Born in 1952, Jim grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, and eventually moved to New Orleans. There he designed Mardi Gras floats, was a singer, door-to-door salesman, and a Louisiana riverboat deckhand. Then he moved to Anaheim, California, where he started his career playing Lionel from the program "Dumbo's Circus" (1985).

Role as the voice-over actor in Mark Hamill's Comic Book: The Movie (2004) (V) is his only full-bodied, live-action role to date.He had to fill in for Jeremy Irons during the song "Be Prepared" in The Lion King. Jeremy Irons threw out his voice after singing, "You won't get a sniff without me!".He was also the 1991 alternate of the Shredder for the original "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" (1987/I) series, which is also the same show where he voiced Leatherhead the mutant alligator.Has taken over two of Sterling Holloway's characters. He took over the as the voice of Winnie The Pooh after Holloway's death and took over for the voice of Kaa in The Jungle Book 2 (2003).