James Smith (born 1948) who trained at LAMDA, is an English actor well known for his part in the BBC's The Thick of It as senior special adviser Glenn Cullen and as Michael Rodgers, Director of Diplomacy at the Foreign Office in In the Loop, the film spin off of The Thick of It.

From 9 August 2010 Smith plays Clive in the BBC comedy Grandma's House. He also took a minor non-speaking role as Lord Carrington in the 2011 film The Iron Lady. In 2014 he appeared in Boomers as Trevor.