James Ortiz ’10
James Ortiz grew up in Richardson, TX, and discovered puppetry at a marionette theatre in his hometown. “And I realized that it was this amalgam of the two things that I was really passionate about—fine art and theatrical storytelling.”
While he intended to seek roles in classical theatre, his experience with puppetry led to his first job at a puppet opera at the New Victory Theater. “It was incredible.”
One thing led to another. He co-created, co-produced, starred in, and designed the puppets for the off-Broadway play The Woodsman, for which he won an Obie for puppet design.
He created gigantic puppet designs for the Delacorte stage in the Disney/PublicWorks production of Hercules, and in 2022, he won a Drama Desk for the puppets he designed for The Skin of Our Teeth at the Lincoln Center Theater (his Broadway debut). And his Milky White has stolen hearts in the most recent Broadway production of Into the Woods.
He believes his acting foundation sets him apart in the industry. “There is not a day that I don’t use everything that Purchase taught me in every aspect of what I’m doing,” he says. “I think one of the things that has allowed me to work as much as I have done, fingers crossed, I hope to continue, is the fact that I come from an acting background.”
