Education
James is of Haitian and Vincentian descent and graduated from Livingston High School in Livingston, New Jersey.
James is of Haitian and Vincentian descent and graduated from Livingston High School in Livingston, New Jersey.
As a child, she sang and acted in church and in school performances. She later attended the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. James made her Broadway debut in the ill-fated The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and starred as Ottilie in the New York City Center Encores! production of House of Flowers.
She played Adela in the Office-Broadway run of Michael John LaChiusa"s musical adaptation of Bernarda Alba and appeared in the Broadway cast of All Shook Up.
James played Dorothy in the revival of The Wiz at Louisiana Jolla Playhouse and also starred in Romeo and Juliet and Caesar and Cleopatra at the Stratford Festival with Christopher Plummer. During that run, she took a leave in June 2012 to film a screen version of Lucky Stiff.
From 2014 until January 2015, she played Éponine in the Broadway revival of Les Misérables.