Career

James graduated from Northwestern University's School of Communication. He received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical in 2002 for his portrayal of Sidney Falco in Sweet Smell of Success, co-starring John Lithgow. He also received an Obie Award for his performance in the one-man play The Good Thief by Conor McPherson.

Additional Broadway credits include playing Frederick Barrett in Titanic, Lincoln Center's Carousel, and Blood Brothers. Off-Broadway credits include Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party in 2000 opposite Julia Murney and Idina Menzel for which he received a Drama Desk Award nomination, as well as Adam Guettel's Floyd Collins and the Gershwins' Pardon My English. He appeared in Martin McDonagh's The Lieutenant of Inishmore on Broadway, replaced Norbert Leo Butz in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and starred in The Apple Tree opposite Kristin Chenoweth.

In 2004, he released a Christmas album titled From Christmas Eve to Christmas Morn. He was the Broadway version of Bob Wallace, whose character was originated by Bing Crosby, in White Christmas in 2004.

He played the role of Dan Goodman in the new musical Next to Normal Off-Broadway at Second Stage Theatre in 2008. He then starred opposite Sutton Foster and Christopher Sieber as the title character in Shrek the Musical. The show began previews on Broadway November 8, 2008 and opened on December 14 at The Broadway Theatre after a tryout in Seattle. For this role James won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical. He was also nominated for the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for his portrayal. He departed the cast after one year in the role and was replaced by Ben Crawford.

James starred alongside Laura Linney, Alicia Silverstone, and Eric Bogosian in the Broadway play, Time Stands Still. It began preview performances on January 5, 2010 and officially opened on January 25 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. The show ended its limited run on March 27, 2010. For this role he won the broadway.com Audience Award for Favorite Featured Actor in a Play.

James reprised the role of Dan Goodman in the Broadway company of Next to Normal at the Booth Theatre. He replaced J. Robert Spencer beginning May 17, 2010. James ended his limited engagement on July 18, 2010 and was replaced by Jason Danieley.

On July 19, 2010 James performed in front of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at A Broadway Celebration: In Performance at the White House, which also aired on PBS October 20, 2010.

He returned to Time Stands Still when the show returned to Broadway. It closed on January 30, 2011.

James was part of the cast of the NBC musical series Smash, playing Frank, who was the husband of Debra Messing's character. NBC officially picked up Smash as a series on May 11, 2011. The program made its series premiere on February 6, 2012. He did not return to the show as a series regular for its second and final season.

James starred in Torstein Blixfjord's 2012 short film Bird In A Box, alongside Fiona Glascott.

He co-hosted the 57th Drama Desk Awards with Brooke Shields on June 3, 2012.

James starred as Bick in the new musical, Giant, which ran at the Public Theater from October 26 - December 16, 2012. For this role James received a nomination for Best Actor in a Musical at the Drama Desk Awards and Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance.

He also performed at the 29th birthday celebration of the New York Pops, which was a celebration called "Journey On", celebrating the work of Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens. He performed "Wheels of a Dream" from Ragtime with Andrew Rannells, Rebecca Luker, Liz Callaway, Kevin Chamberlin, Jason Danieley, Boyd Gaines, Lewis Grosso, Norm Lewis, Kecia Lewis-Evans, Darlene Love, Marin Mazzie, Tiler Peck, Nikki M. James, Rachel York, and LaChanze, along with Flaherty and Ahrens.

He played Banquo in the Lincoln Center Theater production of Macbeth, which began previews in October 2013 and officially opened at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre in November 2013.

He starred as the original King George III in the off-Broadway production of the acclaimed musical Hamilton, with previews starting January 20, 2015 and officially opening on February 17. Actor Jonathan Groff replaced James in the off-Broadway run on March 3, 2015.

He stars in a new musical on Broadway, Something Rotten!, which opened in previews at the St. James Theatre on March 23, 2015 and officially on April 22, for which he received his third Tony nomination.

James played Matt Carroll in the 2015 film Spotlight. In March 2016, it was announced that James was cast in the CBS pilot, Superior Donuts.

