[1] He is considered by some critics to be the "American Ibsen", and his controversial play Margaret Fleming is often credited with having begun modern drama in America.

[1] His parents were poor Irish immigrants who removed him from school at age thirteen to work in a brush factory.

He enjoyed modest success as a young actor, appearing in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., with the John Thompson Ford company in the early 1860s.

He was briefly married, in the early 1860s, to Lucille's sister Helen Western, an actress who later became romantically involved with John Wilkes Booth.

Mary Elitch Long recounted seeing Ahearn in 1889: "A pleasant episode of a visit to New York during the winter...was meeting James A. Herne.

However, he exerted a profound influence, directing American dramatic literature toward the depiction of complex socially realities.

James A. Herne died at his home, 79 Convent Avenue, in Manhattan, New York City, on June 2, 1901, at 5:00 pm of pneumonia.