James Leatherman grew up on a small dairy farm in the Catskill Mountains of New York. After college (where he was an on-air personality for WJPZ-Syracuse), he began doing voiceovers at the suggestion of a close friend. This led to a successful ten-year run of commercial VO work in New York and New England.
After moving to Arizona in 2006, James started performing on stage as a means of improving the range of his voice work. This had the unintended result of launching him completely into theatre and film acting, the latter of which became his new priority.
Since 2006, James has done Shakespearean productions, stage dramas, musicals, several feature films, and over a dozen short films. James is an active and vocal supporter of independent filmmaking in Phoenix, where he feels some of the best film talent in the country can be found.