Personal life

James was born in Saginaw, Michigan, the son of Mary (née Kelly), a seller of children's books, and Thomas F. James (deceased), a lawyer. His maternal grandfather was Harry Kelly, a former Governor of Michigan. His uncle was Brian Kelly, an actor featured in the series Flipper and a producer of the movie Blade Runner. He has two sisters: Kate James, an actress and writer who performs in the Chicago-based sketch comedy group, Schadenfreude, and Anne James Noonan, also an actress. He also has one brother, Andrew James. Brian is married to Jennifer Prescott, and they have a daughter, Grace, and a Springer Spaniel named Josie.

Theatre credits

Year	Show	Role	Notes
1993	Blood Brothers	Ensemble	Broadway
1994	Carousel	Various Characters	Broadway
	Public Enemy	Davey Boyd	Off-Broadway
1995	Follies	Young Buddy	Regional
1996	Floyd Collins	Clif Roney/Reporter	Off-Broadway
1997-98	Titanic	Frederick Barrett	Broadway
1998	Chess	Anatoly	NY Concert
	Kelly	Kelly	Off-Off-Broadway
2000	The Wild Party	Burrs	Off-Broadway
2001	The Good Thief	Man	Off-Broadway
2002	Sweet Smell of Success	Sidney	Broadway
2003	Dirty Rotten Scoundrels	Freddie	Reading
	Harmony	Performer	Regional
2004	Pardon My English	Gob Schmidt	Off-Broadway
	White Christmas	Bob Wallace	Regional
2005	Dirty Rotten Scoundrels	Freddie	Broadway
	Children and Art	Performer	Broadway
	Flight	Reporter	Off-Broadway
	White Christmas	Bob Wallace	Boston
	The Apple Tree	Adam/Sanjar/Flip	Encores!
2006	The Lieutenant of Inishmore	Brendan	Off-Broadway
			Broadway
	Young Frankenstein	Frederick	Workshop
2006-07	The Apple Tree	Adam/Sanjar/Flip	Broadway
2007	White Christmas	Bob Wallace	Boston
2008	Next to Normal	Dan Goodman	Off-Broadway
	Port Authority	Dermont	Off-Broadway
	Shrek the Musical	Shrek	Broadway
2009	Next to Normal	Dan Goodman	Broadway
2010-11	Time Stands Still	James Dodd	Broadway
2012	Giant	Bick	Off-Broadway
2013-14	Macbeth	Banquo	Broadway
2015	Hamilton	King George III	Off-Broadway
2015-16	Something Rotten!	Nick Bottom	Broadway

Discography

Cast Albums

• Something Rotten!
• Shrek the Musical
• White Christmas
• Sweet Smell of Success
• The Wild Party
• Titanic
• Dream True
• Brownstone
• The Stephen Schwartz Album
• Myths and Hymns
• Violet
• Far From the Madding Crowd
• The Civil War
• The Stephen Sondheim Album
• Floyd Collins
• Carousel

Solo Recordings

• From Christmas Eve to Christmas Morn (debut solo album)
• Michigan Christmas (single)

Featured Recordings

• The Maury Yeston Compilation (featured artist)
• Jonathan Franzen's How to Be Alone (featured artist)
• Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens New York (featured artist)

Filmography

Film

Year	Show	Role	Notes
1997	Sax and Violins
1999	Exiled	Brinkley
2002	G	Lloyd
	Monday Night Mayhem	Al Michaels
2004	Neurotica	Andrew
2008	Ghost Town	Irish Eddie
2011	Friends with Kids	Husband in Restaurant
2012	The Fitzgerald Family Christmas	Skippy
	Bird in a Box	Walter
2013	Admission	Billy Flynn
	Shrek the Musical	Shrek	Filmed stage production
2014	Time Out of Mind	Mark
2015	Spotlight	Matty Carroll
	Sisters	Jerry
2016	The Christmas Pearl	George	Completed
2017	Rebel in the Rye		Filming
	Felt	Robert Kunkel	Filming

