Charlton James, Assistant Professor

B.F.A. (Acting) University of Utah;
M.F.A. (Acting), Alabama Shakespeare Festival / University of Alabama

Charlton James has worked as a professional actor in numerous theaters throughout the US including The Roundabout Theatre in NYC, The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington DC, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Syracuse Stage, Capital Repertory Theatre, Pioneer Memorial Theatre, Salt Lake Shakespeare, and the Utah Greek Festival. On television Mr. James has been featured as an actor on The Guiding Light and Touched by an Angel.

Mr. James started his UNA teaching career as an adjunct professor before accepting a full-time faculty position in 2008. He currently teaches in the areas of stage and camera acting as well as voice, movement, script analysis and theatre appreciation. He was the 2011-2012 recipient of UNA’s Academic Affairs Outstanding Teaching Award and honored as a distinguished faculty member in 2012.

At UNA he has directed Don't Drink the Water, The Diviners, Hamlet, Master Harold…and the Boys, Becky’s New Car, The Winter’s Tale, A Christmas Carol, and Night Mother. In 2012 Master Harold…and the Boys was selected as a showcased production at the Region Four Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, and in 2013 he was awarded “Excellence in Directing” from KCACTF for the direction of Becky’s New Car. 

Since 2011 he has served as the artistic director of UNA’s Summer Theatre program, which brings in distinguished professional theatre artists to work alongside UNA theatre students on a major theatrical production. Within UNA summer theatre he also serves as an acting company member portraying such roles as Biff in Death of a Salesman, Mitch in A Streetcar Named Desire, Hoss in Hank Williams: Lost Highway, Richard Hannay in The 39 Steps, and Austin in True West.

He holds a B.F.A. in acting from the University of Utah's acting training program and a M.F.A. in theatre performance from the Alabama Shakespeare Festival/University of Alabama and is an active member of Alpha Psi Omega.