Jonathan James was born in Wellington, New Zealand (1996) to Debra Harris, a lawyer and ballet dancer/ teacher, & Christopher Harris, a self-employed contractor for IT companies, and a theatre technician. Jonathan gained a Diploma in Musical Theatre from Te Auaha, NZ Institute of Applied Creativity in 2015-16. He then went on to study at The Actors Program (2017), one of New Zealand's premier drama schools.His first major role came in 2016, where he played Ben Smart in the TV ONE film 'Doubt: The Scott Watson Case'. He was then cast as a supporting role in the re-imagining of classic NZ film 'Goodbye Pork Pie', and later that year was cast as co-lead Hall in the debut short film for Director James Hope (Fencepost Productions).