Born in Virginia, Pell James moved to New York City to study at the Tisch School of Arts at NYU.
Her first role was as a guest star on a CBS pilot directed by Oscar-winner Barry Levinson (Rain Man, Bugsy). She also starred in an Ikea commercial directed by Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums) before landing her first small role in a feature, Black and White (2000).
After a 2002 guest appearance on the hit show Law & Order, her career began to take off with a supporting role in Uptown Girls (2003) starring Dakota Fanning and Brittany Murphy. More supporting roles followed, including in Broken Flowers (2005) with Bill Murray. Her first starring role came in Undiscovered (2005), playing a model trying to make it as an actress in Los Angeles. She followed that up with another starring role, this time as a young newlywed in the thriller Neighborhood Watch (2005).
