2010: Pinoy Big Brother

Reid was only 17 years old when he entered the Pinoy Big Brother house as one of the 10 "Teenternational" housemates on 30 April 2010 (Day 22).^[7][8] He celebrated his 17th birthday inside the house with his co-teenternational housemates giving him a surprise pool party. Reid was the only teenternational housemate who had Filipino blood. Reid was almost evicted twice during his stay inside the house. The first one occurred on 21 May 2010 (Day 43) when Reid was brought to the hospital due to chest pains, discoloration, and shortness of breath while the second one happened on 1 June 2010 (Day 53), when he was again brought to the hospital for the same health issues but this time together with fellow housemate Angelo Pasco. At first, the doctors diagnosed Reid with costochondritis, but during his second visit at the hospital, the doctors found a hole in one of his lungs causing him difficulties in breathing. After the complications, Reid was able to return to the Big Brother house but needed to rest frequently as well as constantly wearing an oxygen tube for one week. One 8 June 2010 (Day 60), Reid was notified by the producers of Big Brother that he was no longer required to use the oxygen tube except while sleeping.^[9]

On 26 June 2010 (Day 78), he was crowned as the Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Clash 2010 Big Winner after receiving 179,294 (19.75%) of the total votes, just 1.05% ahead of the total votes received by the runner-up Ryan Bang who got 169, 697 (18.70%) of the total votes.

2011–2013: Career beginnings, solo musical career

On 24 July 2011, Reid, together with Pinoy Big Brother housemate Bret Jackson, launched their first digital EP entitled We Are Whatever on ASAP Rocks.^[10][11] Reid and Jackson recorded four original songs,including "Can't Dance" featuring their co-housemates Ann Li and Fretzie Bercede.^[12]

Right after winning PBB, Reid was paired with his co-housemate Devon Seron in some ABS-CBN shows like Shoutout! and Good Vibes.^[13][14] He was offered a two-year Star Magic contract with ABS-CBN.^[15][16][17] He was also paired with Yen Santos in Pintada.^[18][19]

In 2012, Reid left Star Magic and signed with Viva Artists Agency. A year later, he launched his first solo release, a self-titled EP, with two covers and four original songs, two of which composed by Reid himself.^[20][21]

2014: Diary ng Panget and breakthrough success

In 2014, he starred in the movie Diary ng Panget together with Nadine Lustre, Yassi Pressman and Andre Paras.^[22][23][24] The movie was released on 2 April 2014 and became a box-office hit earning at least 119.5 million pesos during its 5-week run.^{[25][26][27][28]} He also lent his voice to the official soundtrack of the film.^[29]

On 2 June 2014, it was confirmed that he and Lustre would star in another film titled Talk Back and You're Dead together with Yassi Pressman and Joseph Marco. The film is also based on the best-selling book of the same name by Alesana Marie.^[30] The movie was released two months later, on 20 August 2014, co-produced by Viva Films and Skylight Films. During its 4-week run the movie has grossed 79.8 million pesos according to Box Office Mojo.^[31] Just like in his previous film, he also lent his voice to the official soundtrack of the film.^[32]

On 22 October 2014, it was announced that he and Lustre will do another movie entitled Para sa Hopeless Romantic together with Julia Barretto, Iñigo Pascual, AJ Muhlach and Shy Carlos. The movie is based on a book written by Marcelo Santos III and will be under Viva Films and Skylight Films.^[33][34][35] The film was released on 13 May 2015. His performance garnered him a nomination for Outstanding Achievement By An Actor In a Leading Role.^[36]

On 26 August 2014, Reid signed a two-year contract with ABS-CBN that marked his exclusivity to the network again after two years of freelancing and becoming a talent of Viva Artists Agency, as ABS-CBN gave him popularity.^[37][38] As part of the contract, Reid and his onscreen partner Nadine Lustre starred in their first TV series together as a loveteam entitled Wansapanataym Presents: My App #Boyfie which was also based on Wattpad story.^{[39][40][41][42][43]}

