He was born John Oliver Cromwell in Los Angeles, California, but raised in Manhattan, New York. He is the son of John Cromwell and actress Kay Johnson. James Cromwell was educated at The Hill School, Middlebury College and the Carnegie Institute of Technology. He studied acting at Carnegie Mellon University. He went into the theater (like both his parents) doing everything from Shakespeare to experimental plays.

He began work in television in the mid-1970s (notably Stretch Cunningham on All in the Family and a lead character in "Hot L Baltimore"), made his film debut in 1976, and goes back to the stage periodically.

Cromwell starred as a series regular in the last two seasons of the HBO original series Six Feet Under. He portrayed George Sibley, Ruth Fisher's geologist husband. Other notable roles include farmer Arthur Hoggett in Babe (1995) and Dr. Zefram Cochrane in Star Trek: First Contact (1996) (the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "In a Mirror, Darkly" later reused some of this footage [1]). He has appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He portrayed Bishop Lionel Stewart in several episodes of ER (2001), U.S. President Robert "Bob" Fowler in The Sum of All Fears (2002) and the role of former President D. Wire Newman in an episode of The West Wing (2004). He played Dr. Alfred Lanning, creator of modern robots and inventor of the Three Laws of Robotics in the 2004 movie I, Robot. He also recently appeared as the warden in the remake of The Longest Yard .

Cromwell has long been an advocate of progressive causes. In the late 60's he was a member of "The Committee to Defend The Panthers", a group organized to defend 13 members of the Black Panther Party who had been imprisoned in New York and were eventually released. In a 2004 interview with CNN.com, Cromwell praised the Panthers. Cromwell is also an ethical vegan and frequently speaks out on issues regarding animal cruelty.

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