Morgan James
Actor – Singer – Writer
TV and FILM
Born in Swansea and raised in Aberdare, in the heart of the South Wales valleys, James Morgan was performing from a young age. His first paid job was at the tender age of 9 in the BBC’s production of the A J Cronin classic The Citadel. He went on to appear in other BBC productions such as The District Nurse and many theatre productions including playing Young Syward in Macbeth at the Grand Theatre, Swansea.
James left Wales to study at Brunel University. He graduated in 1992 and very quickly landed a role in Miriam Segal’s production of Hamlet in the West End. It was at this time that James had to change his name due to Equity regulations and decided to switch his name around to become Morgan James. Morgan has gone on to perform in many classical plays including Women Beware Women for the RSC, Richard III and The Witch Of Edmonton. Other theatre work has included the UK premiere and highly successful run of Tony Award-winning playwright Joe DePietro’s play F***ing Men, playing the role of Jack, the London première of John Osborne’s lost classic, The Devil Inside Him and a season at the prestigious Regents Park Open Air theatre.
Television and Film credits include Being Human, 50 Ways to Kill your Lover, The Red Zone and the BBC films Wanted and Aberfan. The British independent horror film 13 Graves was released in July 2019, and for his portrayal of the psychopathic hit man, Terry, Morgan won the Best Supporting Actor award at the Palm Springs, Queen Palm International Film Festival. Carving out a niche for playing hard nuts, Morgan makes a comic cameo hard man appearance in the action sequel I am Vengeance: Retaliation, released July 2020.
VOCALS
As a Singer, Morgan had performed for many years in various concerts and shows, including Nine at The Festival Hall, and Flush – The Musical in Edinburgh and London. His major singing break came when he landed the role of lead singer on the World Tour of Riverdance. This was the job that incorporated two of Morgan’s biggest passions, singing to a live audience – often up to 15,000 a night – and world travel.
After Riverdance Morgan moved into the London cabaret scene where he has carved out his singing career performing and producing shows at such famous venues as The Crazy Coqs Piccadilly, Pizza on the Park, The Pheasantry, The 606 Club, Blacks, Lauderdale House, The Basement at Leicester Square and the iconic Battersea Barge. Morgan has been a regular guest with the Cwmbach Male Voice Choir, his home town choir, singing with them at various concerts including the Brecon and Somerton Music festivals and recently he was the guest artist for the Palm Springs Opera Society in Palm Springs, USA.
Most recently Morgan has been developing his own one man show which features brand new arrangements of the music of George Michael. Working alongside gifted pianist and arranger, Noam Galperin, Morgan has written and produced the show ‘Me and George. My Stories – His Music” which premiered at the Cinema Rooms in The Karma Sanctum Soho hotel in London in June 2019. Morgan has gone on to tour the show and regularly performs it at the iconic Crazy Coqs in London’s Piccadilly Circus. Since lockdown Morgan has performed his show at Above the Stag, London’s premiere LGBTQ theatre and is returning to the Crazy Coqs in London’s West End in August 2021.
Morgan signed with Right Recordings in 2016 and released his debut album, Morgan James Here and Now and in July 2021 released a brand new album, Me and George. Morgan James Live in Concert. Both albums are available on Spotify, Amazon and iTunes (click on the links on the Performances page).