[1] James began his acting career in the 1997 film As Good as It Gets, a role for which he won the Hollywood Reporter Young Star award.
[citation needed] His career continued with his role in the 2001 film Blow, as Young George Jung, and Pearl Harbor, in which he played the young version of Ben Affleck's character.
James acted in the 2004 film The Butterfly Effect as the young Tommy Miller and The Amityville Horror.
His television work includes Life and In Plain Sight, and he has become involved in the independent film community with projects such as Exodus Fall and Hickory Nation.
[2] In 2008 James starred in and was an executive producer for the short film Manifest Destiny.