Quiz

Was actually in the military when he was younger and so was comfortable with the weapons and battle sequences of District 9, however, has said that he did struggle with the amount of profanity expected of him when playing the character of Koobus.

To prepare for his role in District 9, David took a short course of steroids to put on 10kg (approx. 22lbs) of muscle.

In September 2012, David was accosted in a shop in South Africa, where he had stopped to buy cigarettes. The shopkeeper threw the cigarettes at him and ran out the back door; shocked, David left money on the counter and walked out. The shopkeeper then followed him and threw a rock at his head, yelling "Hermanus!" [a reference to his character, the bad guy Hermanus Meyer on Rhythm City (2007)] and told him to "Voetsek!" ("Get lost! Go Away!").

His family were very conservative and separatists, his father a Dutch Reformed man, whereas James was liberal. They also clashed regarding his choice of careers. As a young man, James struck a bargain with his family that if he were to letter in sports, he could then pursue his choice of studies. After accomplishing this and after his tour of duty in the military, he chose to study acting.

Since the Lord of the Rings movies were released, it was a personal dream of his to work on a Peter Jackson film; he would jokingly say to his agent after every meeting, "Tell Spielberg I can't work for him since I'm working for Peter Jackson now." During his auditions and call-backs for District 9 he had no idea the details of the film. When his agent called to tell him he had the part and included the fact that it was a Peter Jackson-produced film, he thought she was joking as well.

Was in a beauty salon getting a treatment for his feet in preparation for a German ad for heel products when he received the call from his agent that he had gotten the role of the menacing Koobus Venter in District 9.

To prepare for his acting career, he studied singing, dancing, and even the flute.

Owns a cat, Gypsey.