During her senior year of college at CSU Fullerton, Emily made her professional theater debut as the lead in the world premiere of the Rajiv Joseph play Mr. Wolf. The Los Angeles Times said James' performance as Theresa in Mr. Wolf was 'captivating in her combination of precocious intelligence and radical innocence.'After graduating with her BFA in Acting, Emily continued her budding career as a theater actor on professional stages throughout Southern California including The Geffen Playhouse, South Coast Repertory, Rogue Machine Theatre, Boston Court, Ensemble Theatre Company, and many more. The San Gabriel Valley Tribune said James' performance as the titular role in Antigone at A Noise Within was "riveting from start to end [and] impossible not to watch."In 2018, James transitioned to the screen where she played a sympathetic ex-junkie, Violet Prescott, in the reboot of ABC's NYPD Blue. She also landed a lead role in the pilot of 'Everyone Together' which was an official selection of the 2020 SXSW Film Festival.