James Patrick Stuart was born in Hollywood, California to British immigrants Chad and Jill Stuart. As his father was half of 60's pop duo, "Chad and Jeremy," Stuart spent much of his childhood in Los Angeles recording studios and at the dinner table while his parents dined with industry moguls and rock stars such as George Harrison, David Crosby and Phil Hartman.
With dreams of becoming an actor, Stuart would often talk his mother and father to chaperoning him to nighttime tapings of sitcoms like "Happy Days" and "Mork and Mindy." Soon, Stuart was cast as Young Scrooge in A Christmas Carol at North Hollywood's small Theatre Exchange. Spotted in the show by a talent agent, Stuart shortly was starring on ABC's "Galactica 1980." The sci-fi series was short lived and, after its cancellation, his family moved to the small Orange County community of Laguna Beach where he finished high school.
At 14, Stuart discovered the local Moulten Playhouse and its youth acting program where he would meet his first acting coach and mentor, Louise Rodecker. After high school, Stuart spent two years in San Francisco State University‘s drama department before dropping out in 1988 to move back to Hollywood. From 1988 to 1990, Stuart divided his time between waiting tables at the infamous Vitello's Restaurant in Studio City and studying at Hollywood's esteemed Stella Adler's Conservatory of Acting under Arthur Mendoza and Joanne Linville and alongside the likes of Benicio Del Toro, Mark Ruffalo and Michael Richards. In 1990 Stuart made a brief appearance in "Pretty Woman" as a bellhop and was quickly cast in "All My Children" as dark horse Will Cortlandt.
After leaving the soap in 1992 as an Emmy® Award nominee, Stuart was quickly cast by director Ron Maxwell in the civil war epic "Gettysburg," playing Colonel Porter Alexander. Stuart followed up that performance with Garry Marshall's "Exit to Eden" alongside Rosie O'Donnell and Dan Ackroyd. The next year, Stuart was cast by director Richard Zelniker in the dark, independent psycho-drama, "Fix." Starring opposite Burr Steers, Stuart played David, one of two brothers coming to terms with the long and simmering repercussions of childhood molestation.
In 1997, Stuart was cast as Elaine's egocentric, furniture designing boyfriend in a popular episode of "Seinfeld." He also appeared as a French ski instructor on a critically acclaimed episode of "Frasier" and soon found himself a series regular on two separate sitcoms for two separate networks at the same time: NBC's "Encore, Encore" starring Nathan Lane, and CBS's "The Simple Life" with Judith Light. He also made a guest starring appearance on Michael J. Fox's "Spin City," and in 2000, he joined the Emmy®-nominated FOX sitcom "Andy Richter Controls the Universe."
During the most recent years, Stuart has continued to enjoy a prolific television career. Recurring on "CSI" as public defender Adam Mathews since 2003, he has also be seen in the casts of several funny yet ill-fated network comedy pilots starring the likes of Steve Carell, Janine Garaffallo, Jennifer Love-Hewitt, Chris Kattan and Heather Graham. Stuart also maintains a successful voice over career.
He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Jocelyn and their two sons, Graham and Colin.
