- Has often brought his retired father to appear as an extra on shoots.
- His father was born in Tanzania. He was a lecturer at Hull School of Art and Design.
- Educated at Ampleforth College, a Roman Catholic (Benedictine) boarding independent school in the village of Ampleforth in North Yorkshire. He excelled in theatre and tennis.
- The odds-on favorite to replace Daniel Craig as the next James Bond by international sportsbooks (including William Hill at just 2-to 1-). (May 2020)
- Attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London for three years, but left six months before graduation for an acting role in 2010.
- Has diabetes mellitus type 1.
- Received a Fitzwilliam Travel Grant to travel to northern India to teach and perform for schoolchildren at 16 schools.
- Son of Lavinia Jane Norman and Hugh Biddulph Norton, both teachers.
- From 2004, read Theology at Fitzwilliam College at the University of Cambridge, graduating in 2007 with First Class Honors.
- Great-grandson of Hugh Ross Norton, the Archdeacon of Sudbury from 1945 to 1962, and of Vice-Admiral Horace Geoffrey Norman, an Allied warship commander.
- At the age of 15, worked at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough.
- He was made a trustee of the Royal Theatrical Support Trust. (2015)
- He has English, Irish, Scottish, Cornish, and 1/16 Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry, the latter through his direct matrilineal line. James is related to Prime Minister David Cameron through shared Rée ancestors through his Jewish great-great-grandmother, whose family was from Germany and Denmark.
- Was a member of the Marlowe Society theatre club at Cambridge.
- Bought a house in the Peckham area of London. (2014)
- His family lived in the town of Malton in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire.
- As of 2022, he has appeared in two films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: An Education (2009) and Little Women (2019).
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