James Christopher Read (born July 31, 1953) is an American actor.
Read was born in
Buffalo, New YorkBuffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, second only to New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River, Buffalo is the principal city of the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area and the seat of Erie...
. He started acting as a student of the
University of OregonThe University of Oregon is a public, coeducational research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. The second oldest public university in the state, UO was founded in 1876, and graduated its first class two years later. The University of Oregon is one of 60 members of the Association of...
where he graduated in 1976. He studied acting in
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and then did several
off-BroadwayOff Broadway theater is an umbrella term for a defined set of plays, musicals or revues performed in New York City. Originally referring to the location of a venue and its productions on a street intersecting Broadway in Manhattan's Theatre District, the hub of the theater industry in the United...
and regional
theatreTheatre is a branch of the performing arts. While any performance may be considered theatre, as a performing art, it focuses almost exclusively on live performers creating a self contained drama. A performance qualifies as dramatic by creating a representational illusion...
s such as
The Denver Center Theatre Company, where he had a couple of leading roles and spent three seasons.
Read is perhaps best known for his role as George Hazard in the three
North and SouthNorth and South is an American television miniseries set before, during, and immediately after the American Civil War. It was based on the 1980s trilogy of novels North and South by John Jakes and follows its general storyline, despite some deviations...
TV
miniseriesA miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a production which tells a story in a pre-planned limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
(1985, 1986 and 1994) based on the
John JakesJohn William Jakes is a writer of fiction, best known for American Historical fiction. Jakes first sold stories to pulp magazines while still in college in the early 1950s. He studied creative writing at DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana, graduating in 1953. After earning an M.A...
trilogyA trilogy is a set of three works of art - usually literature, film, or video games, less commonly visual art like paintings or musical works - that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works....
of
novels of the same nameNorth and South is the general title of a 1980s trilogy of novels by John Jakes, which takes place during American Civil War times.-Books:The titles of the books are:* North and South* Love and War* Heaven and Hell...
, and for his co-starring role in the movie
BeachesBeaches , is a 1988 Academy Award-nominated movie adapted by Mary Agnes Donoghue from the novel of the same name by Iris Rainer Dart...
.
James Christopher Read (born July 31, 1953) is an American actor.
Read was born in
Buffalo, New YorkBuffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, second only to New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River, Buffalo is the principal city of the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area and the seat of Erie...
. He started acting as a student of the
University of OregonThe University of Oregon is a public, coeducational research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. The second oldest public university in the state, UO was founded in 1876, and graduated its first class two years later. The University of Oregon is one of 60 members of the Association of...
where he graduated in 1976. He studied acting in
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and then did several
off-BroadwayOff Broadway theater is an umbrella term for a defined set of plays, musicals or revues performed in New York City. Originally referring to the location of a venue and its productions on a street intersecting Broadway in Manhattan's Theatre District, the hub of the theater industry in the United...
and regional
theatreTheatre is a branch of the performing arts. While any performance may be considered theatre, as a performing art, it focuses almost exclusively on live performers creating a self contained drama. A performance qualifies as dramatic by creating a representational illusion...
s such as
The Denver Center Theatre Company, where he had a couple of leading roles and spent three seasons.
Read is perhaps best known for his role as George Hazard in the three
North and SouthNorth and South is an American television miniseries set before, during, and immediately after the American Civil War. It was based on the 1980s trilogy of novels North and South by John Jakes and follows its general storyline, despite some deviations...
TV
miniseriesA miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a production which tells a story in a pre-planned limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
(1985, 1986 and 1994) based on the
John JakesJohn William Jakes is a writer of fiction, best known for American Historical fiction. Jakes first sold stories to pulp magazines while still in college in the early 1950s. He studied creative writing at DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana, graduating in 1953. After earning an M.A...
trilogyA trilogy is a set of three works of art - usually literature, film, or video games, less commonly visual art like paintings or musical works - that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works....
of
novels of the same nameNorth and South is the general title of a 1980s trilogy of novels by John Jakes, which takes place during American Civil War times.-Books:The titles of the books are:* North and South* Love and War* Heaven and Hell...
, and for his co-starring role in the movie
BeachesBeaches , is a 1988 Academy Award-nominated movie adapted by Mary Agnes Donoghue from the novel of the same name by Iris Rainer Dart...
. Read is married to actress
Wendy KilbourneWendy Kilbourne Read is a former American television actress who is no longer active. She is known for her role of Constance Hazard on the North and South miniseries and for her role as Devon King in Midnight Caller. On the set of North and South, she met actor James Read, to whom she was married...
, whom he met on the set of
North and South. He had a recurring role on The WB series
CharmedCharmed is an American television series that originally aired from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006, on The WB Television Network. The series was created in 1998 by writer Constance M...
as Victor Bennett and was also a regular during the first season of
Remington SteeleRemington Steele was an American television series, produced by MTM Enterprises and first broadcast on the NBC network from 1982 to 1987. It starred Stephanie Zimbalist as private detective Laura Holt and Pierce Brosnan as a roguish former white-collar thief and former con man who assumed Remington...
. Currently, he may be seen as Ken Davis in the
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
family drama
WildfireWildfire is an American television series that aired on ABC Family. The show premiered June 20, 2005; its fourth and final season ended on May 26, 2008. All four seasons of the show can be streamed from Hulu...
.
In 1998, he also earned his Masters Degree in
psychologyPsychology is an academic and applied discipline involving the systematic, and sometimes scientific, study of human or animal mental functions and behavior...
from
Pepperdine UniversityPepperdine University is an independent, private, medium-sized university affiliated with the Churches of Christ. Seaver College, the School of Law, the Graduate School of Education and Psychology, the Graziadio School of Business and Management, and the School of Public Policy are located on the...
.