Stand up comedian Ron James is an award winning performer, having appeared in numerous TV shows and landing his own series on CBC Television.
With career aspirations to become a history teacher, the road to stand up comedy was a long and winding one for James. While studying history and political science, he met Evelyn Garbary, the head of the theatre programme at Acadia University. He moved to Toronto and joined theatre company The Second City during the 1980‘s, where he began starring in productions and films, such as Something About Love for which he was nominated for a Genie award. After moving to Los Angeles, James started landing bigger TV roles, such as in late night series My Talk Show, Get a Life and Wings. The actor’s talent wasn’t always recognised however, and James experienced a tough period during which he moved back to Canada. He turned his struggles into a stage show, called Up & Down in Shaky Town: One Man’s Journey through the California Dream, which was picked up by The Comedy Network and shown on the channel. Since then he has starred in TV shows Made in Canada and Blackfly, as well as doing voice work in animated series including Star Wars: Ewoks and RoboCop.
The comedian has gone on to win two Canadian Comedy Awards as well as a Genie award for his comedy writing. The Ron James Show aired from 2009-2014 on CBC Television and James has also appeared at the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal with his own headline show.