James Ursini (born May 10, 1947) is an American writer living in Los Angeles, and an educator. He received his master's degree in Theater Arts and a Doctorate in Film in 1975 from UCLA. He was born on May 10, 1947, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.He has written and/or edited over a dozen books—most with Alain Silver and two with Dominique Mainon (The Modern Amazons: Warrior Women On-Screen and Cinema of Obsession: Erotic Fixation and Love Gone Wrong in the Movies). He is noted for his work on film noir with Alain Silver (The Noir Style, The Film Noir Reader series, Film Noir, LA Noir, etc.) He has also done director studies on David Lean, Robert Aldrich, Preston Sturges, and Roger Corman and numerous DVD commentaries for Warner Bros., 20th Century-Fox, and the Criterion Collection. He has also produced several features and short documentaries as well as appearing in documentaries on film noir.