Byron James was born in East Cleveland Ohio and the oldest of two. He has been surrounded by business savvy people his entire life, his father James Richardson owns a successful accounting firm & his mother Karen Richardson is an auditor for the US Treasury.In addition to his strict business upbringing, a militant mentality was instilled in him from an early age, he was a Culver Naval Academy student for six consecutive years of his youth. There he earned countless leadership honors as well as becoming one of the highest ranking officers of the academy.After High School, Byron attended Diablo Valley Junior college where he excelled at football and in his studies. For his leadership he was voted team captain both years, his stellar play earned him All-American and All-Conference honors as well as being named it's Defensive Most Valuable Player in 2010. Eventually he earned a scholarship to Western Michigan University. Even though Byron's career was cut short by a multitude of concussions he would stay close to the game, coaching 12-14 year old's in the Contra Costa pop-warner youth league for 3 years where he also held a seat on its board. As well as becoming an A.C.E certified personal trainer in 2011, he created a rigorous 3 month summer boot camp, trained several prominent athletes, a few of which went on to excel at the division one level of collegiate football and two even made it pro.Byron began his acting in 2008 but after football he decided to pursue it as a career. He studied acting under the Legendary coach Shelley Mitchell and continued to develop his craft with the Beverly Hills Playhouse and at the comedy institution Upright Citizens Brigade. His acting resume includes numerous Stage productions both modern and contemporary, such as Fences, Six Degrees of Separation, Romeo and Juliet, and Othello to name a few. He applied to Julliard in 2012, after 2 intense audition rounds in and made it to the final rounds of callbacks in New York.He has been seen in various national commercials for some of the top companies. He has appeared numerous times on film and in television. He can be seen in the award winning, critically acclaimed film 'Redemption Trail' alongside Lily Rabe and Lisa Gay Hamilton. On television he has been praised for his work for his portrayal of Soloman Northup in the History channel.In 2012 he was co-owner of Northfloor Productions where he successfully wrote and produced a series of films. All of which were of different genres; 'KNIGHT & KING' a psychological thriller, 'MADFERIT' a drama, 'STUFFIES' a comedy, and 'THE BYRON JAMES SHOW' a comedy web series. Byron dissolved his company in 2013, moving to Los Angeles and teaming up with Steve Dawson and Cloud Mykals he would become a third partner of Cerberus Entertainment. He made his directorial debut alongside Mykals in their powerful short 'ABYSS OF BEING'. Show less «