Born June 29, 1947 in Oxnard, CA. Raised in Camarillo, CA. Was a high school basketball star.

Graduated from Humboldt State University as a Theatre Arts & History major. Played college basketball.

Founded the MENAGERIE MIME THEATRE with partner Robert Francesconi performing and teaching throughout the USA.

"Inspired, ingenious, fantastically exciting theatre!"

- New York Critical Digest

"The discipline of the Menagerie Mime Theatre illustrates the precedent for students in  American Theatre." - Lou Campbell, Artistic Director, 1974 International Mime Festival

"Mimes rival polish of Marceau."

- Lewiston Tribune

Opened the MENAGERIE MIME THEATRE STUDIO on Powell Street in San Francisco. Invited to be a featured performer and master teacher at the 1974 International Mime Festival, LaCrosse, Wisconsin.

Began solo USA performance tours continuing until 2009. Presented master classes and residencies in over 120 universities, high schools, and arts institutions.

"An original"

- San Francisco Chronicle

"The images are powerful and lasting, and their feelings of awe at life and of the sweetness of living it are something to carry away and savor."

- Winston-Salem Sentinel

Director of Movement and Mime for the Ringling Bros., Barnum & Bailey Circus Clown College. Taught Bill Irwin, Barry Lubin, Mark Stolzenburg. Master teacher in the MFA Acting Program at The Asolo State Theater Company of Florida.

Master teacher of Movement for Actors & Performance in the School of Drama, North Carolina School of the Arts 1976 to 1982. Created solo clown play, ALL ARE CLOWNS performing throughout the USA

"James Donlon is brilliant. His work is technically superb, joyous, whimsical, serious, and very touching. He has an international reputation of no small stature, which he has earned by amazing originality and versatility. He is a true mime, a true clown." - Malcolm Morrison, Dean of Drama, North Carolina School of the Arts. 

First international solo tours continuing to 2009. Mexico, Switzerland, France, Czech Republic, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Canada, Scotland, Romania, Turkey, Colombia, Italy. First American clown/mime invited to perform in the famed Teatro Dimitri of Switzerland.

"James Donlon is not only a genius of mime, he is also a complete artist, acrobat, juggler, unicyclist, and clown. A true apotheosis of a one-man show." - L'Impartial, Switzerland

"James Donlon is truly spectacular. Words are inadequate to describe all that one man can communicate with his body." - International Festival of Pantomime, Mexico

"Capable of expressing the truth which is reflected only in the eyes, he is what only clowns and children are: the revelation of human emotions."

- Vaterland, Switzerland 

First New York City season at The Theater of The Riverside Church. Guest residencies in the Yale School of Drama and The American Conservatory Theater.

National community residencies with Affiliate Artists, Inc. TV appearances in California, New York, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, North Carolina, Mississippi.

"An extraordinary blend of skill and lunacy"

- The New York Times

Master teacher of Movement for Actors & Performance in the Department of Theater & Dance, University of California-Santa Barbara, 1984-2006.

Performed throughout the USA, Mexico, Turkey, and Switzerland as PELICAN with modern dancer Tonia Shimin.

Created TRUCK DOG with Charlie Oates touring throughout the USA, Canada, and Mexico.

"There's magic in Donlon's vision."

- The Los Angeles Times

"Donlon's sheer energy and powerful skills were awesome. Truck Dog is a funny and touching tribute to the true road warrior, one who continues to capture the imagination of most everybody." - The Times-Standard, California

Guest master teacher with El Teatro Campesino. Coached national touring productions. Movement Coach and Fight Director for PBS Great Performances production of Luis Valdez's LA PASTORELA.

Created and directed the award winning PURGE as first production of JAMES DONLON & COMPANY touring throughout the USA and Mexico.

"I giggled myself silly and caught myself laughing out loud more times than I could count."  - The Santa Barbara Independent

"Marvelous whimsy....Sparkling...Impressive...A notable work in theme and performance enriched by a number of songs that allude to the heart of the matter: woman, her thwarted condition, and ultimately her triumph."

- La Voz De Michoacan(Mexico)

Created and directed the award winning production WRENCH with JAMES DONLON & COMPANY

Solo tour of TRUCK DOG to Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. Master teacher of Movement for Actors at the Gaiety School of Acting, Dublin.

Directed TRUCK DOG in Prague for Czech actors Stevo Capko & Vojta Svejda. Toured the Czech Republic and Slovakia

Director of Boxtales Theater Company's national touring production WATERS OF THE EARTH.

Master classes for animators at the Columbus College of Art & Design.

Created DIBUJOS DE NUESTRA FRONTERA by JAMES DONLON & COMPANY touring in California and Mexico

Co-created and directed the award winning ALBERT'S FEAR by Vojta Svejda in Prague. Master classes at AMU(Czech national academy of performing arts). Movement coach for Oscar winner Javier Bardem, Benjamin Bratt, Giovanna Mezzojourno, and Catalina Sandino Moreno in the film LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA. Guest master teacher in the MFA acting programs at The American Conservatory Theater, University of California-San Diego, and The Berkeley Rep School of Theater.

Teamed with Robert Shields to present MASKS, ILLUSIONS, & MAYHEM. Movement coach for The American Conservatory Theater production GOOD BREEDING. Workshops for Kaiser Permanente Educational Theater Program.

Founded the FLYING ACTOR STUDIO, 40 First Street, San Francisco, CA  

Dr. Linda Roberts writes a 500 page University of California-Santa Barbara Ph.D Dissertation, "Mime, Mysticism, Madness, Movement, and Magic:

The Work of James Donlon".

Movement coach for Oscar winner Kathy Bates and David Strathairn in film DOLORES CLAIBORNE. Artistic Consultant, Story Board Artist, Movement Coach for Kathy Bates, Frances McDormand, and Mary Kay Place in the PBS Great Performances production of TALKING WITH. Guest residencies at acting schools such as the National Theater Conservatory-Denver Center and Alabama Shakespeare Festival.