To ‘Young and Restless’ (Y&R) fans, he’s that homeless teenager raised through the foster care system. However, to other TV audiences and magazine readers in the late 80s, he’s that 2-year old child sporting jerry curls on various TV and magazine ads. But Bryton James is all of the foregoing and more. He’s an American actor, singer, and voice artist whose journey to the limelight began quite early in life as he was richly influenced by his upbringing in a musical family. Read on to see his bio, net worth, marriage, and more.
Bryton James Early Life
Bryton Eric McClure was born on the 17th day of August 1986 in Lakewood, California, to Eric and Bette McClure. He grew up in Fullerton, California, USA. James acknowledges that his parents invested so much in his upbringing. He was very close to his mother who raised him without babysitters even as his father, Eric McClure, was always busy at the recording studio. At age 4, James starred in a hit TV series, ‘Family Matters’ where he played Richie Crawford from 1990 to 1997, making 200 appearances on the popular show. He began portraying Devon Hamilton on ‘Y&R’ since 2004 and was a guest star on ‘The Vampire Diaries’ in its second season where he played Luka Martin.
James won the 2007 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series and got nominations for the award in 2006 and 2008. He also won the 2009 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Daytime Series, after getting nominated for the same award from 2005 through 2008. James got the Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in 2016. In 2018, he was unveiled to join the cast of Nickelodeon’s upcoming animated series, ‘Glitch Techs’.
In addition to acting, James has done voice work for several popular TV series including ‘Star Wars Rebels’, ‘Winx Club’, ‘Beyond Believix’, ‘Young Justice’, ‘Hero Factory’, ‘Kids from Room 402’, ‘The Jungle Book’, and ‘Zevo-3’. A recording artist, James performed on Disney Channel and some other US and international networks. In 1996, he founded his own charity, ‘RADD (Recording Artists, Actors, and Athletes Against Drunk Driving) Kids’, which has since been recognized by the US government for outstanding youth safety network. He has received several other honors including the Michael London Award for charitable contributions through youth entertainment.
Among his high points in his meeting with the legendary king of pop, Michael Jackson, at an NAACP Award. Jackson would later invite James’s family to the Neverland Ranch where James spent almost every birthday. Bryton James enjoyed a long-standing relationship and mentoring with Jackson before the legend passed away. James resides in Southern California and his hobbies include racing go-karts, snowboarding, video games, and live performances. Reflecting on his music, James says he relishes live performances a great deal for their instant effect on the audience, adding that he ‘enjoyed that quite a bit’.
He Is Building His Net Worth From Acting And A Bit of Music
With a thriving acting career laced with several Emmy awards, James has an estimated net worth of $2 million. Apart from acting, James debuted his first single ‘Ooh, the Way I Feel About You’ on the German TV series, ‘Stars 2000′, making the list of ’20 Top Hits: Winter Extra 2000’ alongside the likes of Britney Spears. He has done various live performances on international networks and major US broadcast networks.
Is He Married and Does He Have Children?
Bryton James married Ashley Leisinger on March 16, 2011. But in June 2014, the union hit the rocks and they parted ways. Nevertheless, the two are still great friends. Meanwhile, James found another love in Sterling Victorian whom he met way back in 2008. The relationship went public in 2015 and the enraptured James would describe Sterling as ‘one of the most special people’ he had met, and ‘couldn’t imagine’ his life without her. Even though he’s a godfather to Michael Caden, son of his childhood friend, Christel Khalil; and Ford, the eldest son of his ‘Y&R’ co-star, Daniel Goddard, Bryton James currently seems to be more focused on his career than on having kids.
Who Was Bryton James Father?
Bryton’s father was Eric McClure. Eric was a musician, songwriter, and music producer, all of which influenced James a great deal. In his first and half years of life, James was all about rock music because that was what his father played. James would listen to Led Zeppelin’s ‘The Song Remains The Same’ and watches the same all day on repeat, with his little guitar in his hand. Eric worked for Kenny Rogers for three years and died in 2015.
