James Hooton Biography
James Hooton is an English actor. He was born on 13 July 1973 in Carlton, Nottinghamshire, England. He is best known for his role as Sam Dingle on the popular ITV1 soap Emmerdale, a role he has played since 1995.
He started his career with the Carlton Junior Television Workshop. He made his television debut in the children’s TV series Your Mother Wouldn’t Like It, at the age of 12 in 1985. He has also appeared in several other programmes, including Peak Practice, The Bill, Heartbeat and Touching Evil.
He also appeared on the big screen in 1997, in British director Shane Meadows’ first feature film, Twenty Four Seven, where he played the character ‘Wolfman’ Knighty. James, also appeared in the first episode of Common As Muck.
James returned to the stage after an absence of 15 years to star in “Our Style is Legendary”, a new play by Daniel Hoffmann-Gill, about Nottingham in the 1980s, which premièred at the Tristan Bates Theatre in 2011. Our Style Is Legendary is set for a second run at the Nottingham Playhouse in May 2012, sponsored by LeftLion and co-funded by Arts Council England.
He has appeared as himself on Children in Need, Loose Women and with Emmerdale co-star Andy Devine on Soapstar Superchef.
James Hooton Age
He was born on 13 July 1973 in Carlton, Nottinghamshire, England.
James Hooton Wife
James is in a longterm relationship with Nancy Lucas, who runs a dance company called Total Dance. The two got engaged in 2010 on Valentine’s Day but are yet to marry.
James Hooton Children
James Hooton and Nancy Lucas have two children, both daughters, Lily and Ava-Rose Maureen Lucas Hooton. Their youngest daughter, Ava-Rose Maureen Lucas Hooton was born at 12:13am on 29 January 2016, weighing 8lb 3oz.

James Hooton Cleft Lip
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James Hooton Net Worth
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Emmerdale Sam Dingle star James Hooton hasn’t always been happy on the soap
Metro UK | 24 July, 2018
Emmerdale star James Hooton has admitted that there were periods of time when he wasn’t happy playing Sam Dingle – and considered stepping away from the role. Having been in the show across the best part of 23 years, he explained that there have been many ups and downs – but shared that he now feels in a better place regarding his work than ever.
Sam has been through a lot of drama during his time in the soap with his most notable story being when he assisted his beloved soulmate Alice to die after she became terminally ill. And history could be about to repeat itself when his current love interest Lydia Hart fears she has cancer. Reflecting on his time on the show, he told Metro.co.uk: ‘Meeting people like this young lady here (referring to co-star Karen Blick) has changed my outlook to work. It’s been 23 years off and on I’ve been involved in the show and obviously a lot of water goes under that bridge over that time.
‘I’ve gone through many years when I’ve not enjoyed the job as much as I might have done and it’s been a bit of a renaissance period for me as I’m enjoying the job more so than I ever have done and I think that’s in part down to working with Karen and what she brings to the table. We’ve got a lot of things in common.’
Asked what kept him going through the less enjoyable times, he smiled: ‘Pay cheques always help! I don’t have ambitions to go elsewhere and do other acting roles, so it was always the choice of could I go elsewhere and start another career path or can I try and stay here and enjoy my time here? Like I say, I’m enjoying my time here.’ And the well spoken star added that he prefers playing a character quite far from himself, even if people sometimes think they are speaking to Sam Dingle.
He said: ‘I think personally that it’s easier to hide beneath a character and I often feel exposed as an actor when I’m playing a role that’s closer to my own personality. So for me it feels easier to stick on a gurning face and attempt a Yorkshire accent and play the role from that angle. I enjoy playing characters. I’m never going to be a leading actor, I’m a character actor so for me this is a dream role.
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‘Generally people aren’t coming up to have a go at the character so you end up having very interesting chats in bars with people. They start in a certain way then go off on a tangent. You have the first couple of interactions and then people realise “maybe I can have a normal interaction”!.’