James Koh was born in Seoul, South Korea, and immigrated to Houston, Texas, with his family in 1980. He attended the University of California, Berkeley, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in legal studies before working in insurance. He later abandoned his insurance sales career to pursue broadcasting. 

Koh began his career in media working various roles such as a production assistant, DJ, basketball play-by-play announcer and a news reporter. He then earned a Master of Arts in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Southern California in 2008. He followed this with reporting jobs at KBAK in Bakersfield and KSWB in San Diego. By 2012, he had joined FOX 11 in Los Angeles as a sportscaster and the host of Cage Talk. 

In 2014, James Koh joined the NFL Network and made history as its first Asian American on-air host. He later moved to DIRECTV’s fantasy football coverage for five years, building a passionate following for his energetic, humorous, analytical style. He also contributed as a football analyst for Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football. Today, he serves as a fill-in sports anchor and college football analyst at NBC4 Los Angeles.