Television

Year	Show	Role	Notes
1997	The City	Mark/Ned Ashton	2 episodes
2001	The Education of Max Bickford	Barry Sheppard/Gary	2 episodes
2002	Monday Night Mayhem	Al Michaels	Television film
2006	Rescue Me	Veterinarian	1 episode
2011	Person of Interest	Wheeler	1 episode: "Pilot"
2012	The Big C	Tim	3 episodes
	Game Change	Ted Frank	Television film
2012-13	Smash	Frank Houston	18 episodes
2013	The Good Wife	Detective Nolan	1 episode
	It Could Be Worse	Happy	1 episode
	Ironside	Bill Broughton	1 episode
2014	Submissions Only	Read Whatley	1 episode
	Law and Order: Special Victims Unit	Adam Brubeck	1 episode
	Hoke	Henry Hickey	Pilot
	The Funtastix	Andrew	Pilot
2015	Mozart in the Jungle	Beethoven	1 episode
2016	Superior Donuts	Arthur	Pilot

Video Games

• Medal of Honor: Rising Sun, Davis/Pvt. Brooks (2003)

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated Work	Result
2000	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Actor in a Musical	The Wild Party	Nominated
2001		Outstanding Solo Performance	The Good Thief	Nominated
2002	Tony Award	Best Featured Actor in a Musical	Sweet Smell of Success	Nominated
	Drama Desk Award	Best Featured Actor in a Musical		Nominated
2006	Broadway.com Audience Award	Best Featured Actor in a Play	The Lieutenant of Inishmore	Nominated
2007		Best Onstage Pair (w/ Kristin Chenoweth	The Apple Tree	Nominated
2008	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Actor in a Musical	Port Authority	Nominated
2009		Outstanding Actor in a Musical	Shrek the Musical	Won
	Tony Award	Best Actor in a Musical		Nominated
	Outer Critics Circle Award	Best Actor in a Musical		Won
	Drama League Award	Distinguished Performance		Nominated
	Broadway.com Audience Award	Favorite Actor in a Musical		Nominated
		Favorite Onstage Pair (w/ Daniel Breaker)		Nominated
		Favorite Onstage Pair (w/ Sutton Foster		Nominated
2010	Broadway.com Audience Award	Favorite Actor in a Musical	Time Stands Still	Won
2011		Favorite Replacement	Next to Normal	Nominated
2012	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Actor in a Musical	Giant	Nominated
2015		Outstanding Actor in a Musical	Something Rotten!	Nominated
	Tony Award	Best Actor in a Musical		Nominated
	Outer Critics Circle Award	Best Actor in a Musical		Nominated
	Drama League Award	Distinguished Performance		Nominated
	Broadway.com Audience Award	Favorite Actor in a Musical		Nominated
	Lucille Lortel Award	Best Featured Actor in a Musical	Hamilton	Nominated
	Gotham Award	Best Ensemble Performance	Spotlight	Won
	Independent Spirit Awards	Robert Altman Award		Won
	Satellite Awards	Best Cast in a Motion Picture		Won
	Boston Online Film Critics Association Awards	Best Ensemble		Won
	Boston Society of Film Critics	Best Cast		Won
	Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award	Best Ensemble		Won
	Detroit Film Critics Society Award	Best Ensemble		Won
	Las Vegas Film Critics Society			Won
	New York Film Critics Online Award	Best Ensemble Cast		Won
	Phoenix Film Critics Society Award	Best Acting Ensemble		Won
	San Diego Film Critics Society Award	Best Ensemble		Nominated
	Southeastern Film Critics Award			Won
	Florida Film Critics Circle	Best Ensemble		Won
	Nevada Film Critics Society Award	Best Ensemble Cast		Won
2016	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture		Won
	Critics' Choice Movie Award	Best Acting Ensemble		Won
	Alliance of Women Film Journalists	Best Ensemble Cast		Won
	Central Ohio Film Critics Association	Best Ensemble		Won
	Georgia Film Critics Association	Best Ensemble		Won
	Grammy Award	Best Musical Theater Album	Something Rotten!	Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]