James Southey Coombes was born on 8 October 1956 in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales. He trained as an actor at the Birmingham School of Speech and Drama between 1975 and 1978, before building a long career across British film, television and theatre.
Coombes is best known to television audiences for playing Grendel in HTV's Robin of Sherwood, Pierre Challon in the final series of the BBC drama Howards' Way, and Iain Strathmorris in the Scottish soap Take the High Road. He also became a familiar face in the 1980s as the black-polo-topped "Milk Tray Man" in the famous chocolate adverts, and appeared as Paroli in the 1984 Doctor Who serial Warriors of the Deep.
His screen credits span decades and genres, from playing Richard Gere's son in the biblical epic King David, to Sir Lancelot opposite Whoopi Goldberg in Disney's A Knight in Camelot, to guest roles in Boon, Drop the Dead Donkey, Heartbeat, Bugs, Holby City, The Bill and My Family. He appeared as Governor De Rouvray in the History Channel series Knightfall, and toured the UK and Ireland playing Dr Jake Houseman in Dirty Dancing, following runs in the West End. He is a founding trustee of the theatre company Persever Productions and a trustee of the charity Acting for Others.
Coombes trained extensively for the stage as well, with seasons at Chichester Festival, Bristol Old Vic, the Young Vic and Birmingham Rep among others. He stepped back from acting during the Covid-19 pandemic and now works as a photographer and civil funeral celebrant, while continuing to tutor and direct at drama schools including the Academy of Creative Training in Brighton.