James David Maslow (born July 16, 1990) is an American actor and singer. He is best known for playing the role of James Diamond on Nickelodeon's Big Time Rush and is a member of the boy band with the same name.Maslow was born in New York City, New York, and raised in La Jolla, California. His father is Jewish and his mother is Catholic; he was raised Jewish, attended Hebrew school six days a week during his childhood, and had a Bar Mitzvah. He has described himself as a "religious and spiritual person". At the age of six, Maslow began training as a singer when his parents placed him in the San Diego Children's Choir. He attended La Jolla and Torrey Pines elementary schools, Muirlands Middle School, and San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts.[7] He had a small role in the San Diego Opera's production of La bohème when he was 10 years old.He attended acting camp at the La Jolla Playhouse, got his first agent when he was 14, and performed as Marius in a production of Les Misérables.Quitting the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts (SDSCPA) mid-way through the 10th grade, Maslow switched to Coronado School of the Arts (CoSA). He graduated from CoSA in 2007 in the musical theater department.Big Time Rush is an American pop singing group that formed in 2009. The other three members are Kendall Schmidt, Carlos Pena, Jr., and Logan Henderson, all on vocals. Nickelodeon cast for the new sitcom in 2007. Maslow sent in his audition tape and received the role of James Diamond two years later. An album of original songs from the first season plus some others was released October 11, 2010, entitled B.T.R. It sold 67,000 copies in its first week and was certified Gold by the RIAA six months later in April 2011. On November 21, 2011, the band released their second album called "Elevate" which sold 70, 000 copies on its first week. Maslow and his band mates co wrote 8 out of the 12 songs. Maslow wrote "Elevate", "Love Me Love Me" and the first single from the album, "Music Sounds Better With U". The UK version of the album included a bonus song called "Epic" which he also helped write. Maslow and Big Time Rush have a new album called 24/Seven which was released in June 2013. The band will promote the album with the tour shared with Victoria Justice called the Summer Break Tour.[10] which began on June 21.Maslow made his acting debut in 2008 as Shane in an episode of the Nickelodeon show iCarly. He also appeared in urFRENZ in 2009, in which he portrayed a character named Brandon. In 2012, he filmed an episode of See Dad Run, playing the role of actor Scott Baio's former TV son, Ricky. It was announced on March 4, 2014 that he will take part on the 18th season of Dancing with the Stars. He is paired with professional dancer Peta Murgatroyd.