We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful James Burleson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with James below.

James, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
This is an easy question. You can’t have success without taking risks. In other words, you have to accept that failure is an option. But with unfailing determination, conviction, and perseverance, you set your mind in your faith to pursue what you have long desired to do. For me, that is acting!

The most enormous risk I think I have made is coming to a crossroads on whether or not I wanted to reenlist into the United States Air Force (USAF). This was indeed a very hard decision for me. I turned down a four-year ROTC scholarship to LSU when I was a Senior in High School. I never thought I would ever join the military in any means. Within a couple of years following High School Graduation from Bossier High School, I realized that joining the military really was my primary way to initial success, as I had only took on temporary civil service jobs or other roles at Barksdale AFB. Furthermore, I also paid for a couple of college courses at LA Tech out of my own money. I progressively realized that the military offered benefits that was tough to ignore. Eventually, I served four years on Active Duty, and four years in the Reserves. I got used to the security that I earned from serving.

When the time came in 2011 to decide whether or not to reenlist, it was tempting to make the secure choice in serving for another four years. But I thought to myself, if I do not reenlist, I’ll have more time and less conflict in further pursuing potential acting opportunities without conflict. There are mandatory responsibilities one must maintain while serving, and I deeply respect that. However, I knew that I would have far less time in auditioning and filming (if cast in a project) following reenlistment. I have to admit I was scared. I was making a decision to transition from a position of security to an insecure world. Had I reenlisted, it most likely would have led to the conscious and intelligent decision to serve a minimum of 20 years to retirement in the military. Therefore, I would have never known what it would have been like if I would have further pursued my dream to act.

To this day, I am happy with the decision I made, and no words can describe how grateful I am to the USAF for teaching me the concepts of structure, self-discipline and fearless determination to fight for what I want.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I have been acting professionally since 2007. I first got into acting by subscribing to a couple of breakdown websites where projects such as student films were publicized. My very first film I had ever acted in was filmed on Panavision film at UTA in 2007 called Home Grown. I am very proud of that short film, as I can look back to see how far I have come (and I thought my performance in Home Grown was great :)). I realized from that experience that even though I wanted to express myself as an Actor, I craved building my palette of knowledge further into aligning myself with the motivations of a character as well as exploring more internally to release externally throughout my artistic foundation to express. Over the years, I eventually started to meet people within the industry, I attended social functions and mixers, and I took countless acting and auditioning workshops hosted by several well-known Casting Directors as well as pursued acting classes through instructors, to include Cathryn Hartt. Presently, I am studying method acting through Gale Hansen.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
As an Actor, early on and through midway of my career, I realized that trying to be cool is not what gets you the job. As human beings, it’s natural that we sometimes assume what the other person is thinking or experiencing. This is gauged by the natural verbal or non-verbal reactions from the receiving end. The truth is however, we can never know for sure what someone else is thinking. Further attempts create an unwanted stress and frustration.

Trying to impress a Casting Director most likely will show in your performance during an audition. The focus should be seamless and directed in the character you are committing yourself to without deflected underlying hints or tones.

The biggest takeaway here is to not act cool in your expressions or poise thereby thinking that’s going to get you the job. Just focus on why you were called in. Believe me, the Casting Director wants to give you the job, but they have a reputation as well, and because there are countless others perhaps auditioning for the same role you are, it’s a competitive business that can lead to a sacrifice of your own confidence if you let it. It’s with the determination and conviction that you will unfailingly persevere in your pursuit for what you want.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
For me, it’s knowing that my work has made the difference in the lives of others. In other words, the fact that someone can empathize or relate to any detail of my performance, to include but not limited to, a facial expression exhibiting a sparked emotion, a spoken line, a caricature, or even an accent gives me butterflies. If I have entertained or moved someone even a little bit as an optimistic escape, I have succeeded. That charges my momentum even further to act and continuously offer my craft while contributing to make the world a better place in some small way.

I also would like to credit my latest upcoming release of a feature film, Beware: The Devil’s Wrath. This was directed by Craig Meinhart, and this is my third film he’s directed me on. I just finished filming earlier this year in 2025, as this movie’s subject is compellingly intriguing and will make you want even more as a result of the fearless collaboration and dedication from the entire cast and crew. Details of the movie are posted on the movie’s official website at https://www.bewarethedevilswrath.net. Subscribe to their newsletter to receive updates leading up to its major release.

Stay tuned.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3160499/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jburlesonactor
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jburlesonactor
• Twitter: https://x.com/jburlesonactor
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jburlesonactor
• Other: OFFICIAL WEBSITE: https://www.jamesburleson.com/

Image Credits
Flygirl Photography Brent Weber Photography