James Ransone
Birthdate: Jun 2, 1979
Birthplace: Baltimore, Maryland, USA
An actor with a distinctively haunted look that has served him well in a range of roles, James Ransone (birthname: James Finley Ransone III) has been a busy, in-demand actor over the past two decades, jumping easily between movies and such prestige TV series and streaming series as David Simon’s masterful Baltimore crime series, The Wire (2003), Generation Kill (2008), How to Make It in America (2011), HBO’s Treme (2011-2012), Low Winter Sun (2013), the Michael Connelly LAPD series Bosch (2016), HBO’s Mosaic (2018), with Sharon Stone, Hulu’s The First (2018), with Sean Penn and Natascha McElhone, and CBS’ SEAL Team (2020). Ransone co-stars with Ethan Hawke in Scott Derrickson’s Blumhouse production, The Black Phone in 2022.
One of James Ransone’s first movie roles was in Larry Clark’s extraordinary film about young people, Ken Park (2002, followed by a role in the ensemble in Rafal Zielinski’s indie feature, Downtown: A Street Tale (2004). He continued working with the leading edge of American independent filmmakers with the starring role in Gerardo Naranjo’s adventurous indie film, Malachance (2004), and Tenney Fairchild’s The Good Humor Man (2005).
Ransone’s profile rose with filmmaker Spike Lee’s crime thriller, Inside Man (2006), with Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer, Willem Dafoe, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Ransone began to consistently work with signature and genre American filmmakers like Lee (Red Hook Summer in 2012, Oldboy in 2013), Sean Baker (Starlet in 2012, Tangerine in 2015), Dito Montiel (The Son of No One in 2011, Empire State in 2013, The Clapper in 2017); and Scott Derrickson (the original Sinister in 2012, and the sequel Sinister 2 in 2015).
James Ransone has also worked with an interesting range of other distinctive American filmmakers, including writer-director Joshua Leonard’s The Lie (2011), based on T. Coraghessan Boyle’s story; Michael Almereyda’s inventive Shakespeare adaptation, Cymbeline (2014); genre maestro Ti West and his In a Valley of Violence (2016); Michelle Morgan’s It Happened in L.A. (2017); writer-director-editor Aaron Katz’s Gemini (2017); writer-director Stacy Coachrane’s Write When You Get Work (2018); writer-director Rupert Wyatt’s sci-fi drama, Captive State (2019); and John Pollono’s critically acclaimed Small Engine Repair (2021). Ransone appeared crucial and sinister in the two-part Stephen King adaptation, It Chapter Two (2019).
Personal Details
Baltimore-born was raised by parents James and Joyce Ransone. He attended Towson, Md.-based arts magnet school George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology, focusing initially on theater and then switching to fine arts. He also studied fine arts at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Ransone is married to Jamie McPhee; the couple has one child. His height is 5’ 9”.
Filmography
actor
Previous (8)
- 2022 | The Black PhoneasMax
The Black Phone
After being abducted by a child killer and locked in a soundproof basement, a 13-year-old boy starts receiving calls on a disconnected phone from the killer's previous victims.
- 2021 | Small Engine RepairasPJ
Small Engine Repair
Events spin wildly out of control when three lifelong friends agree to do a favor on behalf of the brash young woman they all adore.
- 2020 | What We FoundasSgt. Steven Mohler
What We Found
A trio of friends are starting high school when their friend vanishes. With the police unable--or unwilling?--to find her, they take it upon themselves to find out what happened, undertaking a harrowing journey that will change th...
- 2019 | It Chapter TwoasEddie Kaspbrak
It Chapter Two
Twenty-seven years after their first encounter with the terrifying Pennywise, the Losers Club have grown up and moved away, until a devastating phone call brings them back.
- 2019 | Captive StateasPatrick Ellison
Captive State
Set in a Chicago neighborhood nearly a decade after an occupation by an extraterrestrial force, 'Captive State' explores the lives on both sides of the conflict - the collaborators and dissidents.
- 2018 |
- 2015 | Sinister 2asEx-Deputy So & So
Sinister 2
A young mother and her twin sons move into a rural house that's marked for death.
- 2012 |
Some Facts About James Ransone
Metalhead: James Ransone played bass in the metal band, Early Man, based in New York City.
Hero: Ransone rescued a neighbor from a rapist’s attack, pursuing the criminal with a metal pipe.
Victim: James Ransone revealed on his Instagram account in 2021 that he had been sexually abused by his math tutor in 1992. Baltimore police declined to pursue an investigation, though an investigation by the Baltimore school district is ongoing.
Addict: Ransone ran up a debt near $30,000 due to his heroin addiction, which he kicked by 2007.
