Disney James

Disney James is an Indian actor and screenwriter. He plays lead, supporting and antagonist roles in Malayalam films. His portrayal of the terrorist who kills the family of Sam Alex (Prithviraj) in the film Memories, directed by ace director Jeethu Joseph and the antagonist Stephan Iype in the film Porinju Mariam Jose directed by veteran director Joshiy, won him many accolades.

He associated with directors Vipin Das and Arun Shekhar in screenwriting for the films Mudhugauv and Jilebi respectively.

Disney portrayed the lead character, Manu, in the film Velutha Rathrikal    (White Nights), directed by Razi Muhammed. This film is an independent adaptation of the short story with the same name, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, originally published in 1848. The film went on to bag the 2015 Best Screenplay (Adapted) for Razi Muhammed. Disney has also acted in numerous short films, of which Silent Dark Eyes, directed by Rajesh Divakaran, was selected in the short film corner of Cannes Film Festival. Disney received the Best Actor award for the short films Burning Desire in 2014 and Chinsinsi in 2017 from Shri. Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Shri V. S. Achuthanandan respectively.

Personal life and education
Disney James was born a Roman Catholic on 21 January 1983 in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. He is the youngest son of former bank manager James D. Plakkiyil, who hails from the Plakkiyil family, Kottayam and Tessy James, who hails from the Maliekkal Chethalan family, Chalakudy. Disney has two elder siblings, Deepa Saji and (late) Denny James. He grew up at Thekkada and at his paternal house in Nalanchira, Thiruvananthapuram, where he was greatly influenced by his grandfather, late "Mahakavi Panditaratnam Vachaspathi" Prof. P. C. Devassia.

Disney studied his KG education at Lourdes Mount School, Vattappara. After shifting to his paternal house, Disney joined Sarvodaya Vidyalaya and completed his tenth grade. He did his pre-university course at Mar Ivanios College, after which he completed his Engineering graduation (B.E) in Electrical and Electronics from St. Xavier's Catholic College of Engineering, Nagercoil.

Disney's parents encouraged their children to be active in extra-curricular activities. He was a regular participant in arts, literary, cultural and sports competitions throughout his school and college days and has won several prizes. The acceptance that he got while performing on stage made Disney seriously think about acting.

Disney married Misha, who is a native of Thalayolaparambu-Vaikom and belongs to Puthanangady Peruvelil family, on 27 August 2016 at Lourdes forane church, Trivandrum.

Career
After doing couple of sales jobs in Bangalore and TV anchoring, Disney attended a walk-in-interview at Mar Baselios College of Engineering and Technology, Trivandrum in 2004. He got selected and joined the Electrical and Electronics department as Lecturer. During an intercollegiate festival at MBCET, Disney performed on stage. Seeing this, his student Firoz cast him in a musical video along with actress Iniya. He did his first short film in 2005 alongside the late veteran actor Bharath Gopi. Disney started doing several musical videos, short films etc. and somehow managed both his professional and acting career. In 2007, Disney took a break and worked as Site engineer and Service engineer in Dubai (Emirates Electrical Engineering. LLC) for two years.

After coming back, he decided to take up film acting as his career. Disney acted in one scene as a gang member in a film directed by (late) Sajan Kurien in 2010. Lack of a mentor made Disney's path to mainstream cinema, more difficult. Meanwhile, he worked as a part-time news reader and anchor for Victors channel. Later that year Disney was selected for the antagonist character Kiran in the film House No.13 and faced the film camera for the first time. The film, directed by Mr. Sinu Nambiar, which also paved way for debut of actors Saju Navodaya and Hima Sankar, stopped production after the first schedule.

Disney also debuted in Tamil with the film Puthumugangal Thevai, directed by Maneesh Babu. Disney went on doing low budget films both in Tamil and Malayalam, until he got to play one of the lead characters in the commercial film @Andheri. In this film he also worked as assistant director (uncredited). The crew of this movie happened to show Disney's working stills to director Jeethu Joseph, who cast him in Memories. Disney won wide acceptance for his portrayal of the terrorist in this movie.

Disney also collaborated with screenwriter Karthik Chintu and film director Arun Shekhar and worked as project manager for their Event and Film Management companies, namely Godjz Events and Arun Shekhar Film company. He started getting acting chances and both companies supported him, as he balanced work and acting.

He has attended couple of training workshops in acting conducted by Artfactory, Trivandrum and Adishakti Laboratory for Theatre Arts & Research, Pondicherry. Also he participated in the script writing workshop conducted by Whistling Woods International Institute for Film, communication and Creative arts, Mumbai.

Films in Malayalam

 * As an actor


 * As script writer

Short films
Disney James has acted in more than fifty short films. He has also worked as associate director, creative consultant, screenwriter and dubbing artist for many short films.

Plays(Theater)
During the initial phase of his acting career, Disney joined Theater of Good hope, Trivandrum and explored the possibility of voice modulation and smooth transition of expression under the guidance of  veteran actor and theater personal  P.A.M. Rashid. Also he underwent training in physical expression and improvisation on stage from another Veteran actor Surjith Sumathi Gopinath, Thrissur.

Movie advertisements and T.V. commercials

 * As actor


 * As associate director