Biography
Actor James Otis' filmography is slightly sporadic and a little bit strange. He made his acting debut back in 1976, playing the minor character Clifford in the Susan Sarandon-starring drama "Dragonfly." This was certainly not a breakthrough role, and Otis made very little headway toward that goal with his next job, a minor role in the Woody Allen-directed comedy "Stardust Memories" four years later. Even more strange is the gap between that performance and his next--Otis wouldn't act in another film until 1989, when he popped up as a "Junkyard Man" in the forgettable action project "The Kill Reflex." In a way, Otis' career can be divided in two halves, between his early, under-the-radar roles and his slightly more prominent re-emergence in the late '90s. With this intense, overly dramatic looks, Otis was a perfect fit for creepy sci-fi and drama roles, and he found a number of side parts on television shows, including the acclaimed science fiction programs "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and "The X-Files." For an actor working in typically miniscule roles, Otis has managed to take cues from a number of legendary directors. Having already worked with Woody Allen, he also landed a side role in Brian De Palma's 2006 crime-mystery "The Black Dahlia." Using that major exposure as a springboard, he continued to land one-off TV parts as they came along, most notably on the crime-drama "Criminal Minds" and the horror-fantasy "Supernatural."
