Born in Auburn, New York, Jim made his stage debut in kindergarten at the age of 5. He has continued to perform on stage since. His family moved to Raleigh, North Carolina his sophomore year in high school, opening the door for him to attend the University of North Carolina. Following a brief stint working in Georgia, Jim returned to Chapel Hill and began work in video and television production. His expertise was sports photography (freelancing with CBS, ESPN, WTBS and ABC) with the Tar Heel Sports network. After moving to Georgia in 1984, Jim began a long career as a radio personality in the metro-Atlanta area, hosting a morning wake-up show for NewsTalk AM 1270 until Feb 2007. Has been fixture in the metro-Atlanta theatre scene since 1985, serving on the board of Directors for the Georgia Theatre Conference and working as Senior Artistic Director for the Canton Theatre. Has received several award s for his political reporting and feature writing while he was a news reporter with the Cherokee Ledger-News in Woodstock, Georgia. He briefly returned to radio hosting an afternoon drive home show for 6 months in 2011 while also working as a free-lance writer and Producer for two independent features. He left the radio industry after a tornado that affected 5 states on April 27th of 2011 completely destroyed his home. He and his 80-year-old mother survived the incident with only minor injuries.

Is a distant cousin of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon through a mutual ancestor, Thomas Knowlton, who was a major figure during The Revolutionary War.