An Interview with James Ross Meskimen: American Stand-up Comedian, Actor, Voice Actor and Impressionist

“As you may have noticed, I have a bit of a passion to help. Artists in particular are at the top of my list of people I strive to help if I possibly can.” Jim Ross Meskimen

Tune in to the Help 2 Succeed Radio Show July 18th at 7pm EST for an interview with Jim Ross Meskimen – American Stand-up Comedian, Actor, Voice Actor and Impressionist. Learn how to excel and get tips to succeed. >> Interview

JIM MESKIMEN is an actor/impressionist who also writes and directs. His first career was as a visual artist, doing commercial art in New York City. During that time he took a job designing cartoon characters for an animated TV show called Thundercats, which became a hit show in the 80’s. Jim realized that being a voice actor was a better career path for him, and he began to work in radio and TV voiceovers, as well as animation for the same company (Rankin-Bass) that he had worked for as an illustrator.

He worked extensively in the 80’s and 90’s on TV campaigns as a man-on-the-street interviewer for grocery chains and other clients, in improvised commercials that won many awards.

In New York City, he was a member of several improv companies and did hundreds of live shows, culminating in guest starring spots on Britain’s Whose Line Is It, Anyway?

In 1993, Jim moved home to LA with his wife and young daughter and began pursuing a career in TV and film, beginning with the Fresh Prince of Bel Air and a role in Ron Howard’s Apollo 13.

Ron Howard, whom Jim had met as a boy on the set of his mother’s series Happy Days (she is Marion Ross, AKA Marion Cunningham) hired Jim for a total of five movies, including The Grinch and Frost/Nixon.

Jim has been on many major television programs as an actor; Friends, This is Us, SWAT, NCIS, Parks & Recreation, to name but a few.

His character voices have been heard on innumerable video games and animated shows; he is currently voicing a role on the latest Thundercats reboot, Thundercats Roar, for Cartoon Network, premiering this year.

He also has a thriving YouTube presence, with a channel that has had several viral hits. His Shakespeare in Celebrity Voices brought him global attention and lead to many opportunities, including an invitation to perform on America’s Got Talent in 2013, where he did his impressions at Radio City Music Hall.

As a writer, in 2016 he penned the short film Son to Son, a story about the Opioid Crisis and how It affects one family, which won 12 festival awards including Best Actor and Best Screenplay awards for Meskimen.

He is the voice of iconic Colonel Harland Sanders for the KFC brand on radio and television ads.

He is currently developing a screenplay for a feature film for him to play the lead, named unsurprisingly, The Impressionist, a comedic thriller set in Las Vegas.

Jim lives in Los Angeles with wife of thirty plus years Tamra Meskimen, who is one of the founders of The Acting Center, a revolutionary acting school in LA. His daughter Taylor Meskimen is an award-winning narrator and actress.

In his blog, Jim Ross Meskimen writes: “As you may have noticed, I have a bit of a passion to help. Artists in particular are at the top of my list of people I strive to help if I possibly can. In fact, when my wife Tamra founded started The Acting Center to provide criticism-free training for actors, I was happy to jump in and support this effort, and 13 years later, still do. “The Arts” cover a lot of ground. They embrace acting, writing, painting, music, graphic art, voice acting and much much more. Really any of the aesthetic fields that try to get a message across (one would hope with the intention of somehow improving conditions, even if only to show something needs improvement) qualify as art. What kind of help do artists typically need? One area of need amongst almost all emerging artists is self-confidence. Invalidation from others, as well as self-doubts, are huge stumbling blocks to overcome. So, simply validating ability and bolstering confidence are more valuable than one might realize.”