James, sometimes referred to as James Forrest, was a non-professional hired by director/cameraman Karl Brown when Brown went to North Carolina in 1927 to film "Stark Love" in the Great Smokey Mountains. Helen Mundy, also in the cast, was another non-pro hired by Brown. The two young people were paid $30 a week to appear in the film about a young man who falls in love with a hill girl. According to the book, "Paramount Pictures and the People Who Made Them, " Forrest was offered a contract but refused it. As far as I know, this is the only film he ever made and he received extremely good reviews, especially from Photoplay magazine.
