremberg - starring
as Chief Justice Dan Haywood, the U.S. tour of In the Heat of the Night and Julius Caesar.
Morrison's short film, Parking (1996),
which he wrote and directed, was produced by his wife,
Riad Galayini. Parking screened at twenty
film festivals world wide including New York's New Directors/New Films
presented by Lincoln Center at the Museum of Modern Art, Slamdance
(audience choice award for best short), Austin's South By Southwest
Festival, the Central Florida Film Festival (third place narrative film
award), the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival, the Montreal World
Festival, The Festival of U.S. Shorts in Brisbane, Australia, Ireland's
Cork International Film Festival, and the Northampton Film Festival
where it received the Best Short of the Festival Award. Parking also
ran on Sundance Channel for 18 months.
With Ms. Galayini, he co-wrote and co-produced her directorial debut,
Nude Descending (1997), which
received The George Melies Award at the 1998 Taos Talking Picture
Festival and has screened at the Nashville Independent Festival and
Short Cuts in Paris. In 2000, Nude Descending was selected for special
recognition by the Hitchcock International Director's Series presented
by the American Cinematheque.
Their latest film, the documentary,
Showing Up (2014), is a feature-length
conversation about the actor's audition.
Most recently, James developed and performed his one-man play, Leave Your Fears Here
at the Ojai Playwrights Conference. The play went on to premiere at the Great Barrington Public Theatre in Massachusetts. Morrison's plays have also been produced and/or developed at the
Sundance Institute, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Playwrights' Center of Minneapolis,
L.A. TheatreWorks, The MET Theatre, Two Parts Theatre Company, The Classical
Theatre Lab, City Theatre in Miami, The Road Theatre, The Mojo
Ensemble, The Wooden O, The Philadelphia Fringe Festival and the Salt
Lake Acting Company where he has directed several plays including those
by Sam Shepard, John Robinson, Larry Shue and Beth Henley.
As a singer/songwriter his albums, Son to the Boy and I Broke Free are available on iTunes
CD Baby, Amazon and all digital outlets.
James was a Lecture Fellow at Bournemouth University School of Media in
England and received his certification to teach Hatha
Yoga from Ganga White and Tracey Rich at the White Lotus
Foundation in Santa Barbara where he sits on the Board of Trustees. He taught regular classes at the YogaWorks Center
for Yoga in Los Angeles for 10 years.
James and Riad live North of Los Angeles and their son, Seamus, a recent graduate of UCSB.
teacher, James Morrison was born in Utah and is a product of Alaska. He served his theatrical apprenticeship with
the Alaska Repertory Theatre in the late '70s and spent a year studying in New York before settling on the West Coast in 1980. Since then, he has appeared at some of
America's foremost theatres including the McCarter Theatre, the La
Jolla Playhouse, the Mark Taper Forum, LA TheatreWorks and The
Old Globe with such renowned directors as Robert Egan, Emily Mann, Des McAnuff, Jack
O'Brien, Charles Nelson Reilly, Jose Quintero, Martin Jarvis, and Harry Mastrogeorge,
his acting teacher since 1982.
He is the recipient of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for
Outstanding Performance and three Drama-Logue Awards. In 1985 he
appeared in the London premiere of Emily Mann's Still Life at the West
End's Donmar Warehouse and the Riverside Studios after a stint in The
Edinburgh Festival at the Traverse Theatre where the production
received a Fringe First Award.
His radio credits include L.A.TheatreWorks productions of Pressure - as General
Eisenhower, The Rainmaker as Starbuck with the cast of the Broadway revival, Ruby McCollum
in which he stars as William Bradford Huie, Judgement at Nuremberg - starring
as Chief Justice Dan Haywood, the U.S. tour of In the Heat of the Night and Julius Caesar.
Morrison's short film, Parking (1996),
which he wrote and directed, was produced by his wife,
Riad Galayini. Parking screened at twenty
film festivals world wide including New York's New Directors/New Films
presented by Lincoln Center at the Museum of Modern Art, Slamdance
(audience choice award for best short), Austin's South By Southwest
Festival, the Central Florida Film Festival (third place narrative film
award), the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival, the Montreal World
Festival, The Festival of U.S. Shorts in Brisbane, Australia, Ireland's
Cork International Film Festival, and the Northampton Film Festival
where it received the Best Short of the Festival Award. Parking also
ran on Sundance Channel for 18 months.
With Ms. Galayini, he co-wrote and co-produced her directorial debut,
Nude Descending (1997), which
received The George Melies Award at the 1998 Taos Talking Picture
Festival and has screened at the Nashville Independent Festival and
Short Cuts in Paris. In 2000, Nude Descending was selected for special
recognition by the Hitchcock International Director's Series presented
by the American Cinematheque.
Their latest film, the documentary,
Showing Up (2014), is a feature-length
conversation about the actor's audition.
Most recently, James developed and performed his one-man play, Leave Your Fears Here
at the Ojai Playwrights Conference. The play went on to premiere at the Great Barrington Public Theatre in Massachusetts. Morrison's plays have also been produced and/or developed at the
Sundance Institute, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Playwrights' Center of Minneapolis,
L.A. TheatreWorks, The MET Theatre, Two Parts Theatre Company, The Classical
Theatre Lab, City Theatre in Miami, The Road Theatre, The Mojo
Ensemble, The Wooden O, The Philadelphia Fringe Festival and the Salt
Lake Acting Company where he has directed several plays including those
by Sam Shepard, John Robinson, Larry Shue and Beth Henley.
As a singer/songwriter his albums, Son to the Boy and I Broke Free are available on iTunes
CD Baby, Amazon and all digital outlets.
James was a Lecture Fellow at Bournemouth University School of Media in
England and received his certification to teach Hatha
Yoga from Ganga White and Tracey Rich at the White Lotus
Foundation in Santa Barbara where he sits on the Board of Trustees. He taught regular classes at the YogaWorks Center
for Yoga in Los Angeles for 10 years.
James and Riad live North of Los Angeles and their son, Seamus, a recent graduate of UCSB.