James Horan

To listen to him speak, one may never guess Horan hails from Louisville, Kentucky. But then again, there are those who hear a hint of the South in his mellifluous voice. Bitten by the acting bug while in high school, he started his theatrical career as a volunteer building sets at the Actors Theatre of Louisville, now a thriving repertory company. James has consistently returned to his roots in the theatre over the years; an exceptional memory was his portrayal of the Phantom in an original American musical version of Phantom of the Opera, which toured England before a successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. In the words of one Oxford reviewer: "James Horan in the title role could give Michael Crawford a run for his money. He is excellent as the disfigured masked musical genius...." (Evening Advertiser)

Having attended Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, James graduated with a degree in English Literature, a high school teaching credential, and three whole theatre roles under his belt. After much soul-searching, he decided to pursue a graduate degree in acting, just to see if getting drenched in the waters of thespianism felt as good as wading. He soon found himself at the University of Iowa in the MFA acting program. Two years later he made the fateful decision to follow his bliss and try and make money in show business.

After a summer repertory season in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the Loeb Drama Center, the actor decided to head west, and spent two years in Hollywood doing roles in small theatre productions, before landing the role of unscrupulous lawyer Denver Hobson on NBC's daytime drama, "Another World." When his character went to jail on that show, James went on to create memorable contract characters on other soap operas: Creed Kelly, suave and cunning bad guy on ABC's "All My Children"; Brett Madison, staight-laced lawyer on ABC's "General Hospital"; and "Clay Alden", wealthy playboy and cad on ABC's "Loving."

FILM: In film, James had a featured role as Confederate Colonel Arthur Cummings in the Warner Brothers Civil War epic "Gods and Generals," the prequel to "Gettysburg," both of which were written and directed by Ron Maxwell. He has also starred or co-starred in "The Haunting of Sea Cliff Inn" with Ally Sheedy; "Scannercop"; "Countermeasures" with Michael Dudikoff; and "Vampire Resurrection," recently released by Shadow Entertainment. Most recently, he had the honor of working with director Clint Eastwood on "Flags of Our Fathers" in a supporting role, and will also be featured in the upcoming Eastwood film, "The Changeling", starring Angelina Jolie.

TV: A partial list of his appearances on prime-time TV includes "Lost," "Criminal Minds "24," "Charmed", "Homeland Security", "The Commish," "Highlander," "Baywatch," "The New Zorro," "Walker, Texas Ranger," and " V.I.P." In the "Star Trek universe, he has guest-starred on "The Next Generation," "Voyager," "Deep Space Nine," and recurred as a mysterious alien from the future--christened "Future Guy" by the fans--on the most recent Trek series, "Enterprise." starring Scott Bakula. James is a sought-after guest in the Trek convention circuit, having created five different characters on the four series.

STAR TREK: James appeared twice on the vastly popular "Star Trek, The Next Generation", both times creating memorable guest-starring roles. In the first episode, titled "Suspicions", he was "Jo'Bril", a type of alien never before seen on the series, a rather lizard-like fellow from a race called Takarans. The transformation from Horan to Takaran took a mere three hours in the make-up chair, followed by one hour of make-up removal at day's end. A peaceful scientist at first he turns out to be the villain of the piece and is blasted away by Dr. Crusher in the climax.

His second "ST:TNG" episode was the opener of the series' final season: "Descent, Part II". James plays a human this time, a veteran officer named "Lt. Barnaby", who takes over Worf's position on the bridge when most of the starship brass are held prisoner by the Borg. He and a young ensign help Crusher, who is left to command the Enterprise, to defeat the Borg, ironically using technology ("metaphasic shielding") Horan's character "Jo'Bril" was trying to steal in the former episode.

In the "Voyager" episode titled "Fair Trade", James played an intergalactic drug-runner named "Tosin", one of the most feared and powerful of the Kolaati, an alien race never before seen in any of the Trek series. He has a climactic scene with Neelix, who attempts to trap him and his cohorts during a warp plasma deal aboard a seedy supply station. The make-up this time took four hours, and there were no nose holes, so all breathing was done through the mouth--not pleasant for a fourteen hour day!

