Emily James trained at Edinburgh College of Art and Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. She was a finalist for the 1997 Linbury Prize for Stage Design. 

Design work includes: A Streetcar Named Desire, The Snow Queen (Edinburgh Lyceum); Shirley Valentine (Pitlochry Festival Theatre); Orphans (NTS/UK Tour); Oh When The Saints (Perth Theatre); A Christmas Carol; Tay Bridge; Gagarin Way (Dundee Rep); Jury Play (Grid Iron); Adam (NTS/London/New York); Factor 9 (Dogstar Theatre Tour) - Scotland, Sweden and Denmark; The Dream Train,Right Now (Traverse Theatre); Music is Torture (Tron Theatre); The Soaking of Vera Shrimp (Pleasance/ Edinburgh Festival Fringe); Jumping Puddles (Live Theatre, Newcastle); Freebird (Bristol Old Vic); Playstars (Soho Theatre); Jerusalem Syndrome (Royal Exchange); Cyrano de Bergerac, Bugsy Malone (Plymouth Theatre Royal); Sitting Pretty (Nuffield Theatre/ National Tour); Peter Grimes (Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury); Master Harold and the Boys, Teechers (Nuffield Theatre, Southampton); 20,000 Leagues under the Sea (Theatre Royal Stratford East); Men do not go to War over Women (Battersea Arts Centre); Wild, Wild Women (Orange Tree Theatre).