Born in 1953, Jim grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, and eventually moved to New Orleans. There he designed Mardi Gras floats, was a singer, door-to-door salesman, and a Louisiana riverboat deckhand. Then he moved to Anaheim, California, where he started his career playing Lionel from "Dumbo's Circus."


Role as the voice-over actor in Mark Hamill's Comic Book: The Movie (2004) (V) is his only full-bodied, live-action role to date. He was also the 1991 alternate of the Shredder for the original "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" (1987/I) series, which is also the same show where he voiced Leatherhead the mutant alligator.