ACTOR
James D. Rolfe
- Known for
- Smiling Friends (2020)
27 archived facts 2 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
James D. Rolfe is an actor best known for Smiling Friends.
All facts (27)
- #001
When James D. Rolfe made his first Angry Video Game Nerd video, he intended to show it only to a few friends as a joke.
- #002
Among his favorite bands are Black Sabbath (Ozzy/Dio), Deep Purple, Judas Priest, Led Zeppelin, Metallica, AC/DC, The Who, The Offspring, Queen, Guns N' Roses, Pink Floyd, ZZ Top, The Rolling Stones, Iron Maiden, White Zombie/Rob Zombie, Tool, Primus, System of a Down, Boston, Survivor, Van Halen, Slayer, Def Leppard, Heart, Aerosmith, Rush, Mötley Crüe, The Misfits, Ramones, Blue Öyster Cult and Whitesnake.
- #003
His favorite films: * The War of the Worlds (1953) * The Transformers: The Movie (1986) * The Sandlot (1993) * The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) * The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) * Dawn of the Dead (1978) * Evil Dead II (1987) * Frankenstein (1931) * Jason and the Argonauts (1963)/Clash of the Titans (1981) * The Blob (1958) * Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) * Halloween (1978) * Planet of the Apes (1968) * First Blood (1982) * Wayne's World (1992)/Wayne's World 2 (1993) * Plan 9 from Outer Space (1958) * Godzilla (1954) * Dracula (1931) * Full Metal Jacket (1987) * Scarface (1983) * The Wolf Man (1941) * One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) * Groundhog Day (1993) * Psycho (1960) * Back to the Future Part II (1989) * Jurassic Park (1993) * The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964) * The Great Escape (1963) * North by Northwest (1959) * Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) * Batman (1989) * Night of the Living Dead (1968) * The Sword in the Stone (1963) * Rear Window (1954) * This Is Spinal Tap (1984) * Jaws (1975) * Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) * The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) * Vertigo (1958) * Ed Wood (1994) * American Movie (1999) * Gremlins (1984) * Ghostbusters (1984) * the Star Wars trilogy * Rocky (1976) * Back to the Future (1985) * The Wizard of Oz (1939) * King Kong (1933) * It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963).
- #004
He has a daughter born on April 26, 2013.
- #005
Before starting out as a YouTuber, James D. Rolfe worked at a liquor store. He hated it.
- #006
It was his maternal grandfather who introduced him to Atari video games.
- #007
He took part in an online petition campaign to save the Paris Opera film set used in The Phantom of the Opera (1925), along with many other films, from demolition. While the set itself was preserved, the soundstage was unfortunately demolished to make room for additional areas in Universal Studios' theme park.
- #008
Throughout his high school years, he hosted a haunted house in his parents' garage every year.
- #009
As of 2021, he has made over 500 films, though it should be noted that he counts game reviews, film reviews and TV reviews as films.
- #010
In November 2013, his wife posted an update on the Cinemassacre website stating that their daughter was constantly seeking medical treatment due to unnamed complications. On April 13, 2016, Rolfe explained what had happened while announcing that various Cinemassacre memorabilia would be auctioned off to benefit Shriners Hospitals for Children. During birth, his daughter suffered nerve damage in one of her arms and had to undergo months of physical therapy so she could use her arm fully. Rolfe expressed his gratitude to Shriners for what they did for his family during that time.
- #011
Throughout his childhood, he was an avid collector of Nintendo Power magazines. Although he praises the magazine in many respects (especially for the insider information about Nintendo games), he later realized he was disgusted by the advertisements printed on the first pages. It even went so far that, because he was disgusted by what he saw, he once stapled the first two pages of an issue of Nintendo Power together.
- #012
He first started telling stories with a camera. He would take photographs, tape them to a piece of paper and write what happened in the story beneath the image. When his family bought a video camera, he began shooting video, and that was what started his passion for filmmaking.
- #013
Despite portraying the Angry Video Game Nerd as a hothead, Rolfe is actually mild-mannered and even-tempered.
- #014
He is a big fan of the Rocky films.
- #015
From 1999 to 2004, he attended the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. After graduating, he continued to live in Philadelphia. During the filming of Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie (2014), he moved to Los Angeles briefly and returned to Philadelphia after the film was completed.
- #016
His maternal grandfather served in the United States Navy.
- #017
He is a big fan of Jackie Chan and even considers him his favorite actor.
- #018
He is the co-creator of Cinemassacre, also an online film review site and the place where he posted his videos before YouTube existed (YouTube was created in 2006; his site, Cinemassacre.com, was created in 2004).
- #019
His favorite video games are Castlevania (1986), The Legend of Zelda (1986), Super Mario Bros. (1985), Mega Man (1987), Metroid (1986) and Contra (1987).
- #020
He has a tattoo on his upper left arm.
- #021
Rolfe was one of the early adopters of digital video, buying a Panasonic AG-DVX100 video camera during his senior year of college while his friends were still using hand-cranked 16 mm film cameras. The results he got with the DVX100 were so impressive that the rest of his class quickly started using it too.
- #022
The earliest series he remembers watching as a child was Turbo Teen (1984).
- #023
He is a passionate film collector with a wide range of videos in formats from VHS to Laserdisc to Blu-ray.
- #024
He had a dispute in 2016 with Kyle Justin and Brendan Castner, with whom he had worked for a long time. Neither of them has appeared on the Cinemassacre channel since.
- #025
He described his Angry Video Game Nerd reviews as 'avant-garde filmmaking'.
- #026
Although he is known for his video game reviews, Rolfe admitted that he is not a fan of modern video games and said the newest platforms he plays regularly are the Nintendo 64 and the original PlayStation.
- #027
He is the founder of Cinemassacre Productions.
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