Originality and Personality are the most important things I think. – James Bustar
Meet Australia’s most sought after entertainer and spectacular showman James BuSTAR!
James Bustar
James Bustar is one of Australia’s rising stars that is now sought after from all over the world. Bustar has performed a variety of his entertaining, comical and skillful juggling acts in Australia, England, Vietnam, and Japan. He also manages to find time to travel around the world while entertaining passengers on cruise ships- working for companies like P&O Australia, Carnival Cruises and Royal Caribbean.
With a high profile in 2009 Australia’s Got Talent, Bustar made it to the semi-finals, then quickly became a household name, as he was known for his breathtaking skills and laugh-out-loud antics.
I myself have seen James Bustar perform live in action, and he certainly is a crowd favorite!
But how does he juggle it all!?
Let’s find out, as I interview the multi-talented James Bustar!
Interview With James Bustar:
James Bustar
Emmy: Bustar! Thank you for joining us! You’re an all-round performer that’s mostly known for your crazy juggling antics! At what age were you interested in juggling, and when did you master this skill?
Bustar: I started manipulating gravity at the age of 11 before I moved to Australia with my family (obviously not on my own.) 🙂 Before this, I was always into performing and circus as my family always took me to a local circus to watch, which cemented my love for the circus.
I don’t believe you can ever truly master a skill, I believe you are always learning, and to this day, I am still learning new things. The time that I really believed I became a Pro was probably when I started doing properly paid gigs while I was training with the Flying Fruit Fly Circus.
Emmy: We met on cruise ships where I had the pleasure of seeing you perform. You were a crowd favorite! What do you think about your shows that make them so popular?
Bustar: I like to think that the more stage time you have as a performer the better you become at all aspects of performing. When I started my show, I was massively helped out by a performer in the UK called Pete Matthews. I truly believe everyone needs a mentor as they grow up, and Pete was one of the first to introduce me into the world of cruise ships and helped me out along the way.
In terms of doing the show work, I believe you need a point of difference, I tried to look at other performers and do something different to them, utilizing my skills and making them into routines.
Character is a massive thing in my performance, it’s an ‘act’. Originality and Personality are the most important things I think.
Emmy: Who would be your most popular audiences?
Bustar: Definitely Family and Party Audiences. Hence why my growing ground was P&O Australia for the first few years. It gave me a chance to really hone the ‘James Bustar’ performance.
Emmy: Speaking of cruise ships, how long have you been working on them and what’s the craziest thing you have experienced on a cruise ship?
Bustar: I have worked on ships for close to 11 years now. Before that, I was working for Club Med resorts teaching Flying trapeze, circus, and basically working as entertainment staff throughout the day. Before that, I was working at a theme park in Japan, before that a street performer and before that training with the world-renowned ‘Flying Fruit Fly Circus’ for 6 years touring the world and learning all aspects of the biz while also doing my own shows on the side.
The craziest thing I’ve ever really experienced on ships was probably on one of my first cruises when we sailed from Sydney, walking passed my ‘honing’ ground (street performing pitch) at Cirqular Quay. Boarding the ship and looking down at where I used to be, the place where years ago I used to look up at ships and wish I was there one day. Corny but true.
Emmy: Love it! Now, what has been a career highlight so far?
Bustar: I have to say every show is a highlight for me, but definitely just following my dreams and acting on them when I was younger. Apart from that, just touring the world doing what I love. I mean performing at Glastonbury Festival in the UK was amazing, or one of my biggest highlights was performing my own show for 3 years at Underbelly Festival in London, seeing my face on massive banners and performing my own show in my own theatre is one of the most amazing feelings.
Australia Got Talent also, as I was one of the only jugglers to feature on the show in its second season ( I think it was the second season) was definitely a highlight. Being the second comic in the Cromer Pier Show, the longest-running end of pier show in the world for two years was pretty cool too.
Since starting on Royal Caribbean and Holland America years ago, I now work with P&O Australia, Cunard, Costa, Carnival, Norwegian, Princess, and many more lines as well as keeping the relationships with bookers and land venues the world over. A dream come true really!
James Bustar
Emmy: You do a lot of shows around the world! Who are some amazing people/performers you have met along the way?
Bustar: There are too many to mention. Pete Matthews was a massive influence to push me on my way, as well as Steve Rawlings. Obviously also my trainers at Fruit Flies who taught me about comedy timing and clowning etc. such as Per Westman.
As life goes on in the biz, you meet so many amazing people who really drive you to be your best, and there are too many names to mention. The support I got from P&O Australia cruise directors Zoltina-Jay, Sandy, and David especially; and staff at the start of my cruise career are definitely people who would be on this list too! Cause to be honest when I started I wasn’t crash hot, but they saw potential.
Barry Hilton, a famous South African comic who was introduced later in my life was amazing support too, giving me the opportunity to open for him at venues worldwide.
Emmy: What has been the biggest challenge with your performing lifestyle?
Bustar: Family time and relationships are something that definitely challenges the Nomadic lifestyle. But yer, it’s mainly just being away all the time. Saying that the people I meet while away make it, and then when I travel around, I seem to know someone in every part of the world!
Emmy: What have you learned as a performer over the years that you can pass on to our readers who are interested in performing?
James Bustar Live Performance
Bustar: Listen to mentors, listen to advice, don’t give up, and keep at it! Find your story. Take gigs and don’t be put down if they don’t all go right! Its all a journey of learning. Also, don’t limit yourself to one part of the industry, and work everywhere!
Want more BuSTAR action!? You can follow his journey and keep up to date with his shows at the following:
Thanks for checking out our interview with James Bustar! If you want your talents and triumphs to be featured here on woopdedo, please visit the work with us page. 🙂
Emmy is the founder and content writer at woopdedo. With a background in the performing arts, she then had a career working on cruise ships, until she decided to return to NZ where she spends most of her time storytelling and freelance writing. You can contact her on the social media links below or visit the work with us page.
