L. Frank James was born into a Christian home in 1949 in Pasadena, California. He was reared in the church, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ was an important element during his formative years. His family would rarely miss Sunday worship service, and Frank was always very involved in Sunday school youth groups, Christian camps, Christian youth activities and fellowship.

In high school Frank began to study drama. His interest in the theater and drama continued throughout college and he graduated from California State University in Los Angeles with a B.A. in Theater Arts.

He married and remained in Los Angeles to attend UCLA where he received a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Theater. Over the course of his career, he has been involved in every aspect of the theater, both community and professional, writing, performing, directing and producing. His outstanding performances have won numerous acting awards including the Robert Reed award, the Birdsal Award and the Elly Award. He has also performed and directed with several international touring companies. As many college students will, Frank began to move away from his childhood faith. While he never forgot his Christian roots, his parents were afraid that the church was not a big part of his life as a young adult.

That all changed in the emotional aftermath following his mother’s death from cancer in 1976 as Frank began to rethink the faith of his youth. Although he stayed in southern California throughout the 1980s in order to pursue his career in acting and theater, when the opportunity arose to help start a church planting effort in northern California, he and his family left everything and moved.

Tragically, while MR. INSIDE was still in the process of being printed, L. Frank James died in an auto accident September 2, 2007, on his way to church. He was a pastor at Valley Springs Presbyterian Church in Roseville, California. An accomplished playwright and an award-winning actor who held an M.F.A. in Theatre from UCLA, he reached many thousands with the gospel of Jesus Christ in his short fifty-seven years. He is survived by his wife Charlotte, four adult children, and sixteen-year-old twin daughters. He will be profoundly missed.

L. Frank James was the author of several plays and has published a number of church-format sketches for Sunday morning worship events through Plastow Publications. His first novel, AN OPENED GRAVE, received rave reviews from a variety of critics and was awarded first place of the Best Books of 2006 for religious fiction by USA Book News. His second novel, MR. INSIDE, has just been released.

Books by L. Frank James

Mr. Inside: The Adventures of Lost and Found International

by L. Frank James - Christian, Fiction