A native of Canada, James Orr attended the Carleton University Journalism School, and then the undergraduate film school at York University in Toronto. In 1977, he was the first Canadian to be accepted as a Director Fellow at the prestigious American Film Institute in Los Angeles. Along with his writing/producing partner, 'Jim Cruickshank' .
Wrote and directed two passion-project documentaries in 2002: "The Fuente Family: An American Dream", and "Fuente Fuente Opus X: The Making of A Legend". The two cameramen on that project were Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (directors of Crank and Crank: High Voltage ), who Orr hired shortly after they graduated from film school. "The Fuente Family: An American Dream" was nominated as Best Documentary Feature of 2004 by the International Press Academy. It had English narration by Joe Mantegna , Spanish narration by Andy Garcia , and a music score by Arturo Sandoval.
