Though focused on an acting career, James, who was captain of his high school football team, also plays soccer and racquetball, and has also studied Muai Thai, a traditional form of self defense. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, James is biracial, the son of an African-American/Native-American mother and a father who is a second generation Irishman in the United States. He was recently adopted into the Crow nation and given the formal Indian name Kawaysash, which means "He who does not give up".