James Borthwick (1948-) is a bilingual (Afrikaans and English) actor.

Biography

Born in Durban on 12 November 1948, he studied Speech and Drama at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg( 1971 – 1973) and in 1974 joined the Performing Arts Council of the Orange Free State (PACOFS) as an assistant stage manager and starting his acting career later the same year. He spent 1976 at PACT, before returning to PACOFS until 1978, when he became freelance for a number of years, before joining PACT again in 1983.

He also turned to film and TV in the the mid 1970s, and from 1996 onwards tended to do more of his work in those media forms, though still active on stage as well - particularly in musical theatre in the latter period.

Married to actress Rika Sennett and father of Kate Borthwick and Hannah Borthwick.

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance

As stage actor

1974-1978

He started his professional acting career with PACOFS (1974-1978), appearing as various characters in the Free State touring schools programme and library programme, as well as playing "Green Eyes" in Jean Genet's Deathwatch and various characters in Brecht's Die Goeie Mens van Setzuan in the first year. His initial PACOFS period (1974-1975) went on to include appearances in "Theodore" in Chekhov's The Wood Demon, "Bottom" in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, "Tommy" in Where Has Tommy Flowers Gone?, "El Gallo" in The Fantasticks, "Mariechen", the cat in The Dragon and "Choobukov" in Chekhov's The Proposal.

In 1976 he had a brief period acting for PACT, playing "Jim" in The Rainmaker (Nash), various roles in Jabberwocky Hopscotch (Elaine Davie), various roles in Witwater se Mense (M. I. Murray and Poon Meyer), "Brer Terrapin" in Brer Rabbit (John English), "Pooh" in Winnie the Pooh (A. A. Milne)

In 1977 he returned to PACOFS for two more years. In 1977 he played "Orgon" in Die Huigelaar (Afrikaans version of Tartuffe by Moliere), "Pseudolus" in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Larry Gelbart and Bert Shevelove), "Artie" in The House of Blue Leaves (John Guare), "Lopakhin" in The Cherry Orchard (Chekhov), "The Musician" Kinkels Innie Kabel (Brink) and "Tybalt" in Romeo and Juliet. In 1978 his roles included "Sir Frances Chesney" in Charley's Aunt (Brandon Thomas), "Pepe Hernandez" El Grande de Coca Cola (John Neville et al.), "Toby Belch" in Twelfth Night, "Andrey" in Three Sisters (Chekhov) and "Don" in People are Living There (Fugard). In this year he was received the Piers Nicholson Award for his contribution to theatre in the Orange Free State Province as well as the André Huguenet Prize as Best Actor.

1979-1997

He then moved to the Transvaal to do most of his stage work for PACT for years (1979-1997). Roles in this period included:

'n Maand op die Platteland (Turgenev, 1979), "The Porter" in Macbeth (Shakespeare, 1980), "Salinas" The Royal Hunt of the Sun (Shaffer, 1981), "Tom Snout" in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare, 1981), "Crossley" in Murder by Proxy (Leslie Darbon. The World Premiere at the Intimate Theatre, Johannesburg, 1981), "Julien" in As die Turksvy Blom (1982).

He then did two shows for CAPAB in 1982, namely "Bussy" in The Spare Room and "Caliban" in The Tempest, before returning to PACT.

1983: For PACT: "Bob Acres" The Rivals, "Everyman" in Everyman (A. C. Crawley), "Murat" in The Rise and Fall of the First Empress Bonaparte (P.D. Uys), "Flash Harry" in Dry Rot (John Chapman), "Jake Latta" in The Night of the Iguana (Tennessee Williams) and "The Pirate Captain" in Robinson Crusoe. A Christmas Pantomime (John Moss).

1984 For PACT he appeared in "Jan" in Brothers (Victor Graham), "Pistorius" in Die Hand Vol Vere (A.P. Brink) and Brothers of the Head (Brian W. Aldiss, various roles), and for PACOFS he did Don Dinges met die Groen Broek (as "Don Martin").

