James Napier Robertson was born in Wellington, New Zealand, on 24 March, 1982. He started his career as a theatre actor in Shakespeare productions, before being cast in a number of local TV roles in the early 2000's. He began writing and directing short films in his early twenties, using the money from his acting work to pay for them, before writing and directing his first feature film in 2009, 'I'm Not Harry Jenson', which was nominated for Best Feature Film at the New Zealand Film and TV Awards. In 2014 he wrote and directed his second feature film, 'The Dark Horse', starring Cliff Curtis and James Rolleston. It opened the 2014 New Zealand International Film Festival and was released theatrically on July 31 throughout New Zealand, NZ Herald rating it 5 stars, the National Radio Review declaring it "one of the best New Zealand films ever made". It premiered internationally at Toronto International Film Festival 2014, Variety calling it "exceptional..the most deserving cinematic export to emerge from New Zealand in years". It was released theatrically worldwide throughout 2015.
