Buddug Verona James is a Welsh mezzo-soprano opera singer and actress, born and brought up in Cardigan, West Wales, to Welsh parents. Before pursuing her musical studies she worked in one of her father's butcher shops in the town, later describing herself as "Opera Singer, Actress and Butcher". She trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the National Opera Studio, and in Rome, and won the Welsh Singers Competition in 1986.
She specialises in "trouser roles", and has performed Gluck's Orfeo in America and Canada, Dardano in Handel's 'Amadigi' in New York and Europe, and Cherubino in Mozart's 'The Marriage of Figaro' in Tokyo and Toronto. She has worked with major companies including Glyndebourne, Opera North, Dutch National Opera, English Touring Opera and Cleveland Opera, and has premiered operas by composers including Gerald Barry, Jonathan Dove and Wolfgang Rihm.
Alongside her singing career, James has filmed acting roles for the BBC, HTV and S4C, and performed Lady Capulet in 'Romeo and Juliet' for the National Theatre of Wales. In 2001 she was honoured with the Druidic White Robe of Gorsedd y Beirdd at the National Eisteddfod, and she is on the professorial staff in Vocal and Opera Studies at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.