James Wearing Smith

James Wearing-Smith V (born 23 January 1967) is a British-born actor, musician, producer and writer. He first came to the attention of audiences in the United States in the Sylvester Stallone film Rambo also known as John Rambo. Wearing Smith appeared as a pilot in the 1996 film '. Later in his career, Wearing-Smith also appeared in the 2008 Hollywood film ' starring Nicolas Cage, a remake of an earlier independent film, written and directed by the Chinese Pang brothers.
Personal life
Wearing-Smith was born in a military hospital in St Pancras, London, the first son of two Australian doctors. He was born shortly after his parents had relocated from York, Pennsylvania, where they had been resident practitioners at the . His early years were spent in Europe, traveling with his parents, until they returned to Australia. Wearing-Smith attended Kelmscott Primary School from 1973-1979. Wearing-Smith's grandfather, James Wearing Smith III, was born in renowned Goldfields-Esperance town of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, on the 23rd February 1909, and enlisted into the Australian Army, fighting in both World War I and World War II, receiving The Rats of Tobruk medal of bravery for his services as one of the soldiers of the garrison that held the Libyan port of Tobruk against the Afrika Corps.
His early childhood years were spent growing up in Kelmscott, Western Australia, working at a local transportation company, loading and unloading trucks and later working at Lori’s Fuel Station as a bowser attendant and labourer.
In 1984, the same year his father, James Alexander Wearing Smith, passed away, Wearing-Smith matriculated from Hollywood Senior High School, an inner-city public school in Perth, Western Australia. Thereafter he attended the University of Western Australia, studying Anthropology, Computer science and Music. In 1991, he graduated from the Edith Cowan University with a Bachelor of Music majoring in performance, having attended the under the musical direction and leadership of conductor . Whilst studying at WAAPA, Wearing-Smith adopted the stage name James With.
Career
During his early primary school years Wearing-Smith was a member of the Kelmscott Primary School Choir, appearing regularly with the choir on Television in Australia, involved as a performer in broadcasts on television and over the radio, from many live recording sessions of the choir performing at the in Perth. The choir recorded a number of folk songs and an LP record was published with selected songs. The LP record title is "My Heart is Like a Singing Bird". Choir members also travelled and performed at venues around the country, including at the Sydney Opera House. The Kelmscott Primary School choir master was John Christmas, who later appeared with the choir on Battle of the Choirs. Wearing-Smith was inspired to pursue acting further from his early childhood experiences with the choir and appearances on television, dating back to his regular attendance of and performances at the local community theatre, Roleystone Theatre Company.
Attending the University of Western Australia, Wearing-Smith worked and supported himself by performing and teaching classical guitar. He performed regularly at the UWA Conservatorium of Music as a member of the Perth Undergraduate Choral Society (PUCS) and the Collegium Musicum Choir. Wearing-Smith auditioned for and was accepted to the WAPPA ; prior to this, he worked for a short time for the Commonwealth Bank at a branch office in Armadale, Western Australia.
Whilst studying at Edith Cowan University, Wearing-Smith was employed by the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and performed as a member of the West Australian Opera chorus. He appeared in seasonal operas, including La traviata, ' an opera by Jean-Baptiste Lully and various operas of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. In 1988, Wearing-Smith sang in the inaugural premiere of “The Southland” an original composition by the Australian pianist and composer Roger Smalley, orchestrated for chorus, Didgeridoo, Gamelan ensemble, Folk music group and large Orchestra, thematically encapsulating Aboriginal Australians, Asia, the British invasion of Australia in 1788 and its aftermath. These experiences likely influenced and ignited Wearing-Smith’s fascination with Asia.
Immediately after graduating from university, Wearing-Smith moved to Tokyo, Japan, where he taught English language and Computer software courses to the Japanese. He later worked as a licensed stockbroker for a registered Tokyo Stock Exchange securities firm. In the early 1990s, he invested into property in Thailand, which spurred him to move from Japan to Southeast Asia, where he worked on his first Hollywood movie, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. In that movie Wearing-Smith played the double for the character of Maxie Divine James Remar, performing action sequences and stunts and he was a stand-in for Roger Moore. Moore introduced Wearing-Smith to cigars, and a life-long passion for premium hand-rolled cigars began. His work on The Quest drew him to move to Hollywood, California and pursue further acting roles.

