

Cast & creator
Best known for The Love Boat, The Love Boat, Touched by an Angel
John James Anderson is an American actor and producer best known to television audiences for playing the character of Jeff Colby in both the prime-time soap opera Dynasty and its spin-off series The Colbys throughout the 1980s. James is a veteran of daytime soaps, first appearing in Search for Tomorrow in the late 1970s. In 1981, he won the role of Jeff Colby in Dynasty, appearing in the very first episode, "Oil", and remaining on the soap opera until the final episode, Catch 22 in 1989. James played the same role in The Colbys between 1985 and 1987, and one last time in the 1991 TV movie, Dynasty: The Reunion. James was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his role in Dynasty in 1985 and appeared at the 1986 ceremony. The Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film went to Edward James Olmos. James returned to the genre playing Rick Decker on As the World Turns in 2003–04. In May 2006, he was cast in the role of Dr. Jeff Martin (the first husband of Erica Kane played by series star Susan Lucci) on the ABC daytime soap opera All My Children. He began airing the following month. On July 15, 2008, James returned to As the World Turns, reprising the role of demented Dr. Rick Decker. In film, James starred in Icebreaker with Sean Astin, Bruce Campbell, and Stacy Keach; in The Cursed aka Peril with Morgan Fairchild and Michael Pare; in Lightning: Fire from the Sky with Jesse Eisenberg, Stacy Keach and John Schneider and in Chronology with William Baldwin and Danny Trejo. He produced and starred in Illegal Aliens. All four movies were directed by David Giancola. In 2012, James starred in the Giancola documentary, Addicted to Fame (2012), about the making of their film Illegal Aliens. Currently, James is producing and starring in another Giancola's film, the sci-fi action adventure, Axcellerator. This film reunites him with The Colbys co-star Maxwell Caulfield while James' daughter Laura plays one of the roles.
17
film credits
13
television credits
29
1951–2026 · acting roles
5.7
average across scored titles
Signature credits
Across film & television
Showing 30 of 30 credits

Dr. Skip Van Damme
1977
Roberto Di Nardi / Enzo Carducci
1977
Sam Carver
1994
Jeff Colby
1981
Jason Kendall
1996
Self - Judge
1963
Michael Bretton
1984
Jeff Colby
1985


Jeff Colby
1991

Self
1993
Mayor Haines
2026
Will Langley
2000
Porter Randall
2001
Brett Huston
1991
Roebuck
2022
Eric Beckett
1987
Sy
2019
Executive Producer
2019
TV Announcer
2026
Carey Mays
1993
Ted Barnes
1984
Ben
2018
Joe Biden
2022
Tom
2016

James Comey
2020Narrator
2002