Jim was born in the year 1974 in North Yorkshire, England and was initially named as James Edward Threapleton. Jim grew up along with his younger brother, Robin Threapleton. They were raised by their father who was a pilot, serving for the Royal Air Force (RAF), UK's aerial warfare force.

Jim was fascinated by cinema when he was in his teens and hence decided to build a career in the entertainment industry.

Jim studied at the University of Art in London. He has a doctorate in fine arts.

Jim started off his career as a production runner. He first worked in the television drama, ‘London’s Burning’. His work was noticed and he quickly started getting similar offers.

He joined Alex Kurtzman as the third assistant director for his mega Hollywood hit, ‘The Mummy’. Another movie that he worked in as the third assistant was ‘Hideous Kinky’.

In 2007, he won critical acclaim for his film ‘Extraordinary Rendition’. One of the major reasons for the immense success of the film was its budget. The movie was shot at an extraordinary budget of fewer than 20,000 Euros. The film was later labeled as the no-budget film. The film also received recognition for its content as well as for the direction.

‘Extraordinary Rendition’ was screened at many well-known film festivals like Locarno and Edinburgh International Film Festivals.

At present, Jim teaches at the University of Art in London.

His movie, ‘Extraordinary Rendition’ won the Trailblazer Award at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. It was also nominated for the Michael Powell Award at the same film festival. It then went on to bag a nomination at the prestigious British Independent Film Awards in the year 2008.

Jim has mostly been in the news as the first husband of the Oscar-winning actress, Kate Winslet. Though their split was amicable, Jim was portrayed by the media as the jealous husband of a famous actress.

Jim first met Kate on the sets of ‘Hideous Kinky’. In many of her interviews, Kate has spoken about her affection towards him and how their relationship strengthened over a period of time.

They got married at All Saints’ Church, Reading, in November 1998. In 2000, they welcomed their daughter, Mia. But by then their relationship soured. The couple finally called it quits and divorced a year after Mia was born.

Kate has always cited Jim’s unreasonable behavior as the reason for their divorce. But in the media it was reported that he could not bear the fact that he was out of work, due to which he had no other option but to be a homemaker. The details of their financial settlement were kept private.

The divorce led Jim to try his hand at painting. He was referred as a colorful character by many British tabloids, many of which were later sued by him. Most of his works have been exhibited at various art galleries in London and Singapore. He was nominated for the Jonathan Vickers Painting Award and won the UAL Research Award at Dublin and Madrid.

Jim still visits his daughter Mia once a month and loves spending time with her. He met his second wife, Julie Vuorinen, a school administrator in 2008. They soon got married and welcomed their son, Skylar, born in 2009. Jim and Julie live in North London and are leading a happy married life.