James Scott (born 14 January 1979) is a British former actor from

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. He is best known for playing

EJ DiMera EJ DiMera is a fictional character from ''Days of Our Lives'', an American soap opera on the NBC network. Created by head writer James E. Reilly and introduced under executive producers, Ken Corday and Tom Langan, EJ is the son of crime boss St ...

on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

soap opera ''

Days of Our Lives ''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that aired on the network NBC from November 8, 1965, to September 9, 2022; the soap has streamed n ...

'' and Ethan Cambias on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

soap opera ''

All My Children ''All My Children'' (often shortened to ''AMC'') is an American television soap opera that aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from January 5, 1970, to September 23, 2011, and on The Online Network (TOLN) from April 29 to September 2, 2 ...

''.

Early life

Scott was born in

to an English father and

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

mother. The eldest of four children, he has two brothers and a sister. Initially schooled in Newcastle, Scott moved to an all-boys boarding school in Lancaster. After school, Scott moved to

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

on a voyage of self-discovery. As a result of his mother's Scottish origins, Scott spent a lot of time in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

as a boy. His first summer there he managed to get a job working at the famous "

Gilded Balloon Gilded Balloon is a producer and promoter of live entertainment events, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and best known as one of the Big Four venue operators at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe each August. The company has its origins in a venue kno ...

Theatre", one of the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

's best-known venues, established by Karen Koren in 1986 in

Cowgate The Cowgate (Scots language, Scots: The Cougait) is a street in Edinburgh, Scotland, located about southeast of Edinburgh Castle, within the city's World Heritage Site. The street is part of the lower level of Edinburgh's Old Town, Edinburgh, ...

and worked with such actors/comedians as

Stephen Fry Sir Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator and writer. He came to prominence as a member of the comic act Fry and Laurie alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring in ''A Bit of ...

Ben Elton Benjamin Charles Elton is a British comedian, actor, author, playwright, lyricist and director. One of the major figures in the alternative comedy movement of the 1980s, his early stand-up style was Left-wing politics, left-wing political satire ...

, and

Eddie Izzard Suzy Eddie Izzard ( ; born Edward John Izzard, 7 February 1962) is a British stand-up comedian, actor and activist. Her comedic style takes the form of what appears to the audience as rambling whimsical monologues and self-referential pantomi ...

. "They set me in motion, giving me the drive I needed to move forward. Soon it became apparent that I would need to move to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in order to truly focus on this as a career," Scott remembers.

Career

Scott began his career working in the music industry, and later started acting in community theatre. After only a few weeks in London, Scott was spotted by the

Storm Model Management Storm Management is a British model agency based in Chelsea, London. Background Storm was founded in 1987 by Sarah Doukas in London. Doukas discovered Kate Moss, Cara Delevingne, Behati Prinsloo, and Anya Taylor-Joy. In 2009, Doukas sold a con ...

agency in

, home to

Kate Moss Katherine Ann Moss (born 16 January 1974) is an English model. Arriving towards the end of the "supermodel era", Moss rose to fame in the early 1990s as part of the heroin chic fashion trend. Her collaborations with Calvin Klein brought her t ...

Elle Macpherson Eleanor Nancy Macpherson ( ; ; born ) is an Australian model, businesswoman, television host, and actress. She is known for her record five cover appearances for the ''Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue'' beginning in the 1980s, leading to her ...

, and other prominent models. Modelling allowed him to earn enough money to put himself through college. He studied for two years at the

London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) is a drama school located in Hammersmith, London. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest specialist drama school in the British Isles and a founding member of the Federation of Drama Schools. In ...

(LAMDA). As time went on, he began to model for clothing companies. During a modelling trip to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, he went to an acting class at the

Ivana Chubbuck Ivana Chubbuck is an American acting coach and creator of the Chubbuck technique. She heads a drama school in Los Angeles and hosts acting workshops worldwide. Chubbuck originally worked as an actress before becoming an acting coach. Some of her ...

studio in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

. The class inspired him to save money and make the move to Los Angeles. He studied acting for two more years before being cast on ''

.'' Scott originated the role of Ethan Cambias in August 2004 and played it until February 2006. He then moved on to ''

'' where he took on the role of

in May 2006. On 2 May 2014 it was announced that Scott would be leaving ''Days of Our Lives'' to pursue other endeavours. On 27 September 2015, he reprised his role as EJ DiMera of ''Days of Our Lives'' on ''

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver ''Last Week Tonight with John Oliver'' (often abridged as ''Last Week Tonight'') is an American news satire late-night talk show hosted by comedian John Oliver. The half-hour-long show premiered in the end of April 2014 on HBO and currently has ...

'', reuniting with

Alison Sweeney Alison Ann Sweeney (born September 19, 1976) is an American actress, reality show host, director and author. Sweeney is best known for her portrayal of Samantha "Sami" Brady on the NBC soap opera ''Days of Our Lives'', a role she played under c ...

(as

Sami Brady Sami Brady is a fictional character from ''Days of Our Lives'', an American soap opera on the Peacock streaming service, portrayed by Alison Sweeney since 1993. The character is first seen as a newborn baby in the episode of October 16, 1984, in w ...

) in honour of Nujeen Mustafa and the Syrian refugee crises. Scott retired from acting and started a life-coaching business called The Whisper Within.

Personal life

During an interview in April 2014, Scott described a spiritual experience he had in

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

during a trip to the country, from which he had just returned prior to the interview – and during which he took

Ayahuasca AyahuascaPronounced as in the UK and in the US. Also occasionally known in English as ''ayaguasca'' (Spanish-derived), ''aioasca'' (Brazilian Portuguese-derived), or as ''yagé'', pronounced or . Etymologically, all forms but ''yagé'' descen ...

with the guidance of Native Peruvian shamans. During the interview, Scott described the experience as "the single most positive experience of my life" and further stated of the experience that "it sounds wacky when you say it, but it was truly the most important thing I have ever done. I came back a very different person."

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
James Scott's SoapCentral Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, James 1979 births Living people 20th-century English male actors 21st-century English male actors Alumni of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art British expatriate male actors in the United States English male models English male soap opera actors English male stage actors English people of Scottish descent Male actors from Newcastle upon Tyne British psychedelic drug advocates