Cassandra James is an American-Canadian actress. She was born in Pasadena, California, the daughter of Debbie Li, a teacher, and James Watzke, a gerontologist. Raised in Vancouver, Canada, her paternal great-grandparents were of German descent. Her maternal ancestry is Chinese, her maternal grandparents being from Shanghai and her mother being born in Hong Kong. She has been a performer from a very young age, singing in choir and taking dance classes through elementary school and doing theatre throughout high school.