James Armando Fitzpatrick was born in Omaha, Nebraska but returned to Clearwater Beach, Florida at three months of age where his parents (Jim Sr. and Cookie) are from and began his acting career on the stage at the tender age of 13 when he appeared in his first school play, "A Thousand Clowns," at Seminole (Florida) High School. Jim accepted a football scholarship to Illinois State University as a theater major where he became involved with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company founded by Gary Sinise
