Zachary James

Zachary James is an American actor and singer. He is known for originating the roles of Lurch in The Addams Family on Broadway, the role of Abraham Lincoln in Philip Glass's opera The Perfect American, and Amenhotep III in the Olivier and Grammy Award-winning production of Akhnaten. He is also known for appearances on the television shows, 30 Rock, Murphy Brown, Law & Order: Organized Crime and The Blacklist. Since February 10, 2024, he has starred as Hades in the West End production of Hadestown at the Lyric Theatre in London. James was named the Most Innovative Opera Singer of 2019 by The Classical Post, Breakout Opera Artist of 2019 by Verismo Magazine and was identified as an industry leader and invited to be an official ambassador for Opera America. He has sung with some of the world's top opera companies and orchestras including English National Opera, LA Opera, Teatro Real, The New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera Philadelphia and NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo and made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 2019 in Akhnaten. His debut visual album, Call Out, has played 31 film festivals worldwide and received the highly commended designation from London’s Classical Music Digital Awards. His solo show, On Broadway, won him BroadwayWorld’s Vocalist of the Decade and Performer of the Decade awards for the years 2010-2020. The show was filmed live at Chris’s Jazz Cafe in Philadelphia, produced by Des Moines Metro Opera, and released as an album in 2021. James is the host and creator of the comedy talkshow, What Happened Was... which aired every Friday on TDO Network, 2021 thru 2023, produced by Dallas Opera.