Anthony D. James is the third of seven children born to Cathy James. Born and raised in Brooklyn New York, writing quickly became his passion. While in middle and high school, he dreamed of becoming a successful rapper, often visiting recording studios and writing over 250 songs by the end of his senior year of high school. After graduating from Transit Tech High School in East New York Brooklyn, he attended CUNY’s College of Staten Island for two days, before dropping out to pursue his rap career. For two years, while working security part-time, Anthony worked full time on his music. As his rap career stalled, Anthony began taking classes at Medgar Evers College, while also working as a guest services representative at a non-profit sports and fitness organization. It is at Medgar Evers College that Anthony would take his first and only playwriting class. In 2010, he began writing A Queens’ Brawl.
At the beginning of the 2011 spring semester, Anthony would lose his older brother to gun violence. He would later transfer to Hunter College, where he would go on to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in English Language and Criticism in May of 2014.
With his rap career far behind him, he worked full time as a medical secretary at Weill Cornell for one year before being accepted to Teachers College, Columbia University. Anthony would graduate from Teachers College in the spring of 2016, with a master’s degree in English Education. In September of 2016, Anthony began teaching English at a high school in the Bronx. Sadly, in 2018, Anthony would lose his mother, the inspiration for his play A Queens’ Brawl, to breast cancer. After her passing, he obtained custody of his teenaged brothers, raising them all to adulthood. In early 2020, before the world shut down because of covid-19, Anthony would apply and get accepted to Lehman College’s master’s program in education administration. He would graduate with a Master of Science degree in 2022. Anthony is currently an assistant principal at the same school he has taught in since 2016. The best part of Anthony’s job is encouraging New York City students to do what makes them happy.