2015–2016: Reid Alert, On The Wings of Love, This Time, and Till I Met You

On 2 January 2015, Reid revealed that he will be releasing his second solo album within the year.^[44] It was reported that the album will include songs in collaboration with Canadian music producer Adam Hurstfield who has written and/or produced for artists such as Ashley Tisdale, Ne-Yo, Aly Michalka, Loverboy, Elise Estrada and many more.^[45] On 10 January, Reid's new music video for the song "Huwag Ka Nang Humirit", composed by Thyro Alfaro and Yumi Lacsamana, premiered on Viva's YouTube channel. After its release, the music video began trending on social media and went viral in less than a week.^[46][47]

On 21 January 2015, the music video for the song entitled "Hanap Hanap" premiered in MTV Pinoy. The song is his fourth collaboration with Nadine Lustre after "No Erase", "Rocketeer" and "Bahala Na".^[48] It was also used as the theme song for his then upcoming movies with Lustre such as Diary Ng Panget, Talk Back You're Dead, and Para sa Hopeless Romantic.^[49]

Reid's third EP Reid Alert was released on Valentine's Day of 2015 by Viva Records. It debuted at #2 in Philippine iTunes pop music album charts behind Taylor Swift's 1989. On 28 January 2016, he released "Randomantic", as the third single from Reid Alert.^[50]

On 20 February 2016, Reid and his on-screen partner, Nadine Lustre, had their first major concert titled "JaDine In Love" at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.^[51] Due to the clamor of JaDine fans overseas, Reid and Lustre embarked on the "JaDine Love World Tour" presented by TFC in March. They visited Doha, Dubai, London and Milan.^[52]

In June 2016, it was announced that Reid and Lustre will be making their small screen comeback through the series, Till I Met You, with JC Santos, Angel Aquino, Carmina Villaroel, and Zoren Legaspi.^[53]

2017–2019: Careless and focus on music career

In March 2017, Reid announced first studio album Palm Dreams. Reid stated that he wrote all the tracks in the album alongside rapper and music producer, Paulo Tiongson.^[54] On 16 June 2017, Reid released "Cool Down" as the album's lead single.^[55] The album was released on 8 July 2017 and marked the foundation of Reid's own independent record label, Careless.^[56] Palm Dreams spawned two more singles; "Turning Up" and "The Life".

In March 2018, Reid and Lustre made their big screen comeback with the Antoinette Jadaone film Never Not Love You. His performance in the film garnered him his second nomination for Outstanding Achievement by an Actor In a Leading Role at the 67th FAMAS Awards.^[57]

In August 2018, James starred in a remake of the Korean film Miss Granny with Sarah Geromino in the title role. Reid was also set to star in the new Pedro Penduko adaptation of Viva Films, which was based on the re-imagined version written by Regene Estolatan under Epik Studios.^[58] Reid, however, decided to withdraw from the project after sustaining a spinal injury during training.^[59] In 2019, Reid decided to leave Viva Artists Agency, with his father Robert Malcolm Reid taking over as his manager.^[60] Transitioning to an independent artist, Reid said he would take a break from acting to focus on his music career and working on Careless.^[61]

2020–present: Transparent Arts label, Lovescene, and North American Tour

In 2020, Reid was slated to perform at the Overpass Music Festival which was to be held at Oak Canyon Park in Orange County, California.^[62] However, the festival was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[63] On May 30, Reid participated in Our Identity: ProjectBlue Marble, an online musical event which also served as a global fundraising effort in the fight against COVID-19 and to combat xenophobia affecting Asian communities.^[64] In October 2020, Reid signed with Far East Movement's Transparent Arts label, which is based in Los Angeles.^[65]

In September 2022, Reid released "u & i" as a single off his second studio album, lovescene:, which was released in October of the same year.^[66]

In December 2022, Reid announced his first North American Tour which will start in January 2023 to promote his Lovescene album.^[67]

Film

Television