James Naughton

From Broadway and regional theater to television and films, James Naughton has won critical acclaim in dramas, comedies and musicals. He is the winner of two Tony Awards as Best Actor in a Musical, for his portrayal of media-savvy lawyer Billy Flynn in the Broadway hit “Chicago” (1997) and for his role as a film-noir era detective in “City of Angels” (1990), which also earned him a Drama Desk Award. He met equal success with his solo concert/cabaret acts, “James Naughton Live”, at the Manhattan Theater Club, “Street of Dreams”, and his most recent “Looking For The Heart Of Saturday Night”.

A graduate of Brown University and the Yale School of Drama, Naughton made his New York debut as Edmund in Arvin Brown’s production of “Long Day’s Journey Into Night”, winning immediate recognition with Theatre World, New York Drama Critics and Vernon Rice awards for his performance. His other Broadway credits include “Four Baboons Adoring the Sun”, “I Love My Wife” and “Whose Life Is It Anyway”. Off-Broadway he has appeared in E.L. Doctorow’s “Drinks Before Dinner” and “Losing Time”. Both a prolific performer and director at the Williamstown Theater Festival, he directed a critically acclaimed production of “The Price” which moved to Broadway in the winter of 1999 and received a Tony nomination. He most recently directed a production of “Our Town” on Broadway starring Paul Newman, which appeared on Showtime as well as “The Good German” for the Westport Country Playhouse.

Naughton’s film credits include “The Good Mother” opposite Diane Keaton; “The Glass Menagerie” with Joanne Woodward; “The Paper Chase”, “First Kid”, “Cat’s Eye”, “A Stranger Is Watching”, “Second Wind” and more recently “Labor Pains”. He has appeared in such television movies as “Travelin’ Man”, “Necessity”, “Last of the Great Survivors”, “The Bunker” and “Look Homeward Angel”. More recently, Naughton starred in “The Birds II” for Showtime and the return of “Cagney and Lacey”. He has also starred in a number of network television series, including “Who’s the Boss?”, “Making the Grade”, “Planet of the Apes”, “Farady and Co.”, “Brooklyn Bridge”,“The Cosby Mysteries”, “Ally McBeal” as Ally Macbeal’s father, “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”, and was most recently seen opposite Meryl Streep in the hit film “The Devil Wears Prada”.