1985 For PACT: "Eddie Vosper" in Sufficient Carbohydrate (Dennis Potter), "Vanya" in Uncle Vanya (Dalro Award Best Actor Nomination), "Stanislavski" in Chekhov in Yalta (John Driver and Jeffrey Haddow) and "Corky" and "Charlie" in Under the Oaks and Over the Hill (Double Bill by Paul Slabolepszy).

1986 For PACT: "Jim Casey" The Grapes of Wrath (Steinbeck, Dalro Award for Best Supporting Actor), "Alec" in Comrades (Victor Gordon), "Petrin" in Wild Honey (Frayn) and "Truscott" in Loot (Orton)

1987 For PACT: Looking-Glass (Sutton and Mandelberg), "Petrucio" in The Taming of the Shrew, Die Prys (Wilson and De Lancey), Strider (Rozovsky), Social Security (Bergman) and "Dame Snapdragon" in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Honeyman).

1988 For PACT: "Richard" in The Lion in Winter (Goldman), "Polixenes" in A Winter's Tale, Travelling Shots (Slabolepszy) and "Captain Wilder" in The Martian Chronicles (Bradbury).

1989 For PACT: Summer with Monika (60’s Songs and Poetry), The Car (Barrett), "Oscar Hubbard" in The Little Foxes (Hellman), "Oliver" in As You Like It, "Kerner" in Hapgood (Stoppard), "Corky" and "Charley" in Under the Oaks and Over the Hill (Slabolepszy).

1990 For PACT: "Die Mens" in Koue Oorlog (Jozef Van Hoek), "Dorin" in The Seagull (Chekhov), God's Country (Steven Dietz), "Brady" in Inherit the Wind (Lawrence and Lee) and "Sir Poensface Ponce-a-lot" in Sleeping Beauty (Honeyman).

1991 For NAPAC: "Salieri" in Amadeus (Schaffer, Natal Vita Award for Best Actor). For PACT: "Dr Prentice" in What the Butler Saw (Orton), "Neels" in Watercolour Days (Kalmer) and "Lucky" in Waiting for Godot (Beckett)

1992 For PACT: "Sarel" in As die Kat Weg Is (Mortimer and Cook), "Aston" in The Caretaker (Pinter), "Vershinin" in The Three Sisters (Chekhov), Die Tragedie van Cymbeline (Shakespeare, Various Roles) and "Klapperdop" in Doringrosie (Honeyman).

1993 For PACT: "Sellers" in Tsamphumph (Ian Roberts), "Sarel" in As die Kat Weg Is, "Kloppitieklop" in Snow White (Honeyman)

1994 For PACT: "Sarel" in Is die Muis Baas? (Yeldham and Churchill), "Salvatore" in Victoria Almost Falls (Slabolepszy),

1995 "Gordon" in Neville’s Island (Firth), "Corky" in Tickle To Fine Leg (Slabolepszy, Vita Award as Best Actor in Natal)

1996 All in the Timing (Ives. Various roles), "Ernest De Farge" in A Tale of Two Cities (adapted by Janice Honeyman)

1997 -2010

From 1997 till 2010 Borthwick's main focus began shifting to film and TV, though he still did some freelance stage work in this period.