In the 1990s Wearing-Smith spent a considerable amount of time working in independent films, television commercial advertising and other media productions. He worked as an actor for Major film studio films and travelled regularly between residences in Phuket Province, Thailand and North Hollywood, Los Angeles. During this period Wearing-Smith began to produce documentaries and television commercials, setting up his first production company in Phuket, Thailand. Through his production company, Wearing-Smith provided producing services and film production services to clients desiring to film in Thailand. He continued working as an actor and in various production roles on production and productions filmed around Asia and the world, including in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and in the United States. Scouting international filming locations for production companies and providing Digital media samples to producers formed part of the scope of services Wearing-Smith provided. The 1997 Asian financial crisis affected Thailand film production, and despite a sudden decline in the value of the Thai Baht, the number of foreign productions using Thailand fell.
In 1999 Wearing-Smith decided to relocate to Hong Kong, and went back working in the financial industry, working for Macquarie Group and a private Asset management firm. In the aftermath of the terrible September 11 attacks in 2001, the financial industry and film industry went into free fall, along with many other businesses. Whilst living in Hong Kong, Wearing-Smith established TRI-US Entertainment , a company that focused on producing live and filmed entertainment. During this time, Wearing-Smith moved his focus towards an increasing awareness on international co-productions in Asia and raising funding for joint venture projects. He was able to grow his business operations, utilising a hybrid mix of hands-on producing experience and expertise gained from his experiences working in Investment banking, with Private equity funds and Asset management firms, as well as with Media and Entertainment companies and executives. Wearing-Smith continued working with Asian film directors and movie stars, including Jackie Chan in The Medallion as well as assisting with production services for Hollywood movies filming in Asia, such as and Rescue Dawn . Wearing-Smith worked often with Hong Kong film companies and in sound stages in the New Territories and Thailand. Wearing-Smith continued to work in recording studios for the Major film studios, being employed on motion picture productions produced by 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures.
In 1995, Wearing-Smith worked on locations in the Philippines playing the character of Brian Douglas in Robo Warriors, a Science fiction film and action film drama starring James Remar, with whom Wearing-Smith had worked earlier on 'The Quest'. Robo Warriors was released in 1996 as a Paramount Pictures-Republic Pictures co-production. In 1996 Wearing-Smith applied for and was accepted to a specialist acting course for film and television at the National Institute of Dramatic Art on the campus of the University of New South Wales, Australia. Shortly after completing acting studies at NIDA, Wearing Smith worked on a Singapore production with film director Oliver Stone, a series of scenes focused Asian Motorola advertising production that introduced the concept of Wireless network communications and 2G and 2.5G telecommunications technology.
In 2001 Wearing-Smith played the character of Dominic Tonelli in the US-Sino co-production television series “Flatland” starring Dennis Hopper playing the character of Smith. The episodes Wearing-Smith appeared in were filmed on locations and in Chinese film studios located on the outskirts of Shanghai, China.
In 2002, Wearing-Smith established TRI-US Entertainment in Hong Kong, a company that focused on producing live and filmed entertainment. TRI-US Entertainment expanded and opened offices in Thailand (2004) and a joint-venture partnership in India (2009). Filming on A Stranger in Paradise was affected by the 2011 Thailand floods; Wearing-Smith was a producer for the film and also played Agent Zane, an undercover US agent investigating a fraudulent hedge fund operator with family links to Thailand. The film had its world premiere on February 14, 2014.
In 2007, Wearing-Smith was cast in Rambo (also known as Rambo IV and John Rambo), as a preacher missionary character in the film, and his character is spectacularly blown up in a strike whilst preaching to a group of villagers.
In the latter part of 2016 Wearing-Smith and his wife moved to Vienna, Austria to pursue business opportunities. Wearing-Smith spent the period from then until 2019 predominantly in Europe, taking occasional trips to Asia, Cuba and the Dominican Republic and travelling in Latin America developing a luxury cigar brand.

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