Duncan Airlie James

Duncan Airlie James
Born	Duncan Campbell (1961-05-23) 23 May 1961 Glasgow, Scotland
Nationality	Scottish
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	98 kg (216 lb; 15.4 st)
Division	Heavyweight
Style	Kickboxing, Muay Thai
Fighting out of	Glasgow, Scotland
Team	Strikeforce Glasgow
Years active	198?–2006
Kickboxing record
Total	48
Wins	32
Losses	14
Draws	2
No contests	0
Other information
Occupation	Actor / Former Kickboxer
Website	http://www.duncanairliejames.com/

Duncan Airlie James (born Duncan Campbell on 23 May 1961) is a Scottish actor best known for his roles in Starred Up and The Greyness of Autumn. He is a former heavyweight kickboxer^[1][2] and was the first Scottish fighter to win a world Muay Thai title and fight in K-1.

Early life

James was born Duncan Campbell and was educated at the fee-paying Keil School where he was a competitive rugby player. His martial arts background began when he took up Shotokan karate. He was also a drummer and played with a number of bands including Nazareth. He moved to Boston, Massachusetts in the US to pursue new musical avenues.^[3]

Kickboxing career

When he returned to Scotland, he took up Muay Thai kickboxing in the late 1980s. In 1993, he won his first title, the World Kickboxing Association Commonwealth Light Heavyweight Championship. After successfully defending that title, he vacated it and moved up to the Cruiserweight division and later the Heavyweight division where he won a number of other titles. In February 1999, he made his K-1 debut against Japanese legend Musashi at K-1 Rising Sun '99 and lost via technical knockout after being knocked down three times in the third round. He went on to fight twice more in Japan that year, drawing with Yoji Anjo and losing to karate master Nobuaki Kakuda.

He retired in 2006 with a record of 32 wins, 14 losses and 2 draws.

Titles and honours

Muay Thai:

• WKA Commonwealth Super Light Heavyweight Champion (1993)
• ISKA World Super Cruiserweight Champion (1998)
• WKN World Heavyweight Champion (2001)
• WAKO World Heavyweight Champion (2003)
• WKF World Heavyweight Champion (2005)
• WPKA World Heavyweight Champion

Kickboxing:

• WKO World Cruiserweight Champion (1995)
• WKA World Heavyweight Champion (2001)

Kickboxing record

32 Wins, 14 Losses, 2 Draws
Date	Result	Opponent	Event	Method	Round	Time	Location	Notes
2006	Loss	Daniel Waciakowski		TKO (shoulder injury)				For WPKL and KL World Heavyweight Championships.
15 April 2006	Loss	Giuseppe DiNatale	Colosseum 2	KO (punches)			Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada	For IKF World Heavyweight Muay Thai Championship.
May, 2005	Win	Tibor Nagy	World Professional Kickboxing Association/World Kickboxing Federation	Decision (Unanimous)	-	-	Glasgow, Scotland	Wins World Professional Kickboxing Association and World Kickboxing Federation World Heavyweight Muay Thai Championships.
22 February 2004	Loss	Chris Batcheldor	K-1 Battle of Britain 2004	Decision	3	3:00	Wolverhampton, England
November, 2003	Win	Angelo Grenata	WAKO	TKO	2	-	Palermo, Italy	Wins WAKO World Heavyweight Muay Thai Championship.
13 April 2003	Loss	Phil Williams	K-1 World Grand Prix 2003 Preliminary UK	Decision	5	3:00	Birmingham, England
5 April 2002	Loss	Sergei Ivanovich		Decision	3	1:53	Motherwell, Scotland	For WAKO and ISKA World Heavyweight Muay Thai Championships.
30 June 2001	Win	Stephane Reveillon	World Kickboxing Network	KO	1	-	Belfast, Northern Ireland	Wins World Kickboxing Network World Heavyweight Muay Thai Championship.
April, 2001	Win			KO	1		Worcester, England	Wins WKA International Super Heavyweight Championship.
16 April 2000	Loss	John Wyatt	K-1 UK Battle of Britain 2000	TKO	2	2:00	Birmingham, England
6 June 1999	Loss	Nobuaki Kakuda	K-1 Survival '99	Decision (Unanimous)	5	3:00	Sapporo, Japan
15 May 1999	Loss	Jerome Turcan	Strikeforce	Decision	5	3:00	San Jose, California, USA
22 March 1999	Draw	Yoji Anjo	K-1 The Challenge '99	Decision	5	3:00	Tokyo, Japan
3 February 1999	Loss	Musashi	K-1 Rising Sun '99	TKO (3 Knockdowns)	2	2:52	Tokyo, Japan
16 August 1998	Loss	Chris Wright		KO	2	2:04	St. Helens, England	Loss I.K.F Pro Muay Thai Cruiserweight World Title.
June, 1998	Win	Christophe de Tholomaise		Decision			Bangor, Northern Ireland	Wins ISKA World Super Cruiserweight Muay Thai Championship.
1997	Win	Paul Senior	WKA: Quest	KO	-	-	Birmingham, England	Wins WKA: Quest Cruiserweight tournament.
September, 1995	Win	Hassan Babchi		KO	1	-	Glasgow, Scotland	Wins WKO Cruiserweight World Championship.
9 October 1993	Win	Lee Hasdell	WKA	TKO (cut)	-	-	England	Wins WKA Light Heavyweight Commonwealth Muay Thai Championship.

Acting

Duncan Airlie James (centre) at the premiere of In Search of La Che

When he retired from the world of kickboxing, Duncan retrained as an actor. After appearing in a number of short films and a small cameo appearance in the film Perfect Sense, Duncan landed his first leading role when he was asked to play the lead character of John Tavish in the Scottish feature film In Search of La Che. Whilst the film itself received mixed reviews on both sides of the Atlantic, critics were quick to applaud Duncan's performance.^[4]

2012 saw Duncan star in many and varied short films including The Priest With Two Guns directed by Rodney Reynolds. The film centres around Father O'Reilly who is troubled when he discovers his brother is in debt to a local money lender.^[5] The film went on to pick up a grand jury prize at the 2014 Amsterdam Film Festival.^[6] The end of 2012 saw Duncan lend his voice to one of his most recognised roles to date in the short comedy film The Greyness of Autumn.^[7] Duncan voiced the character of Danny McGuire, an ostrich living in Glasgow whose life is suddenly turned upside down when he loses his job and his girlfriend in the same day. The film enjoyed great success in the United States,^[8] Ireland^[9] and the United Kingdom where it featured in the 2014 edition of the Portobello Film Festival.^[10] Duncan's performance was widely praised with John McArthur of MovieScramble writing "The hook at the start of the film is the voice of Danny. A deep, resonant and very individual vocal draws you in immediately."^[11] In 2013 he played the role of Officer White opposite Jack O'Connell in Starred Up,^[12][13] a feature film directed by David Mackenzie. The film went on to win 3 awards at the 2014 British Academy Scotland Awards including Best Feature Film.^[14]

2015 will see Duncan star in the leading role of Major Doug Bormann in Fanatic. He will be reunited with Luke Aherne who directed the web series Frank.

Filmography

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Duncan Airlie James.

• Official Duncan Airlie James Site
• Duncan Airlie James at the Internet Movie Database
• Homepage of G.K Entertainment (Formally Battlegroup International)
• Katana Fighting Homepage
• Title Fight
• Promotion