J. Blakemore was born in Columbus, Ohio, but grew up around the world with a father in the Air Force. While some people call that being an "Air Force Brat" he says "I choose the term "Third Culture Kid". It's more inclusive. I'm proud of dad, but I grew up with kids whose parents were diplomats and worked in private industry. They were there just like me. We all shared the experience of belonging to a club that didn't belong".

He started off as a stage actor when he was in college in Texas and has known he wanted to act since he was a child and it is the only reason he was able to attend college in the first place. In high school, he was involved in theatre competitions and one of them landed a full scholarship for theatre in a tiny little college. He went on to attend Baylor University and Rhode Island College.

His second passion is writing. In addition to scripts written for small production companies, he self-published a satirical political graphic novel about evangelicals for Trump (available on Amazon) and is presently working on publishing a novel series aimed at a Black Young Adult male audience.