He has appeared as himself on Children in Need, Loose Women and with Emmerdale co-star Andy Devine on Soapstar Superchef. In 2009, he also attended the Eurogamer Expo alongside co-star Alex Carter where he revealed that he was trying to get sponsorship for a video game show he was planning to pitch to television studios.

In 1985, at the age of 12, he made his television debut in the children’s TV series Your Mother Wouldn’t Like It. He has also appeared in several other programmes, including Peak Practice, The Bill, Heartbeat and Touching Evil. He also appeared on the big screen in 1997, in British director Shane Meadows’ first feature film, Twenty Four Seven, where he played the character ‘Wolfman’ Knighty. James, also appeared in the first episode of Common As Muck.

James returned to the stage after an absence of 15 years to star in “Our Style is Legendary”, a new play by Daniel Hoffmann-Gill, about Nottingham in the 1980s, which premièred at the Tristan Bates Theatre in 2011. Our Style Is Legendary is set for a second run at the Nottingham Playhouse in May 2012, sponsored by LeftLion and co-funded by Arts Council England.

James Hooton (born 13 July 1973) is an English actor best known for his role as Sam Dingle on the popular ITV1 soap Emmerdale who he has played since 1995. He started his career with the Carlton Junior Television Workshop.