Biography

James Norgard discovered his love of acting in high school and community theater in Albert Lea, MN. The "game of life" deferred his acting dreams until his early 50's, when he was cast as an extra in a local Twin Cities feature film "Midnight Chronicles."

In between he graduated from the University of Minnesota and met and married his high school sweetheart, settling in Minneapolis, MN, where his day jobs included public relations, automobile sales and customer service.

After "Midnight Chronicles," Norgard appeared in a number of short contest and "film race" films. His big break came in 2010, when he received national exposure playing a hunter in "The Lizard Monster" episode of the History's Channel's Monster Quest.

2011 saw Norgard cast in four DVD feature films: Nicole Kruex and Mitchell Jones' "After the Dawn," the Bruening Brothers'"Gehenna," Matt Cici's "Lambent Fuse," and Christopher R. Mihm's 50's horror movie homage "Attack of the Moon Zombies."

Norgard and Mihm have formed a special relationship as both were inspired and influenced by the cheesy black and white horror and sci-fi films of the 1950's. Norgard has since appeared in major roles in Mihm's "House of Ghosts" (2012) and "The Giant Spider" (2013). In 2013 Norgard was also cast in the Bruening Brother's "The Devil's Hour." Norgard celebrated 2014 by reprising his role as Dr. Gabriel in "The Wall People," the second half of "The Late Night Double Feature."

2015 saw Norgard take a new direction, playing "Grandpa" in Mihm's tenth feature film in ten years, "Danny Johnson Saves the World." He played against type in 2016, portraying the evil Nazi scientist Dr. Schramm in Mihm's "Weresquito: Nazi Hunter. Norgard reprised his role of Dr. Gabriel in Mihm's 2017 epic "Demon With The Atomic Brain." Norgard rang in the new year of 2018 by portraying The Governor in "Guns of the Apocalypse," which he also associate produced. Covid put his acting career on pause until his return as "Dr. Gabriel" in Mihm's 2022 release "The Phantom Lake Kids in The Beast Walks Among Us." The 2023 release of Mihm's "Annihilate All Humans" saw Norgard (Dr. Gabriel) teaming up once again with actor Michael Cook (Dr. Edwards). Since then he has appeared in Mihm's "The Wad," and "Three Bad Girls Who Found a Gun and Became Vampires," and "The Wandering Creature and Other Tales."

Norgard has recently branched out into print and TV commercials, appearing in ads for 3M and the Minnesota State Lottery.

Norgard lives in Brooklyn Park, MN with his wife Linda and two cats. In his spare time he enjoys worshiping the ground his wife walks on, playing video games and spoiling his great-nieces and nephews.
- IMDb mini biography by: James Norgard