Meet the actor-turned-entrepreneur who left the bright lights of Los Angeles to build one of the world’s most successful arts companies.
James Lee Taylor, 40, from Canvey, is the director of leading show promoter Entertainers, which he runs alongside his father, Mike, 78.
This year marks his 10th anniversary with the company, which has been in business for 40 years.
James’s journey began far from the boardroom.
He left Castle View School at 16 and spent his late teens DJing for West Ham United while exploring a career in modelling, working with brands such as Calvin Klein.
At 25, he moved to America to pursue acting, studying at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute in New York.
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During his time in the US, he landed the lead role of Nikola Tesla in an off-Broadway production and later moved to Los Angeles.
He secured a role in the TV show Being Mary Jane, playing Gabrielle Union’s boyfriend, Eddie, but a high-pressure audition for the long-running soap Days of Our Lives left him shaken.
James said: “The final audition was between me and six other guys.
“The night before, they gave you sixteen pages of dialogue to learn for the next day.”
James was told to go to a room where the show’s actress would come read with him, but no one ever did.
The running order was flipped, and James was first to go.
He added: “When I got in there, I froze and stumbled.
“I asked if I could go again and they were like ‘nope, next’.
“That completely crushed me and broke my confidence.”
After being dropped by both of his agents, James decided to return to the UK and join the family business.
Shortly after, he launched Fastlove, a George Michael tribute show that went on to become the biggest in the country.
Since then, Entertainers has grown from a team of five in a small Hadleigh office to employing 60 staff at its Canvey headquarters.
The company has staged more than 1,900 shows across the UK and Ireland this year and has already sold more than 540,000 tickets.
James and his father were named in Stage100, a list of the most influential people in theatre and the performing arts.
Their top shows include ABBA: Thank You for the Music and Michael Jackson’s Man in the Mirror, which is playing at His Majesty’s Theatre in London’s West End.
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