On a two-part "Deep Space Nine", he played "Ikat'Ika", a Jem'Hadar officer in charge of a Dominion penal colony, where he staged gladiatorial training battles between his people and other races. When the Jem'Hadar capture Worf and bring him to the prison, Ikat'Ika is greatly impressed by the Klingon's prowess in battle, and at the end of the second episode, forfeits his own life by refusing to kill Worf when he has the upper hand in combat. The episodes were "In Purgatory's Shadow" and "By Inferno's Light".

HIGHLANDER: Another particularly memorable character was created by James in the first season of the "Highlander" television series, which starred Adrian Paul as the Scottish Immortal, "Duncan MacLeod". In the "Band of Brothers" episode, Horan played "Grayson", a nearly 2,000-year-old Immortal about who Duncan actually appears to be a bit worried. They have a terrific sword fight on a spectacular mountain of bright yellow sulfur (actually filmed in a sulfur mining operation in Vancouver, Canada). The outcome is anybody's guess until MacLeod eventually gets the upper hand, and is able to defeat Grayson, who gives a hint of a smile just before he is beheaded, perhaps on some level pleased that he has finally been bested and is at last being given the gift of death.

COMMERCIALS: James portrayed a ³Matrix Reloaded² Agent in Coca-Cola¹s recent POWERade commercial campaign. A series of spots depict Horan as "Agent Johnson," a computer-generated man urging viewers to ³drink more POWERade," to provide more energy for the Matrix. ³It truly gave me an opportunity for humor, and a chance to work with director James McTeague, who assistant-directed all the Matrix movies, as well as to meet producer Joel Silver, who was around for the shoot,² comments Horan. The commercial is included in the DVD of "Reloaded."

VOICE-OVERS: The actor works frequently in the voice-over world, lending his pipes to radio and TV commercials, as well as animated series and numerous CD-ROM games. He was the voice of Texas tourism on television spots, and has also done v-o for Mazda, Saturn, Northwest Airlines, Boston Market and Aetna, to name a few. In the gaming world, he has created multiple character voices for such games as "Marvel's Ultimate Alliance," "Everquest", "Kindgom Hearts 2", "Lord of the Rings," "Onimusha: Blade Warriors," "Battlestar Gallactica," and various STAR TREK games. In STAR WARS games he created characters in "Knights of the Old Republic (1 & 2)," and was the voice of Boss Gallo, among others, in "Galactic Battlegrounds". He was also the voice of "Doc" in the animated series "Roughnecks: the Starship Trooper Chronicles."

THEATRE: Among his many theatrical endeavors, he has played "Richmond" in Richard III, also understudying Rene Auberjonois--who played "Odo" in the Trek series , "Deep Space Nine" -- in the title role at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles; "Orestes" in Elektra at San Diego's Old Globe; and "David", the haunted Vietnam veteran in Strange Snow at the Hollywood Playhouse, which also starred Adrienne Barbeau. Other roles include the Count himself in Dracula at the Actors Theatre in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky; "Dr. Jekyll" in a world-premiere comedy called Dr. Jekyll and Miss Hyde at the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia; and "Wyatt Earp" in the world-premiere of Dark Paradise at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, which also starred another Trek alum, Tony Todd, who played Worf's Klingon brother.

Another interesting "Star Trek" connection is that James played Duke Orsino in a New York production of Twelfth Night in 1982, with Armin Shimmerman--who was "Quark" on "Deep Space Nine"--playing Malvolio. Additionally, James starred for a year on the ABC soap "All My Children", in which he played villain "Creed Kelly" opposite Robert Duncan McNeill as "Charlie", who later portrayed "Paris" on "Voyager". It's definitely "old home week" when Horan books a part on a Trek series.

Having proven his singing talents in several musicals, James has performed his eclectic brand of cabaret in both New York and L.A. at various clubs, as well as venues in Italy, Germany, South Africa, and Australia.

In leisure hours, which are few these days, the actor enjoys walking, working out, and reading, mostly books on metaphysics. He's a firm believer that "your thoughts create your life", and succeeds for the most part in keeping his upbeat. His charitable support includes such groups as Environmental Defense, World Wildlife Fund, Amnesty International and Doctors Without Borders. James and his wife Stefania recently welcomed their son Sean to the world on August 21, 2006.