Jim Lemley was born in Seattle, Washington, and is the eldest of three. His father, Jack Lemley, was the CEO of the consortium that built the famous Channel Tunnel, which links France and England. Jack Lemley was awarded the CBE in the UK for his work on that project. Due to his father's job as an internationally renowned engineer, Jim moved around a lot with his family. He lived in Washington, New York and Conneticut, before moving to Idaho, where his parents are from. After high school, he went on to study Marketing at the College of Business and Economics at the University of Idaho, graduating there in 1988. Upon graduation, Jim moved to New York City, where he landed a job working at the indie-label Island Records in the late 80s. Eventually, he decided to pursue a career in film, and in the early 90s Jim moved to Los Angeles. He worked at both Disney and Universal before landing a job with Mel Gibson and Bruce Davey's Icon productions in 1992. Mr. Lemley rose through the ranks quickly at Icon. He helped establish their television branch, producing both the critically acclaimed Three Stooges (1999), and the TV movie Invincible (2001). In 2001, at the young age of 36, he was appointed the CEO of Icon's international distribution and production arm, Icon International in London, England. While at Icon, Jim worked on a variety of critically acclaimed films, including We Were Soldiers (2002), Payback (1999), Anna Karenina, 187, Immortal Beloved, Maverick. While at Icon, he met French actress Sophie Marceau on the set of Anna Karenina in Moscow in 1996. They began dating in 2001, and eventually had a daughter, Juliette, together in 2002. While they have since separated (in 2006) Jim still lives in Paris, to be available to his young daughter. He also remains good friends with Ms. Marceau. Since 2003, Mr. Lemley has gone on to become a successful independent producer. His professional partner, Russian director Timur Bekmambetov, has helped produce several of Lemley's recent projects, including the smash hit Wanted (2008) and the animated film 9 (2009). Mr. Lemley also executive produced the acclaimed French film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Mr. Lemley resides as a board advisor to his alma matter, the University of Idaho (College of Business and Economics), and is a frequent speaker there. To date, Lemley has been recognized by the Producers Guild for his outstanding production work, and continues to work as an independent producer out of Paris and Los Angeles.
