James Dalessandro was born in Cleveland, Ohio on September 3, 1948, and attended Valley Forge High School. He received his BA degree at Ohio University, in Athens, Ohio, and studied screenwriting at UCLA, but did not receive a degree. For many years, he worked as a writer in the trailer/marketing department at Columbia Pictures, where he worked on dozens of films.

From 1973-77, he was co-founder of The Santa Cruz Poetry Festival, with Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and served as its director for four years. As the nation's largest annual literary festival, it brought Charles Bukowski, William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Ken Kesey, Michael McClure, Gary Snyder, and musicians like Anthony Braxton and Charles Lloyd to the seaside town of Santa Cruz, which set attendance records (over 2,000 people per night) at the Civic Auditorium. It ushered in what Lawrence Ferlinghetti called "A new birth of American Poetry."

Dalessandro was also the writer of "The House of Blues Radio Hour," which was hosted by Dan Aykroyd (as Elwood Blues). He was also the writer/creator of "Rock On" with The Doors' keyboardist Ray Manzarek. Both projects were produced for Ben Manilla Productions of San Francisco.

He has published four books, Canary In A Coal Mine (poetry), Bohemian Heart (detective fiction), Citizen Jane (true crime), and 1906 (historical fiction). He is also the writer/director of the award winning documentary film, The Damnedest, Finest Ruins.

He teaches screenwriting at Academy of Art University in San Francisco. He has lectured at the Cinequest Film Festival and the L.A. Screenwriting Expo. He formerly taught "Screenwriting as a Pro" at Fort Mason Art Center in San Francisco.

He is married (since 1988) and has an adopted son.