Among the roles he played were "Papa Louw" in The Dead Wait (Paul Herzberg, 1997), "Corky" in Life's a Pitch (Slabolepszy, 1999. Co-Winner of the award for Best Actor in a Comedy, with Graham Hopkins), "Gregory de Witt" in Crashing the Night (Slabolepszy, 2000), "Corky" in It's Just Not Cricket (Slabolepszy, 2003), "Steve du Toit" in Whole in One (Slabolepszy, 2003), "Astrov" Uncle Vanya (2004 , in [Afrikaans]] and English; Fleur Du Cap Award For Best Supporting Actor), "Barry Sutherland" in King Of Laughter (Craig Freimond, 2004), "Tolchakov" in A Tragic Role (Chekhov, 2004), "Baron Platsak" in Cinderella (Honeyman, 2004), 2005, "Sarel" in As die Kat Weg Is... (2005), "Sarel" in Is die Muis Baas? (2006), "Willy" in Willy's Ark (Collocott, 2007), "Scrooge" in The Trial Of Ebenezer Scrooge (Mark Brown, 2007), "Molokov" in Chess (Tim Rice et al, 2008), "Markus" in Markus 16 (Andries Vrey, 2008), "Graham Chapman" in Pythonesque (Roy Smiles, 2008), "Pool" in OpenToe (Schalk Schoombie, 2009), "Father Stubbs" in Biko (2010) and "Juan Peron" in Evita (2010).

From 2011 onwards

Following on Borthwick's acclaimed performance as "Juan Peron" in Evita, his stage career shifted again, with musical theatre becoming a major focus alongside continuing corporate theatre, TV and film work. Much of the musical work being done for Pieter Toerien Productions.

Among the works he now appeared in were a continuation of Evita (till April 2011), The Pirates of Penzance (2011), The Phantom of the Opera (as "Firmin", 2011-12, including a tour to the Philippines and South Korea in 2012-2013), Sunset Boulevard (as "Max Von Mayerling", 2013), The Sound of Music (as "Max Detweiler", Johannesburg, Cape Town, Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xingdao, Chongqing, New Zealand, 2014), Singin' in the Rain (as "R.F. Simpson", tour to New Zealand, Singapore, Manila And Hong Kong in 2015, Cape Town and Johannesburg, 2016), Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (as "Bob", 2017), West Side Story (as "Doc", 2018), The Phantom of the Opera (as "Firmin", World Tour of the Philippines, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Tel Aviv, Dubai, Busan in South Korea, Seoul, Daegu, Taipei (Taiwan) 2019, Seoul, Daegu, Taipei (Taiwan) in 2020. Another world tour as "Firmin" with The Phantom of the Opera (2024-5, including China, India And Singapore).

Film/television

He made his first appearance in films and on TV in 1976, with a role in Kobus Louw's popular TV series Dokter, Dokter and Athol Fugard's film The Guest/Die Besoeker.

Other TV work

Drie Susters (as "Tusenbach", 1984), Tv Sitcom Senor Smith (1985), Tv Series Die Mannheim Sage (1985), Homeland (Series, 1986), The Fourth Reich (TV Series and Feature Film, 1988), Going Up (1993-1998), "Brigham De Jager" in Mmg Engineers (1994), Gabriël, Buang, Let's Talk (Educational TV, 1997), Isidingo (1998), Scoop Schoombie (2001-2004), Erfsondes (2007-), Scandal (2007), Rhythm City (2008- 2014), Feast of the Uninvited, Hillside (2008), Konsternasie Oppie Stasie (2009), On the Couch (2012), Hotel(2016-2019), Madiba (2016), The Crown (Netflix, 2016), 7de Laan (as "Mike", 2017), Diepe Waters (2022-2023), Safari Romance (Hallmark, 2023), Diamond Status (Amazon Prime, 2023),

Other film work

His film career has included roles in The Guest/Die Besoeker (1976), Skollie (the feature film, 1984), Magic Is Alive My Friends (1985), Wie Laaste Lag (1986), Sweet and Short (Leon Schuster, 1993), Old Wive's Tale (1998, Avanti Award as Best Actor), Hansie (2007), Wild at Heart (Hallmark, 2009), A Time Without Love (Student Film, 2009), Ander Mens (2017), Little Big Mouth (2021), Aangetroud (2022), Do Your Worst (2022), Som van Twee (2024)

As director

He directed Aladdin (in Sjiena) in 1994.

Awards, etc.

Among many awards he was was nominated for over the years, he was awarded a DALRO Award and Piers Nicholson Award 1978, a Fleur du Cap Award as best actor for Evita (in 2011)