James McDonald

Dallas, Tx. prepping his next movie, The Reckoning (2011). [June 2010]

Was a judge at the 2008 U.S.A. Film Festival in Dallas.

Born in Dublin, Ireland, James became fascinated with movies at age seven and at age ten he was already reading books about film-making and at age twelve he made his first film, a four-minute short called CHASE. Over the years, he continued making films, winning many awards and having his movies shown at prestigious film festivals and competitions around the world, including the 2007 A. F. I.

James' sister, Cathy, appeared in many of his earlier films, along with many of his friends. She also appeared in The Photograph (2003) and his highly-acclaimed feature, Divine Souls (2007).

Is a huge fan of 24 (2001), Family Guy (1999) and Dexter (2006).

Dedicated Nemesis (2000) in memory of Liam Rigney and Charlie Skeen. James had worked with Liam in Shadow Silence (1995). He became good friends with Charlie and was in negotiations to work with him on Nemesis. Liam died of a brain aneurysm in 1997 and Charlie, an actor and stunt-man, died from a heart attack when a stunt he was doing for Walker, Texas Ranger (1993) went wrong.

In the Spotlight (1997) was the very first film he made after coming to America. It was based on a short film he started shooting when living back in Dublin, Ireland in 1994 he but never got to complete it.

He was the only person to be involved with both filmed versions of the highly successful Irish stage-play 'The Consequence of Polly'. The first film, Shadow Silence (1995) was made in Dublin, Ireland back in 1994 where he played the villain in the film, Detective O'Brien. When he finally moved to the States, he got the rights to the stage-play and re-made the film as Nemesis (2000). Unhappy with the adaptation of the play into Shadow Silence, he re-made it into Nemesis and the film won 3 independent film awards and was shown at several film festivals around the world.

Left Dublin, Ireland on Friday, October 28th, 1994 to start a new life in the United States.

Auditioned for the role of an I.R.A. terrorist for an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger (1993). When was told that he needed to sound "more Irish", he reminded the casting director where he was originally from but was told he needed to sound more like the Leprechaun from the "Lucky Charms" commercials because that's what most Americans thought a real Irish accent was. He refused and the part went to another actor.

His movie A Vicious Lie (1992) was based on a short story he wrote years earlier. In the original script, the two main characters were women where one is plotting to try and seduce the other woman's boyfriend but one of the actresses couldn't make it for filming so he quickly rewrote it so that the two main characters became guys instead. His next movie, Unseen Rival (1993) told the original story the way he had originally written it, with two female leads.

Won his very first award in 1990 for his five minute short, Homage to Hitch (1990). It was shot in and around his old college, the Liberties College in Dublin, opposite St. Patrick's Cathedral and was shot in Black & White and used no dialogue, only music, specifically, Bach: Air 'on the G string'.

Met longtime friend Paul Brady in film school back in 1988. They both agreed that they would make a feature film before either one turned 25 and in late 1994, they completed Shadow Silence (1995), their first feature.

Learned to drive once he got to America. He said public transportation in Ireland was so good you could live your life there and never need a car. His first car was a 1986 Ford Escort. It lasted six months.

Cites Harrison Ford as his favorite actor of all time. James' father walked out on him and his mother and sister when he was seven years old and he became fascinated with Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) when he was nine years old, especially with the Indiana Jones character. Indy became a father figure to him early on in his life and he admits to having watched Raiders over 700 times and stopped counting about that time.

James cites Alien (1979) as one of his all-time favorite movies, especially in terms of cinematography.

His favorite James Bond movies are On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Spectre (2015) Casino Royale (2006), GoldenEye (1995), For Your Eyes Only (1981), Licence to Kill (1989) and Octopussy (1983).