James Lee, was born in 1973, Ipoh, Malaysia. Trained as a graphic designer. A self-taught filmmaker, he began acting & directing theatre plays before venturing into video filmmaking.

His stage acting credits include experimental performances in the avant garde "Chicken Parts" series, "Expat Comes to Town", "Box Of Delights" and Chekov’s "Marriage Proposal". He also appeared in Amir Muhammad’s "Lips to Lips".

His experience in on-stage directing includes "Love Poems", Harold Pinter's "The Dumb Waiter", under the Director's Workshop by Five Arts Centre and Actors Studio Theatre, "Changi " and "Betrayal ".

In 2001 he directed his first feature film, "Snipers", followed by "Ah Beng Returns", a highly stylized experimental film, the same year. In 2002 James made "Room To Let," a Mandarin drama. "The Beautiful Washing Machine" is his fourth DV-feature, which won the Best Asean Feature Award and FIPRESCI Prize in the 2005 Bangkok International Film Festival. The movie also received rave reviews from The Village Voice and Variety.com.

He also produced Amir Muhammad’s award winning documentary "The Big Durian" and Ho Yuhang’s "Sanctuary".