Meet the late Hollywood actor Bill Paxton’s son James Paxton, who’s in Twisters with Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones to honour his father – and has just released his first single

From a career pivot to following in his father’s footsteps, here’s what we know about James Paxton and why he’s now adamant about becoming an actor.

He didn’t always want to be an actor

While he scored his first on-screen cameo aged nine in the film Spy Kids 3: Game Over, James actually had his heart set on becoming a broadcast journalist, according to an interview he gave Vestal. But he ultimately decided to shift focus and pursue a career in the film industry. It was during this time that he worked on the set of his dad’s 2014 film Nightcrawler as a property production assistant.

Per People, he then studied acting and dedicated two years to auditioning full-time before landing a lead role as one of the cast of 2016 show Eyewitness, playing the part of Lukas Waldenbeck in 10 episodes.

His father was ‘reticent’ about James’ acting career …

James revealed in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly that his father was “reticent” about his acting ambitions and tried to convince him to stay away from the film industry. Bill advised his son to focus and develop his other passions instead. “He knows this is a very tough path and there’s a lot of ups and downs and adversity that you go through just trying to build a career of longevity in acting and filmmaking,” he said.

… but continues to inspire James’ career choices

James chose to make a cameo appearance in Twisters because he wanted to honour his father’s legacy. “I wanted to do something that really honours his presence in this new chapter and really do something for him. And I realised there’s a lot of amazing people involved in this that I would love to get to know. And so it ended up feeling like the right thing to do, to be representative of dad there,” he shared in the same Entertainment Weekly interview.

The role wasn’t a slam dunk, though. James had to audition for it, and when it was offered, he needed “a little bit of time to process it” because it was “emotional” and not “something that I could really decide immediately”.

Soon the 30-year-old will be seen playing Jedidiah Dooley in the upcoming film Last Train to Fortune. The project has been in on-and-off development since 1994 – the year James was born – and his father, Bill, was originally cast to play Dooley.

The actor is also a musician

A vocalist, lyricist and budding guitarist and keyboardist, James has been in music since the age of 13 when he started making music with a friend, per Revamp.

Just this week, he released his first single Count on Me, which he worked on during downtime while filming Twisters. He calls the song, which delves into the themes of grief and coping, “the most personal thing I’ve ever put out”.

“When my dad passed, music really became my main outlet and I started to write these songs by myself on the guitar. It took a long time to feel confident to even record them,” he told People magazine.