Tia James

Tia James, an actor, teacher, director, and vocal coach, currently a faculty member of UNC Professional Actor Training Program, vocal coach and company member of PlayMakers Repertory Company. Tia has been seen on Broadway in The Merchant of Venice (Broadhurst Theater), and regional theater productions include Julius Caesar (PlayMakers Rep) Native Son (PlayMakers Rep), Richard III (Allentown Shakespeare); Loving and Loving (Stella Adler Studios); The Winter’s Tale and The Merchant of Venice (The Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park), Much Ado About Nothing (Two River Theater) and Civilization (all you can eat) (Woolly Mammoth Theater). Her television credits include “Nurse Jackie” and “Treme.” She has been the vocal coach for PlayMakers Rep, having worked on such shows as The Adventures of Robin Hood, Skeleton Crew, She Loves Me, Bewilderness, Jump, Life of Galileo, and How I Learned to Drive, and Stick Fly. Tia served as the Associate Artistic Director for The Shakespeare Academy @ Stratford CT, was a teaching artist for NY’s Public Theater Public Works Program, Mobile Unit, and A Midsummer's Day Camp; a teaching artist for DreamYard Arts Center, and has directed over a dozen plays including As You Like It (PlayMakers Rep), Having Our Say (North Carolina Theatre), Hamlet, Othello, and The Mystery Plays (NYU Graduate Acting Program), Richard III (The Shakespeare Academy @ Stratford CT), A Bright New Bright New Boise (Atlantic Acting School), Macbeth (PlayMakers Mobile Shakes) and Constellations (UNC PTAP). Tia is the recipient of the 2003 Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival; Irene Ryan Winner, the 2014 NYU Graduate Acting Diversity Mentorship Scholarship for Voice and Speech, and the 2020 and 2019 Michael Chekhov/Zelda Fichandler Scholarship. Tia received her BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University, and her MFA from NYU Graduate Acting.